Damn these trains in western Germany cant’t do anything right. In total truth, at least the ones I have been on have been delayed more often than not, not just showing up 30 seconds late, I mean 5, 10 and sometimes even 20 mintes late. More or less was the case for me today, the train I had gotten on wasn’t even supposed to be going there, it was diverted. Instead of going straight East like it should have from Cologne to Dresden, it went North-West where I needed to go, so I won’t complain…too much. It was still late though. All the trains I took from Belin to Berchtesgaden arrived and left almost if not exactly on the minute.

So anyways, I left Köln, to head to the Dorf (village) which is intersected by the Düssel river system. If you don’t know which city still, this will give it away for sure. 7.5 miles East in the Neander valley is where the fossils of the Neanderthal people were found. The fossils were named after the valley. Still don’t know? Ooohh wellll.

So anyways my first stop was the Schifffahrt Museum (yes 3 f’s). It is built in the old tower of the no longer existing Düsseldorf palace which was destroyed during the huge 30 years war in the 1500s. It was later rebuilt in full, and shortly after burned to the ground. The ruins were removed and the area purchased, with the stipulation nothing may ever again built on the spot, except for the tower which may remain as it had survived. It is a really neat museum, despite its small size, it has lots of displays of the history of Düsseldorf, and the history of shipping on the Rhine. Lots of fun interactive displays including some boating simulators. There was also a large ferriswheel outside.

A lot of the day afterwards was shopping, as Ddorf is a major shopping/fashion center in Germany. The city also has a really creepy statue statue called the Stadterhebungsmonument. It is to celebrate the granting of municipal rights to Düsseldorf sometime in the 12 or 1300s, though the the statue is a stylized scene from the Battle of Worringen. It shows skeletal horses, ghostly soldiers clad in armor and a rotting skeleton and men praying.

Later I walked through some more shopping markets, though I never bought anything…yet, I am getting something though.

Later was the Rheinturm, or Rhine tower, another tall tv tower giving a nice view of the Rhine river and town. (Rhein is German spelling, and Rhine is the English.) Nearby is th ‘Neuer Zollhof’ a couple interesting buildings designed by world famous architect Frank Gehry. There was also a smaller lesser exciting statue featuring 2 guys arguing.