I was fortunate several weeks ago to be able to accompany my husband on a business trip to Germany. I had never been there, so I was really excited to be able to tag along.
The trip was for a big trade show in Düsseldorf. I don’t think I’d ever heard of that city, but I’m so glad I got to go see it. Düsseldorf has been voted one of Most Livable Cities in the World, and I can see how it’s earned that title. It’s a beautiful city with lots of wonderful neighborhoods, city scenes, restaurants and friendly people.
We booked a room at a hotel called Villa Achenbach. It is set in a lovely tree-lined neighborhood with easy access to the tramway, so we were able to easily get all around the city. We really enjoyed visiting the “Old Town” Alstadt, where there are scores of restaurants and shops. Most all the restaurants had both indoor and outdoor dining, and the nightlife was so much fun.
I also was able to check out Düsseldorf’s shopping scene in their “Königsallee”, which has so many upscale stores to choose from. The weather was brisk, but it was not too cold to enjoy walking through the shopping district.
We were able to try the local food favorites, including “pork knuckle”, which doesn’t sound that interesting, but it certainly is tasty. And of course, we got to try so many wonderful beers. I expected great beer in Germany, and I was not disappointed. I think the most enjoyable part of getting around Düsseldorf was the tram system. It’s all on an honor system, where people pay a monthly or weekly fee and just hop on and hop off as needed. Most every street is covered by this system, and it is so convenient and easy to get around. I wish we had something like it in Atlanta, but we are just too dependent on our cars!
Düsseldorf has the most interesting and wonderful architecture from the old world to very modern buildings. As we wondered through the different areas of this city, I was fascinated by the new and old mix of buildings. Also impressive is the Rheinturm (Rhein Tower), where you can take in the whole area from one high spot.
The homes had lovely window boxes of flowers, and they were even in the shopping areas with the mix of businesses and older home dwellings that were located above each shop and restaurant. I suppose they were more like condos, but still each one was unique with their individual manicured window boxes. There was a lots of cobblestone through out the city too.
The Gehry Buildings are some of the more modern buildings I’ve ever seen. These buildings actually have a wavy outer structure. They are done in 3 different facings. One of the buildings is like a shiny chrome finish, the next white stucco, and the third is a brick red. They sit looking over the Rhein River.
Late in our week there we boarded an early morning train and traveled to Amsterdam. What a beautiful city! We were able to see the famous canal system – we even took a boat ride all around the city. And walking the streets was so much fun too – every block was just like a movie set – just beautiful. The museum district was full of street musicians, tourists and the kind of art locations you would expect. We took the time to visit the Van Gogh Museum, enjoying the amazing display of the famous artist’s work – and also sipped some great wine and snacks right there in the museum.
Overall this was just a wonderful trip. The plane ride wasn’t even that bad, since it was a nonstop flight from Atlanta to Dusseldorf. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures I took. I don’t think they did the area justice, but I sure do love visiting such a beautiful city across the ocean from the US. I hope to be able more traveling in 2019, and I’ll be sure and share it here on the blog.
XO
Photographer/Lisa and Matt Hale
