AboutKevin Johnson Expertise I lived in Germany my whole life. Since I have strong ties to the United States and an active interest in American life, I know the fine differences between the two nations.
Expert: Kevin Johnson Date: 5/8/2008 Subject: The German Love Parade
Question Hello! Firstly, I'd like to thank you for pledging your time for us silly tourists, and have a couple of questions to ask.
Have you heard of the Love Parade? My boyfriend and I will be flying there to Dortmund to be part of this spectacular event. Do you think it wise to book a hotel ahead of time, and do you have any reccomendations? Is it easy walk downtown from most hotels, and we were planning on selling glowsticks for this event. Is there really such thing as a peddlers liscense and do you actually need one?
Again, thank you for all that you do,
Niki and Brian
Answer Hello Niki and Brian,
This year's Love Parade takes place in Dortmund, which is part of the "Ruhrgebiet" (the Ruhr area), an urban area of cities that have grown into each other during the industrial revolution, so that it seems like one huge city encompassing the metropolitan areas of Duisburg, Oberhausen, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum and Dortmund - plus several smaller cities in between. The whole area is comparable to the whole of Berlin. This means that public transport is excellent throughout the Ruhrgebiet.
If you want to stay at a hotel, it is probably advisable to book ahead as early as possible, since hotels in Dortmund might be in high demand on that date. But since public transport is so good and the cities are not far from each other, you could also book a hotel in a neighboring city and take the S-Bahn (city train) or bus to Dortmund.
Since I live in this area, I have never needed a hotel here, but I would like to refer you to some hotel reservation sites I had good experiences with in the past. They sometimes even offer cheaper rates than the hotels offer upon direct inquiry.
I do not know if you need a peddlers license but mind that this is Germany and that the Love Parade is also a commercial venture, so I advise you to find out beforehand, whether you need one. You might inquire via the contact page of the event website: http://www.loveparade.com/index_en.php
