So it was our first night in Dortmund, and our hosts explained that in Germany they have a long-running detective show called ‘Tatort’, and that night they had a special episode set in Dortmund. This show has been running since the 1970s, and it’s a big thing in Germany for families to gather round and watch it together.
Our host explained that the local U-Tower had a special screening of this show, as the entire episode was filmed in Dortmund. The U-Tower used to be an old brewery but now showcases artworks from the 20th and 21st centuries. It has a medium cinema inside, different floors of artwork, and bar at the top but the magnificent thing about this building is the unique feature at the top of the tower, it has LED TV like screens covering the entire 360 fascia. These screens were so bright you could see them for miles around, the night we went it was showing a giant goldfish swimming around in the crisp blue water, it was an incredible site.
The event was completely free, and as we sat down they were showing the last moments of Germany v Spain handball game, it was an experience as we don’t hand handball in England, well not that I know off. Germany won the game, but although there was a cheer, it didn’t seem quite the celebration I was expecting. In England, they would have been roaring like maniacs, but hey maybe it wasn’t their thing!
The organisers of the special screening also laid on sandwiches and bottles of drink. The sandwiches were excellent, proper German fillings of cured meats and cheese. Oooooh, they were so good.
I have to say our hosts did warn us the show was entirely in German but I did kinda hope that there maybe subtitles bit alas no, we sat through around an hour and a half of an entirely German defective show trying to get the gist of what they were saying through body language, hehe it was not easy and but we could tell that it was pretty similar to the typical sequence of a defective show but even we at the end new who had done the crime but just didn’t know why. A question later answered by our hosts.
It was a great experience no the less and one I would love to repeat and not just for the lovely food.