Dusseldorf, Under Construction

I mentioned to one of the conference organizers that I was spending the afternoon in Dusseldorf before flying back to the U.S. tomorrow morning.  He paused and said, "If someone were to make a list of the most beautiful cities in Germany, Dusseldorf might not appear on it."  (I'm afraid I have to agree with his assessment!)

There is a huge amount of construction going on in the city; everywhere you turn, there's a crane or a bulldozer.  (I think they're expanding the city train lines.) 

I took the tram down to the Altstadt (Old Town), which is pretty (albeit very touristy!)  When I arrived at one of the main squares, there were about five vans full of police strapping on their riot gear.  It turned out that there was a demonstration with people both in favor of and opposed to what's going on in Turkey.  (And as far as I know, the police didn't have to intervene in anything -- it seemed to be a bunch of people waving flags and making speeches.)

I was going to do a city bus tour, but it was cancelled due to the demonstration.  I ended up taking a boat ride on the Rhine, which was nice.  It was a good way to see the "Media Harbour", a newly-developed area with a lot of unique buildings.

Dusseldorf is famous for having "the world's longest pub" since it has breweries back to back in the Old Town.  I tried some of the local "Alt Beer", which is darkish beer served in small glasses (so that it stays fresh).  Not too bad -- and it was fun to hang out and watch the street performance.

I do like that Dusseldorf's symbol is two kids doing cartwheels.  :)  According to the tourist guide, "The custom of cartwheeling goes back to the year 1288 when Düsseldorf was granted its city charter following the Battle of Worringen and the children turned cartwheels for joy."  Indeed, they held their annual cartwheeling competition today, but I missed it.

End of the Conference

Today was the last day of the conference (and in fact, I was the last speaker!)  It has been an interesting few days -- who knew how much fun it would be to hang out with German philosophers?  :)

We had a fun dinner down in the Old Town -- the weather was perfect for sitting outside. The restaurant was "fusion" -- of Thai/Asian and Italian, which doesn't sound like it would work, but the food was great (and the dishes were Italian or Thai, not both). 

Mike and the boys are back home.  They went to a bounce house place yesterday, to the boys' great delight (although James's g-tube came out, which caused some trouble because it was temporarily lost, and Mike didn't have an extra one with him -- but it all turned out all right.)

More from Bielefeld

The hotel breakfast is amazing.  This is just a tiny part of the spread, but note the breakfast sushi and the tiny glass jars of liverwurst.  Mike would have liked the salmon.  There were also mini egg rolls and something cooked up in a wok (unexpected, but tasty).  And an orange juicer, and sparkling wine.  Impressive. 

I think the statue man with the pipe is a linen-maker -- Bielefeld had a major linen industry back in the day (and bike parts were their other specialty, I was told.)

Coke has a market campaign here with "personalized" bottles.  Of course, since I don't have a typical German name, they didn't have one for me, but I think I located an adequate substitute (bottom photo).  :)

Tomorrow and Saturday are full conference days, and the conference center is up on a hill away from anything else (beautiful views, though) -- so my sightseeing is at an end for a while.

Mike reports that the boys have been having a great Independence Day at Cousin Daniel's, playing in the water at the botanical gardens and in Daniel's back yard. :)  Hope you have all had a happy 4th!

Bielefeld

Matthew and James would approve of the Dusseldorf airport!

I arrived today in Germany.  (When the passport official asked about the purpose of my trip, I said I was here for a conference.  He said, "Ah, business, no fun?"  And I said, "Well, I think there will be at least a little fun!")

I took the train from Dusseldorf to the conference town, Bielefeld. (They did a last-minute track change -- announced only in German -- so I had to run for it, but I made it!)

The view from my hotel window (Bielefeld main train station)

The weather was cloudy and a bit rainy, but I bought an umbrella, which meant that it didn't rain when I was walking around.  :)  The town has a big shopping street, and a neat old town with a little flower and vegetable market.  The big attraction is the castle, Sparrenberg, and I made it up there to see the nice views -- but then jet lag hit!

I called home from my stop in the Atlanta airport on the way, and Mike reported that the front doorknob had fallen off and that Matthew had a rash all over and he was taking him to the pediatrician.  :)  Not exactly a smooth start, but fortunately Mattie just had hives (for no reason that they could figure out), and they're gone today after a dose of Benadryl. 

Doner Kebab for lunch

Bielefeld Rathaus

Old Town (Altstadt) Market

I don't know who this guy with the pipe is, but there are a bunch of statues of him

Sparrenberg Castle

View from Sparrenberg

Rainpool video

Rainwater Pool

 From WRAL: "...As of 6:30 p.m., about 4.94 inches of rain fell in Chapel Hill Sunday, breaking the record for the area's wettest day, which was 4.8 inches in 2008. Over the past 48 hours, 6.77 inches of rain had fallen."


Today's rain started just after we got home from our playground and lunch outing.  (We lost power for an hour or so, but otherwise no problems.)  The boys were pretty excited to see the front steps turn into a waterfall.  :)

After the storm cleared, we went for a walk around the neighborhood to see the creek (and for the boys to splash in puddles).  When we got home, they were very excited about their filled-to-the-top pool, and gleefully played in it until dinner time (the water seemed chilly to me, but it didn't bother them!)

Ropeland

 We went over to our friends' house last night for a fun cookout.  (Noah introduced James to the idea of tennis, and James really liked it!)

On our way home, we passed a "new" (to us) playground -- so today, James asked to go back there, and we did.  Matthew especially liked climbing around on the huge spider web part, which he christened "Ropeland."   (Don't let their long sleeves/long pants fool you -- it was actually hot and humid, but the boys insisted!)  They also picked out their stripes/plaid combos from yesterday.  :)