This is our last day in Germany. Tomorrow we head to Toulouse, France to walk the Canal du Midi.
As we have every morning, Ralph and I rode bicycles to the bakery for fresh rolls. I broke tradition today and got a sweet roll. I also broke tradition by not fumbling with the lock, actually setting and releasing it smoothly.
It has only taken a week to perfect this.
Angelika let us do two loads of laundry and we set it out in the sun to dry, and then we tried to figure out how to meet up with their daughter Sarah who was arriving in Dûsseldorf with her friend Marco from Argentina.
There is a lot of new construction going on here, as a whole new building and outdoor park is built, called The Valley. And it will be a grassy, sloped valley formed by two buildings. You will be able to walk on the grassy slopes formed by the roof. It will be pretty fantastic.
There is a giant nail sculpture in the plaza, and the most modern Apple store is right here, along with some cafes, the waterway and a park.
In the park is an art museum and old pink chalet (mini-castle).
We walked around looking at everything and decided this is a pretty interesting area of the city.
We walked along the main street, Konigsallee. There is a duck filled canal in the middle, and huge trees shade the streets. This is where all the expensive stores like Cartier are, and there are guards everywhere limiting the number of customers who can enter at any time.
At a corner near Graf Adolf Platz we found a table at a cafe and stopped for drinks. This turned out to be a most entertaining place to be.
I couldn't believe it.
We all jumped up to watch, and just laughed as the "head goose" attached itself to two young ladies who were crossing, and just followed - led them across.
So the question is: in Germany, do the Canada geese say "HONK!" or "HUBEN!?"
At the corner across from our table a guy in a wheel chair came slowly along. He stopped another guy who was walking by, and got him to try to adjust his one crutch that was attached on the back. The guy pushed and pulled, slamming the crutch tip on the sidewalk, and finally shortened it as the wheelchair-man pointed and directed.
But now it was too short, and the guy wanted it lengthened.
This was turning into a comedy, the sort of thing you'd see on an old Laurel and Hardy show.
Walking man finally gave up and stomped off in disgust, so the wheelchair-man shrugged and headed our way, stopping yet another guy who was just out enjoying a smoke.
Again, the man wanted his crutch adjusted longer... but now it was too long so shorter...
By this time we were all watching and laughing, and I was looking for the hidden cameras. This has to be a "hidden camera" TV show set up.
Again, smoking man got disgusted and moved on and the wheelchair-guy selected his next victim. And as we watched and laughed he made his way up the street, getting that damn, bent crutch adjusted longer and shorter, longer and shorter...
We walked off up the street towards the Rhine Tower, the old TV tower that has a restaurant and observation deck. We went along the shore of a little lake, Schwanenspiegel, looking at the trees and buildings and...
HEY! What is that huge thing moving in the water?!?!
It turned out to be some really big fish, but for a moment I thought I had discovered the Loch-Schwanenspiegel-ness Monster.
We did see a big turtle, however.
The Rhine Tower is 168 meters (551 feet) high and it cost €9 to go up. There is a little cafe on top. The views over the city and up and down the Rhine are really nice. The glass slants outward, so you can actually look down and back and see the base of the tower. We picked out landmarks and tried to figure out exactly where Neuss was.
We walked back along the Rhine to the Alt Stadt, the old town area. There is a cool kind of metronome sculpture, and I really liked watching the ships move up the Rhine, cars attached to the roof of their moving homes. People were out in the parks along the banks, sunning (in bikinis - this is what substitutes for a beach) and sleeping under the trees.
We stopped in the old town for fries before heading back to Neuss and a good spaghetti dinner with Sarah and Marco joining us.
You can see more photos of Düsseldorf here.