Day 1 in Deutschland, ja?! We are starting off in the fashion capital and economic powerhouse of Germany, the most populous and dense state, North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) region. It will be our base for the next few days. Today we will focus on its industrial history in steel and coal production by visiting Duisburg and Essen. I should be able to buy daily group transit tickets for all of us for the region via a phone app. We shall catch the train to Duisburg first, stopping by the outside of Museum Küppersmühle Extension by Herzog & de Meuron. Unfortunately it is not open on Mondays and Tuesdays so it’s exterior only. Our main focus for Duisburg is the Duisburg-Nord Landscape Park. It is one of the best examples in the world of how to deal with former industrial sites and turning into a wonderful park for public engagement. After that, we shall head to Essen where we will find Zollverein former coal mine now turned into the Ruhr Museum by OMA. There is also a building by SANAA there too. After that we shall venture back to Essen to see the Essen Opera House (entry uncertain) by Alvar + Elissa Aalto, completed more than a decade after Alvar Aalto’s death. We shall then head back to Düsseldorf and go to the harbour area to see some of the new development and Frank Gehry’s buildings. We might swing by a small gallery designed by Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck and go past the largest green facade in Europe at Kö-Bogen II. We can then head back into the old town (Altstadt), famous for its dense concentration of over 250 pubs and bars within a small area, earning it the nickname "the longest bar in the world." It is also the birthplace of Düsseldorf’s unique Altbier, a dark, hoppy beer served in small glasses to keep it fresh. It would be a good time to introduce our first ‘Top 5’ sessions.