Fußgängerpassage Dortmund

Today I invested in a little professional development of sorts. I have been doing a bit of contract work as a relocation agent, assisting new expats in getting settled in the Ruhr region. While I'm quite familiar with the area in and around Mülheim, Essen, and Ratingen, I've not spent much time in Dortmund yet - and that's where my next client is about to settle. My husband works there and I've been to downtown Dortmund before, but mostly at night. So this afternoon I went exploring through the city and previewed some of the neighborhoods with available apartments.

Being a cold gray Sunday, the city center was fairly quiet and thus it was easy to just wander and take photos. I struggled to choose which image to share, but something about these lovely lanterns inside the pedestrian passage struck me as quite nice and unique. One of the things I love about Europe in general, is how artistic the cities are. Buildings and squares are built to be beautiful, full of ornamentation and interesting detail.

While Dortmund is certainly no Rome or Budapest, it still represents a very different style of architecture and urban life than most American cities. And it's a great station from which to visit Europe's magnificent sites. I hope my clients will be happy living here and experiencing a taste of German life.