I thought I’d follow up on the prior post, with some pictures and a brief description of New Year’s Eve and the subsequent few days.
After flying from Barcelona, we had a 4-hour layover at the Cologne/Bonn airport before our flight to Cape Town just before midnight.
Unable to board the plane due to not having Mick’s birth certificate and not finding anyone to talk to, we cabbed to a nearby hotel. The bright spot – the longest amateur fireworks display we’ve ever seen.
On New Year’s Day we took a train to Dusseldorf and checked into the Bellevue Hotel for one night, then two, then finally a third as we changed game plans on a daily basis.
It was cold and rainy in Dusseldorf, but we managed to get out and see a bit of our neighborhood. We found a beautiful park, an ice skating area lined with food stalls, lots of high-end department and other stores, and best of all a really good Mexican food restaurant.
After three nights, the decided-upon plan entailed paying an exorbitant amount to our (now former) trust attorney to pick up and send Mick’s birth certificate to Zurich, where we were scheduled to go based on an earlier plan. If all went well, we’d have the birth certificate in a week’s time.
