Today is Saturday, June 21st and Day 66 of my 90 day stay in Europe. I am spending the weekend in Neuss with Rainer and Maren Kaulen and their children. I am resting after completing my bicycle tour of the Rhine River from Lake Constance (Bodenzee) to Neuss. It was an 18 day, and over 900 km trip including a 5 day stay in Heidelberg in the middle of the trip. It is the first official day of summer--hard to believe because I have had summer weather for so long on this trip. I woke up at about 8am instead of my usual 6am because the blinds make the room so dark. I showered, had breakfast with Rainer, Maren, Nils and his girl friend, Laura, hung up my laundry, worked on my journal and skyped my son, Matthew until we got cut off. At 12:30 , we picked up Maren's mother, Ulla and drove over to Dusseldorf which is on the other side of the Rhine River from Neuss.
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| Inside a shopping mall in Dusseldorf. Dusseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and has a population of 11 million people. It is an international business and financial center and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Culturally, Dusseldorf is known for its academy of fine arts, its pioneering influence on electronic/experimental music and its relatively large Japanese community. In the 7th and 8th centuries, some Germanic tribes made farming and fishing settlements at the point where the small river Dussel flows into the Rhine. It was from such settlements that the city of Dusseldorf grew. The first written mention of the town of Dusseldorf dates back to 1135. The city was a target of strategic bombing during WWII with raids against the Ruhr industry in 1943 and raids against German oil facilities in 1945. The Allies easily captured Dussldorf on April 18th, 1945. The city's reconstruction proceeded at a frantic pace and Dusseldorf grew into a wealthy city of trade, administration and service industries. |
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| Dusseldorf has Germany's busiest and upscale shopping street Konigsallee and Stadttor. Lots of people were shopping and the furniture (Stilwerk) and clothes prices were EXTREMELY expensive, especially for me as I am a Value Village shopper. |
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| Photo opportunity by the park )Hofgarten) at the end of the shopping street--Lukas, Ulla, Mary Ann and Rainer |
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| Many tourists |
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| Iss was gar ist; trink was gar ist; sag was wahr ist---Eat what is cooked; drinking what is even; tell what is true |
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| Outside Shisha Bar-I had never heard of this until last night in conversation. The hookah lounge (also called a shisha bar or den) is an establishment where patrons share shisha (flavored tobacco) from a communal hookah or nargile which is placed at each table. It originates from India and then spread west to Iran, Turkey and Egypt. This place also served food and drinks. I am not a smoker or even an advocate of it so I only took a photo. |
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| City Hall (Rathaus) in the Marktplatz in the center of Dusseldorf's Old Town (Altstadt). It was originally built in the late 1950s , and then redesigned in the 18th and 20th centuries. |
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| Grupello House was first constructed in 1706 and rebuilt in Neo-Renaissance style in the 1880's. Today it serves as the Plenary Hall. |
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| Equestrian statue of Duke Johann Wilhelm (1658-1716) was created by Italian-Flemish artist Gabriel de Grupello who previously lived in the Grupello House. |
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| I am not sure if this jester has anything to do with the historical accounts of "cartwheelers" but I enjoyed getting my photo with him anyway. |
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| Close up |
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| The marktplatz is a popular meeting point for residents of the city and for tourists in the summer at the cafes ' outdoor seating areas. |
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| Castle Tower in Burgplatz which was once the site of a baroque palace. Te palace burned down in 1872 and only the tower remains. The tower now houses the Navigation Museum. |
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| A purple bicycle flower shop |
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