Duesseldorf Tour

On our first whole day in Duesseldorf - May 3rd. , we had a tour of the city with our own personal guide.

Helmut wished to drive into the city with the car rather than to take the S bahn a fast train. His idea was to get a better idea of the city by driving in it and that it would be easier for me not to hae to walk so long or far. Renate, our cousin and guide, would have prefered the train and Ursula thought we should take the train. However, the car was the mode of transportation. Helmut did the driving & Renate sat up front as the navagator. (She speaks German in these situations) thus began my education in the German language by the emersoin method.

Geradeaus - go straight ahead - I love the sound of this one and quickly learned to pronounce it.
Links - is left for the left turn - I think that some other word is added to it but I only caught the links part.
Recht - is for the right turn
Ausfahrt - exit ( our neighbours had toured Germany by bus a few years ago - they told us that as they travelled along they saw "Ausfahrt" on many signs along the autobahn and thought that this was an awfully large city that they never seemd to get completely around.)
Eingang - entrance

The Zimmermann home was near the downtown area so we first drove around to see it. Helmut says it looks much the same as when they left in 1955 - he was impressed with how well it looks kept up on the outside. We did not take a picture or talk to anyone living there. The street is very narrow by our standards; the cars were parked on the sidewalks as is normal and in some places double parked.

We drove around some more looking for parking on the streets but were unsuccessful. Renate finally decided that we should park in an underground parkade which turned out to be a good idea. This place also had WC's (toilets - usually hard to find ).

Next point of interest was a walking tour of the Koenigsalley the main retail business street in the present "downtown" area. this stree has a wide waterbody - I'm not sure if it is the Duessel river or a canal flowing through the center with a street on each side and several bridges crossing the water. there is a side walk and parking on the waterside and buildings on the other side of both streets and it is all called by one name. First we noticed familiar friends from home, the Canada geese and Mallard ducks living along the waterbody. the stores along this street appeared to be of the higher class so I asked Renate if they were and if this is where she would shop. Yes, they have expensive merchandize and no, she shops in a smaller center close to the area (suburb) where they live.

Near this area of the Koenigsalley there is an old Lutheran Church - the Johanneskirche. We went to see it as it is special in the family history. Uncle Erich, Renate's Father, lived near this in his youth and used to oil the bells in the tower as he was a very nimble climber. (the details of this activity was one of H's Father's favorite stories).

It was decided that a view from the Rheinturm (modern tower of 240 meters) would be the best way to see Duesseldorf at large. We walked quite a ways to the tower - having to skirt the nearby government building because of a protest that was just getting started. the tower has an elevator that takes you up to the glassed in observation floor at 170M. We were told that on a clear day one can see the twin church steeples of the famous church in Cologne. Too much pollution in the atomsphere on this day. However, we did have a fine view of most of Duesseldorf.

Following the tower experience we took a taxi to the very old part of the city known as the Altstadt - all old cities have these areas. Mostly the buildings are old, super close together, very narrow streets and a central platz. the plats is the main business area and is usually a wide square area at one time a road but now used for walking and eating places. Only delivery vehicles are allowed to drive in the area and bikes. We walked through the area and then stopped of lunch at an outside cafe. Some women came along begging - Renate figured that they were likely dope addicts. In this area we also met some folks selling a certain paper and R. said these folks publish this paper and sell it to earn income because they are recovered addicts.

After lunch we saw the old Rathaus (city hall) and the Rhein River Promenade. Incedintally the road gose in a tunnel right under the Promenade. We walked back to the parkade for the car.

We spent some time driving around the enter city looking for the location of the assembly that Helmut attended as a teenager and that is still in the same building. After much searching we found it. Renate also noticed when we passed the high school that she had attended that they were having a reunion in June that she hadn't heard of yet. Helmut also pointed out the house where the Rauhuts lived in the days before they immigrated to N. America.

Overall impression was that it is a nice city, very crowded, quite clean and beautiful in the spring blooms. Many trees were in bloom - particularly the Kastane 9chestnut).