May 30, 2018 – Day Fifteen – Kreuztal to Dusseldorf to
Kreuztal
Having our hard-boiled eggs already prepared helps us get
out the door pretty quickly for our adventure in Dusseldorf. It’s autobahn driving most of the way, until
we get to the city. The exit shown on
our map doesn’t exactly work as depicted so we, once again, go in search of our
destination with only our good luck to guide us. And, once again, it works!
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| Look at that interminable line of semis! And they aren't moving! |
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| Here, too! |
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| Ali and Gilda were wonderful! |
We find a parking garage near the “altstadt” or old town,
and as we close up the car Marilyn asks a couple who are also parking, for
directions to the TI or the Rhine.
They
are most helpful and eager to help.
Gilda and Ali have some English and compliment Marilyn’s German, and
they walk us all the way out to the street and point out the direction.
I take photos of the street signs and Ali
checks to see that we have our parking ticket so we can get out!
I take pictures of them and they each take
pictures with us.
It’s a delightful
encounter!
(Gilda is wearing a hijab, so
we draw a conclusion.)
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| Jan Willem statue in front of the town hall. |
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| One of several references to Karnival |
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| Rhine Tower |
Our first stop is the TI for a map and a discussion of
Dusseldorf’s finer points. There is a
walking tour that is supposed to take an hour.
(Giggle) Apparently the oldest garden in Germany is located here, along
with several other parks, one of which is supposed to have beautiful flowers
and a Japanese garden in it. It’s a
pretty good walk north of where we are.
There is also a tower reminiscent of Seattle’s Space Needle, called the
Rheinturm or Rhine Tower. It’s 240.5
meters high but is currently closed.
There is such a large concentration of Japanese people in Dusseldorf
that they have their own “Japan Town” like China town in many American cities.
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| Look at the wavy sidewalk! |
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| Lots of little restaurants right on the riverside. They range from casual to chandelier-lit! |
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| Beautiful architecture across the Rhine |
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| "The Ear of Dusselfort" |
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| There are ten of these statues atop advertising columns, each one different. |
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| Spring planting is underway. |
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| These two buildings face each other across a plaza. |
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| These and the following are in Hofgarten, the oldest garden in Germany. It has no cafes or other distractions, just lots of grass, trees, and quiet. And theses flowers smell like orange blossoms. |
Dusseldorf has its own version of Rodeo Drive or the Champs
-Elysees! It’s called Konigsalle and has
all the big-name stores – Gucci, Harry Winston, Bulgari, Hermes.
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| Slim Matilda is a common meeting place. |
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| The Triton Fountain is in the old moat. |
When we discover Carl’s Platz, an open-air market with
vegetable, flowers, and other “vendables”, Marilyn orders an orange juice. The lady has a juicer and goes through nearly
a dozen orange halves to fill her glass!
As we’re walking it begins to spit – but just long enough
for my poncho to get too damp to just put away.
Better that, though, than pouring all day!! J
We walk the area for about five hours before giving in to
the need for something to eat. I’m
hoping for real food; but along the
river’s edge we find mostly ice cream shops.
We sit at one of the outdoor tables because their menu has one page of
non-ice cream creations. Marilyn wants a
salad and I’m taken by the chicken Panini with mango-curry sauce. Alas, that is not to be. At first the waitress says they don’t have
salads, then she returns with a different menu with several different
salads. When I order my Panini, there
aren’t any. We both get salad. Marilyn has two of the tiniest little Coke
bottles – well actually she only drinks the contents – and I have a lemon
beer! I don’t know if it’s alcohol. It has a head and I think it has a little
kick; but we’ve been on our feet for
hours and its pretty warm out, so who knows?
It’s listed with the other beers and tastes good. Good enough for me! The salads are huge!
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| There parking garages all over every large German city - and virtually no street parking! |
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| ??? |
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| Bocce ball! |
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| Eighteenth and nineteenth century architecture. |
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| Love this bench and table made from driftwood. |
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| Here's the inside of one of those trucks with the canvas sides! |
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| The acrobats are one of Dusseldorf's famous symbols. |
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| Another in the series |
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| They're really pretty tall! |
Time for the last little bit of the tour, and back to our
parking garage. We find our way out of
town and back onto our road!! A couple
of hours later we’ve found our exit and are home safe and sound. We stop at the Lidl for some snackies (They’re
out of my favorite chocolate croissants!)
The new one this trip is chili tortilla chips!
They have a machine that lets you slice your
own bread! You can choose between
three different thicknesses and Marilyn has fun
with it. A lady shows her how to get it
into the plastic sleeve after it’s cut.
Then we head home for dinner. Potatoes and
canned goulash! It’s quick and pretty
tasty after adding some spices! (Never
seen canned goulash before – never looked!)
A few more episodes of “Lie to Me’ and it’s time for
bed! Long day; but pretty sights.
