Two days in Dusseldorf was probably enough for us. It is an interesting place, a little grungy in places – like Alstadt, the old town where we are staying – but with all the top stores and fashion houses right next-door. The population of almost 700,000 seems to enjoy patronising the bars and restaurants with a considerable amount of drinking, and smoking, from mid-afternoon.
After settling in to our renovated studio apartment on the third floor of an old house in Alstadt, we explored the area and had dinner at a Spanish restaurant. We could have easily gone Japanese as Dusseldorf has the largest Japanese population in Europe.
Started Thursday with coffee and pastries at Carlsplatz markets.
On Thursday we then enjoyed a two hour walking tour with a Mexican tour guide, Riciardo Martinez, who was a former professor of archaeology in Mexico, and who was brilliant. Our knowledge of Dusseldorf and its history was much enriched.
Keeping things international, we had an excellent dinner at San Leo, an Italian restaurant. Looking at German fare soon.
Today we visited the two main art museums, K20 and K21, with exhibits from the 20th and 21st centuries.
The walk between the museums was considerable before we found K21 in a park and on a lake.
This was an interesting visit with much contemporary work including installations and a lot of audio visual work. There was a large and challenging exhibition featuring Mike Kelley.
Tonight we had pork knuckle with sauerkraut and mash, followed by gelati. German and Italian. Go figure. Off to Perugia, Italia tomorrow.
