the first shagri-la
Finally, the first step into the centre of the Rhine-Ruhr region out of the Semi-fast train, called ‘Regional-Express’, after 2 hours delay - the city somehow could shine multicultural, since lots of putative Islamites poped up and were passing by, wearing their flamboyant ‘Hijab’, quite fashionably matched with their clothes everywhere. By the window of Starbucks - easy to find even here in Germany, where people don’t have a preference for chain store, according to the Internet - a middle-aged looking blonde man in a black fedora holds his Cappuccino, showing his benign smile to his putative wife and next to Starbucks, some Asians having their little finger buffet by grabbing pieces of Pizza Hut’s delicious looking Pizza(a chain store, again) - quite contrasting to the lady touting for her Finnish Sandwiches and her only-for-1-Euro Black Coffee in a fierce look. Following people in front, struggling out through the East Gate of the Main Station(a.k.a. Hauptbahnhof), a lot of people, including the grey-haired lady holding a pretzel in her hand, are queuing up for their trams and as passing by a group of school-uniformed girls among the people, their today’s plan in whisper about how Asian the East Street (a.k.a. Oststrasse) looks just came to me as an incredibleness and so chosen as the first spot to experience.