Dusseldorf

For the first time since I got here I ventured away from Cologne and went to Dusseldorf this morning. One of the girls from the language was course was supposed to go with me, but she never called me back and I wasn't able to get a hold of her, so I went alone. It kinda sucks having to do everything alone all of the time, but it was still a lot of fun.

The one thing that I knew I wanted to do while I was in Dusseldorf was visit the Neanderthal Museum. The Neander Valley, where the first identified and studied Neanderthal skeletal remains were found, is just outside of Dusseldorf. They valley itself is now a nature preserve that you can walk through, and the Neanderthal Museum is the world's largest display of Neanderthal remains. Unfortunately the actual cave where the original remains were found no longer exists because it was a mining site, but recent excavations have unveiled the exact location of where that cave was. They actually found more bones that belonged to the original skeleton, which is pretty cool.

Getting to the museum was a small adventure in itself. From the central train station in Dusseldorf there are 2 trains that take you near the museum (I had to actually buy a book to figure out what I was doing). I chose to take the train that was a little bit further away because it was cheaper, and I didn't mind doing the extra walking because it just meant that I got to see more. Unfortunately, the weather prediction was wrong (of course) and it was raining while I had to walk to the museum. The book said it's a 15 minute walk, but I think it was a little longer. Anyway, it was really interesting because you actually have to walk through a part of the nature preserve to get there. I thought I was going the wrong way at first, because instead of walking toward something I was just wandering into the wilderness. It was so beautiful, though, and I was walking along little streams that were flowing into the Dussel river. Even though it was cold and wet, I'm really glad that I took the long way.

After the museum I made way over to Alt Stadt to do some sightseeing. I walked along the Rhein for a little bit and it was pretty cool. It actually reminded me of walking along the Thames in London. I'm not entirely sure what all the buildings that I took pictures of are, but I think a lot of them were just buildings I thought were pretty and not actually anything particularly of note.

I also did a little shopping on the Koe, or Koenigsallee, which is Dusseldorf's famous shopping region. I really am not much of a shopper, though, and I definitely don't want to spend that kind of money on stuff while I'm here. This street is lined with big name stores like Prada, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Cartier, Gucci, etc. etc. Definitely not my kind of shopping. In fact, the only money I actually spend on the Koe was the 90 cents I gave to the chaimbermaid at Starbucks so I could use the bathroom. I did buy myself a down jacket in a different area, though. That'll come in handy once it actually gets truly cold here.

Today was a long day, but a good one. I'm going to start planning more trips like this, and hopefully some of the other girls will finally get out and so some of this stuff with me. Esther's going to put me in touch with a couple of other girls who are au pairs for friends of hers because she thinks they might be a little more enthusiastic about doing stuff, like I am. I hope so, because it would be nice to have some company on my little adventures.