an american in belgië : Düsseldorf II

First . . .

Anna arrived! We will get to see her tomorrow :)

Ross passed all his exams! Congratulations :)

Back in Düsseldorf . . . this is the view of the Rhine River from the Alstadt (Old Town) in Düsseldorf. There are some famous and interesting buildings in the distance.

Can you guess the architect for the majority of them? If you guessed Frank Gehry, you're right.

Everywhere in Düsseldorf you will find cartwheelers. It is the symbol of the city and goes back to the year 1288. The Battle of Worringen involved Düsseldorf against the archbishop of Cologne. After the victory, the Düsseldorf Graf Adolf von Berg shouted to the waiting children that their fathers returned home healthy. And so it was a "joy turner" - the cartwheel showed how happy the children were.

The manhole covers are even adorned with the Radschlager.

Schneider-Wibbel-Gasse is a narrow street in the Alstadt (Old Town) section of the city - lined with cafes and shops. Düsseldorf also has 17,000 gas lamps like the one on the right side of this picture - more than anywhere else in Germany.

We had lunch at this restaurant famous for some kind of beer. I don't remember 'cause I thought it was awful. You can see a tray of glasses filled with it on the counter in the left of this picture. It is traditional that the waiter will continue to bring you a fresh beer until you tell him not to.

Here's the menu in German. Does #19 sound familiar? Mett?

That's right. Ground pork on half a roll, with or without onions. Served raw, of course. We actually saw someone eating this. Not like on a reality show when they are forced to eat something disgusting, but eating it because she liked it.

We had the pea soup and it was actually very good. Everything in it was fully cooked.

Then we saw this! A Louisiana restaurant. Too bad we'd already had lunch. If you happened to read my blog on our trip to Hannover, Germany, you know Germans really know how to do Mexican right so who knows . . . perhaps they make a délicieux gum-beux.

Here's the best part. Can you see that neon sign on the right side of this picture?