Day 13: A Dash to Düsseldorf

Es war wiener ein schöner Tag. We woke up and watched the season finale of Kenobi before setting off for the day’s adventures. The episode was great and you should all watch it if you haven’t already. You will feel many things…

Today was Peter’s birthday, and luckily we saw him before we left for the day. So, we were able to wish him a happy birthday in person! Alicia’s end-of-year school picnic was this evening, so Peter, Alina, and Alicia had birthday celebrations and cake with breakfast this morning. Brandon and I took part in the cake once we were upstairs for breakfast :) We took the trusty Straßenbahn to Bochum and then hopped on an ICE to Düsseldorf. The trip took about 40 minutes, and once we arrived, we headed for the bus stop! We had booked tickets to go up the Rheinturm, a tall tower in Düsseldorf with a 360° view of Düsseldorf, as well as the surrounding areas that can be seen from a distance on a nice day (like Köln).

We caught the bus with no problem, even arriving a few minutes before it got there. It felt impressive because our train got to the station at about 5 minutes to noon and the bus picked us up close to the station, but not right at it, about 2 minutes past the hour. So, we walked quick, and it worked! *Side note: I have been loving using my knowledge/understanding of public transit so much while we’ve been here! But I digress… The bus ride to the area near the tower was fairly short, and, of course, I turned us the wrong way getting off the bus when it got to the stop. In an effort to get out of the way, I went on impulse and chose incorrectly. Luckily we didn’t get too far before we turned around and saw the tower, in all its glory, about a block or so from the bus stop. We were early for our reservation, but we were able to go up anyway! The elevator in the tower moved REALLY quick! It climbed 168 meters in no time flat!

In the panoramic area, the windows were labeled with what landmarks and/or towns you might see from that viewpoint. It was really very cool! The area also had a bar that served drinks and snacks, so Brandon and I had a small lunch of Flammkuchen and nachos (which were basically the nacho cheese Doritos with salsa). I got a house made lavender lemongrass lemonade, and Brandon had mineral water. As is the pattern so far, everything was delicious :)

Once we finished eating, we walked around the whole 360° space to look out all the windows. A few spots had those binocular setups that you could pay 50 cents and see out farther. We did that at a section of windows that looked out towards the airport. We could see lots of planes on the tarmac! Before we went back down the elevator, I got another souvenir Euro from the machine in the bar area. I got one in Köln, and now I have added Düsseldorf. I’m curious to see how many I may end up with!

We left the tower and there was a gentleman with an ice cream truck, so we indulged in a scoop each. Another thing I will miss when we go back to America is the ice cream here. It is creamy and delicious, it doesn’t hurt my tummy (or Brandon’s so far), and it is SO CHEAP. I have yet to pay more than 1,50€ for a scoop, and so paying easily double that for stuff when we get back will just feel wrong…Anyhow, we then decided to head to the Filmmuseum, which Peter had suggested to us. It wasn’t too far from the tower, and the weather was gorgeous, so the walk was lovely!

Upon arrival, we bought our tickets and the gentleman behind the counter said something to me about my backpack and “der Keller,” which I know means basement or cellar, but I had gotten distracted in putting my change away, so I said to Brandon, “What am I doing with my backpack?” The gentleman then replied “Oh, you speak English! And here I am talking to you all in German!” We assured him we do speak German, but I just got confused, and he was very kind and laughed off the moment with us :) For the record, I could not take my backpack through the museum and I had to put it in a locker down on their basement level a floor below. Bag secured, we headed to the first floor of exhibits, which involved some costumes from Akita Kurosawa films and some other film props and paraphernalia from Greta Garbo. The museum had exhibits about the development of film, from shadow puppetry to stop motion to a whole display of reels of different sized film. One floor was set up like a studio. Another had a number of old film projectors. Throughout the museum, there were different interactive things. My favorite was the area where the green screen was. You could choose a background and then do whatever you wanted. It was very fun! It was a really neat place, and absolutely worth more than the 5€ they charge for admission! I highly recommend it if you’re ever in Düsseldorf!

After the museum, we wandered through the Altstadt a little, I found a souvenir shop that sold some postcards, so I got a Düsseldorf one for my collection :) Then, we were both a little hungry, so we found an Eiscafe and had some more ice cream! I had an Eisflip, which was vanilla ice cream, orange juice, and whipped cream. Brandon got a strawberry sundae. Both were excellent! We walked around a little bit by the river before heading to the train station to work our way back to Hattingen.

In Hattingen, we went into town to get some dinner. It was about 7, so we were both pretty hungry! We went to the restaurant Brandon tried to go to for lunch yesterday, which was called Cafe Mexx. I had a creamy salmon pasta, and Brandon got a burger. I was nervous about my pasta because I can be funny about salmon, but the menu said it was fresh, so I gave it a chance and was not disappointed! Brandon’s burger also lived up to the hype :) Post-dinner, we headed back to Alina and Peter’s, finally getting in the door around quarter to 9, worn out but feeling good from another great day! Tomorrow, we have a date with some animals hopefully! Until then, friends, enjoy the pictures!