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Do Düsseldorf

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What a beautiful and magnificent surprise this place was for me as I was casually passing through the region on my way to Amsterdam. . . . . . . . . . . .




	Gehry buildings at night

This classical and modern jewel mingles with the Rhine via a long and winding river walk that takes you from Frank Gehry designed apartment buildings, to the heart of its enlightenment era downtown, to a vast complex of immaculate museums and civic buildings in the south. There is a manicured park called the Hofgarten that encompasses a large area of the downtown with immaculate trails and swans amid park benches.

Favourite spots:




	A "stylit" by Christoph Poeggeler. These silicone statues are all over Düsseldorf

A somewhat expensive city, if you want to stay and save some money like I did, try to find a hotel near the airport. I highly recommend the 3.5 star Lindener where I stayed for a mere €35 (pure luck mixed with off-season rate). The city tram frequently goes right by its door and it takes only 15 minutes from hotel to downtown. Known for its shopping on Konigsälle, you can certainly drop some money downtown, but it’s also fun to just stroll the streets and step inside some of the old churches and civic halls which are free.

What's really great:

Although I kind of enjoyed the Goethe museum for the place itself, I can’t entirely endorse a visit unless you can speak German, as there is little to no accommodation for any other language. Linguistically the same is mostly true of the larger Kunst Palast Museum http://www.museum-ku-nst-palast.de , but it is less of an obstacle there. The museum offers floor upon floor of European and International modern and traditional art displayed with care and aesthetic arrangement. A very clean and spacious design as you would expect from the Germans, and in February I practically had the place to myself. I particularly enjoyed the permanent Hentrich Glass collection.

Accommodations:




	Düsseldorf after a storm from the extensive Rhine River park.

This city is definitely a good base from which to explore Cologne and Aachen which are 30 minutes and 1.5 hours away respectively by train. That said, try to get ICE tickets via the Deutsce Bahn website http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml ahead of time, particularly for longer distances. The ICE (Inter-City Express) trains are fast and they run specials on the Internet that are snatched up like gold. Give it a try and be sure to print the resulting pdf they send you. I was able to go from Düsseldorf to Amsterdam on a 3 hour train for about €30. If not, the ticket vending machines are easy enough to use at the station, but the cost for ICE trains is usually increased when purchased on the fly.

Nightlife:

Also, a special note for gamers. Anybody who plays Dungeons and Dragons or is into any of that Lord of the Rings stuff would do well to visit. Düsseldorf is the home of Warhammer and they have huge gaming rooms containing models impressive enough to attract non-gamers like myself for a look. Made me wish I was into role playing.

Hangouts:

I particularly liked the public art from the "stylit" project that I pictured above. For more information, go here: http://www.christoph-poeggeler.de/en/

Published on Saturday April 19th, 2008 by porcupine

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