Transit (Monday 2 July)
On Monday 2nd July I wrote my blog all morning and then checked out. I asked the receptionist for the best place to buy good Belgian chocolate and she pointed me to Godiva around the corner. It wasn't cheap, but apparently it's very nice!I got on the Metro for the last time and got to Brussels Midi very early so had a bit of a wait for the train. But that was OK - I had my entertainment system with me (mobile phone, of course). I got to Duesseldorf Airport right on time around 6pm and got the bus to Irene's place where Kathy was already waiting for me.
We had a nice dinner and chatted for a while about our respective trips so far. We made plans for Cologne in the morning and went to bed.
Cologne (Tuesday 3 July)
Tuesday morning we went to the station and asked about the best ticket for going to Cologne for a day and then exploring Duesseldorf the next day and the stupid man at the information counter sold us 2 return tickets to Cologne for over 37 Euro and nothing else. I was so mad when I realised that I could've had the one day pass for all through the state of NRW for up to 5 people for about 31 Euro. He must get commission. Anyway, we ended up catching the train to Cologne for free, because we didn't know that we had to stamp the tickets at the top of the stairs and couldn't on the platform. Luckily we didn't get caught :-)We wandered around Cologne, past the Cathedral of course, since that's right next to the station. It's forever being renovated so there were signs of scaffolding here and there. It was closed to viewing inside for a mass:
so we continued on walking along the Rhine for a bit and had a beer at one of the beer gardens along the Rhine:
and then went in search of the Chocolate Museum, past this cool statue:
The Chocolate Museum wanted 8 Euro admission and we weren't that keen so I just bought some marzipan liqueuer to try. (Was yummy!) There was a Noah's Ark exhibition near the Museum and we went to investigate. They wanted 12.50 Euro which I thought was completely outrageous. There was nobody in there either and we saw nobody coming or going. No wonder with those prices! I took a couple of photos of the inside, just through the exit door:
Next we headed off into the old town part of Cologne and looked for somewhere nice to have lunch. I saw this place that looked very nice from the outside and also offered chantrelles (my favourite mushrooms). I had chantrelle soup and a pizza bread which was so huge I had to leave half on the plate.
It was getting to mid-afternoon and I needed to get a wedding present so we had a look for that in the nearby shopping streets and then stopped for coffee so I could speak to Irene who had ended up in hospital during the day. Then it was high time we got back to the cathedral before it closed for the day. I don't think it's that fantastic on the inside anyway, but I took a few photos nevertheless:
We got the train back to Duesseldorf and made ourselves some sandwiches for dinner and had a fairly early night.
Duesseldorf and Kaiserswerth by ship (Wednesday 4 July)
Wednesday was sight-seeing in Duesseldorf since Kathy had never been before. We could a bus and underground train to town and walked down to the Rhine. The Weisse Flotte was having a free trip to Kaiserswerth and back as a protest measture against being shut down. The next boat wasn't leaving til 3.30pm, so we wandered around a bit and then sat down on the grass for a while. Unfortunately Kathy knelt in dog-poo when she got up so we had to go and find somewhere to clean that off. We decided to have an ice cream while we were waiting for the boat and then it was time to queue up for boarding.There were quite a lot of people there, since it was free, so we had to wait for quite a while. The man who normally sold tickets was telling terrible jokes for our entertainment - at least for those of us who could understand German!
The boat trip itself was quite nice and very quick as the boat didn't make its usual stops. Soft drinks and beer was provided for free, which was very nice. There were two Scottish couples sitting at the table with us, so we had a nice chat about holidays to Europe. They were there with their caravans and liked to come to the continent every year - mainly to visit France.
Once we got to Kaiserswerth, we walked around for a while and stopped at the Burghof Biergarten for a beer and weisswurst (sausages) with sweet mustard and pretzel that I'd seen someone eat. Yum! But it was only a snack!
We got back on the boat to Duesseldorf and then walked through Schneider-Wibbel Gasse for some dinner. We ended up at a steakhouse/Italian restaurant (which they all seem to be) where I had steak with chantrelles and fried potatoes. Kathy had the Turkey Schnitzel which also had chanterelles which she doesn't eat, so I got a double-serve.
We were getting tired, so we didn't go to the pub or anything, but straight back home.
I didn't take any photos today, since I'd taken plenty previous times I've been here. If you're interested, you can see photos from 2008 here:
Duesseldorf: https://plus.google.com/photos/109608011935064570958/albums/5240534311824685217
Kaiserswerth: https://plus.google.com/photos/109608011935064570958/albums/5240571635245125265
Duesseldorf doing nothing much (Thursday 5 July)
Kathy flew home today, so after a leisurely breakfast I worked on my blog while she packed and got ready. She left by 11:30am and Claudia, Jennifer and I went to the hospital to visit Irene. She still had no final results so we didn't know when she'd be home. The three of us went into town to buy a new camera for Jennifer for her birthday. I can't wait to see the sort of photos it produces!I stopped at the little supermarket across the road to buy myself some vegies for dinner and hey! there's wine at the grocery store! Cheap too! So I brought a bottle home and opened it to breathe while I waited for it to be time for dinner. Claudia rang up and said she was coming over with a bottle of wine, too, so I was set!
She arrived soon after and we sat down with wine and talk for hours. It was great to catch each other up on our respective lives. We basically decided life's a bitch and men are @#*%S^. :-)
Even though it was nearly 10 when she left, I decided to make dinner anyway since I was hungry. Tipsy as I was I counted the fact that I didn't cut myself peeling potatoes a success!
