Köln and Düsseldorf, Germany Part 2

Okay, so we all know that I hated Köln. It was a horrible experience being in that clown of a city. Just...yuck. Now my weekend was saved, thank Heavens, by Düsseldorf! What a fun city. After getting off the train and out of the hbf, I looked around and knew I would like this city better. Since I am running out of time, (literally as I am leaving Germany in about a week and a half), I will keep my travel posts to the point and make them quick. They will be infused with little snippets of my experience in the city, observations and of course, pictures.

Now, onto Düsseldorf. After arriving and not being able to find my hostel, I checked into a hotel close the hbf. After this I made my way to tourist info to find out cheap yet fun things to do in the city. I booked a city tour which included a visit to the Rheinturm Düsseldorf (telecommunications tower) for panoramic city views.

The tour was okay but I hated how the guide took a longer time on the German explanations than on the english. We didn't get any of the jokes that the German speakers received also. This was the first time I experienced this sort of treatment since traveling here. Me and the other english speakers had a little discussion on how it seemed the German speakers got a lot more out of the tour than the english speakers.
sights from the old town

Anyway, the tour started with a bus ride to the alstadt (old town), a boat ride along the Rhine and then a visit to the Rheinturm.
Modern building that the city is famous for

It was fun and along the way I met a cute couple, Bernadette and her husband who lived in the Netherlands. They were in Düsseldorf on a one day vacation. It was nice to chat with people and laugh.

Views from way up high in the Rheinturm

After the tour, Bernadette and hubby left to their own devices so I continued on. On the tour I was intrigued with the old town so I walked back and soaked in the Friday night night life crowd. It was crazy busy.

The river Düssel, where Düsseldorf gets its name

I spent a couple hours in the old town and then I decided to move on.

Hungry, I decided it was time for dinner. I went down Immermann Straß which is infamous for the huge Japanese cultural and business world in Düsseldorf. I was in search of sushi! I found some at a small (there are a lot of sushi restaurants along this street-straß) restaurant where locals and tourists alike flood the small tables. To my left was a girl eating dinner alone. I decided to open up and started chatting with her. I learned that she was from Berlin, a flight attendant, who had lived in Japan for a year and spoke 3 languages. And, she is only 20 years old. (sigh) We spent a good two hours eating and chatting about life and our interests etc.. It was really fun. At the end of our meal, she noticed that she didn't bring her credit card to pay for her meal. It was at the hotel across the street. She was a flaming color of red while I paid for both of our meals. Afterward, we made it to her hotel where she paid me back, and then some (I kept refusing) and parted ways. It was a great day.

The next day I had one mission in mind and that was to see the Barbarossa's Castle ruins in Kaiserswerth, Düsseldorf and some light sight seeing. After seeing the ruins (which was closed even though it was supposed to be open-argh!), I made my way to the Zoo gallery.

Barbarossa's Castle ruins

Dory and Nemo!



This is as close as I was getting the the snake pit-Yuck!




I really enjoyed Düsseldorf but I cut my time short by one day and went home that night. I had fun but I was ready to pack this weekend in.