Dortmund: Germany

Dortmund: Germany
Dortmund is a city in Germany, located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Population: 587,288 (1 January 2004).
The River Ruhr flows to the south of the city and the Datteln-Hamm Canal to the north. The Dortmund-Ems Canal terminates in the large Dortmund Harbour – almost in the heart of the city centre.
Dortmund is the home of the famous football club BV Borussia Dortmund, who plays home matches at the Westfalenstadion, which opened in 1974 and hosted some World Cup matches. It will be one of the cities to host matches in the 2006 World Cup.
Dortmund is known as Westphalia’s “green metropolis�. Nearly half the municipal territory consists of waterways, woodland, agriculture and green spaces with spacious parks such as Westfalenpark and the Romberg park.
The Christmas market (Weihnachtsmarkt) is one of the largest in Germany, and is host to one of the largest “christmas trees� in the world, formed by stacking hundreds of trees into the shape of a pyramid.