Dusselfdorf - rest day

No riding today, and we played the tourist by eating our way around the city of Dusseldorf.

Firstly we took the tram out to a ruined castle on the Rhine - Kaiserpfalz dating back to the 10th century, built by Emperor Heinrich III to protect the town of Kaiserwerth. The some of the walls are 4.5m thick. They don't make 'em like that anymore.

We shared the tram ride out to the castle with 100's of people dressed up in cosplay costumes heading to the Dusseldorf Anime and Japan festival. So vibrant and fun. No photos. 

The fountain on the top right is the Mackbrunnen. 

After the castle we walked around the town of Kaiserwerth, which was very lovely with historic buildings and interesting architecture. We took some time to have a cuppa in the square before heading off for our next adventure.

We headed to the south of the city to Hamm, where a town festival was being held and it was a great experience. The festival had live bands, street food stalls, flower displays, and a jousting competition, with horses and lancers. This was great fun to watch.

Lunch was a very large bratwurst

One of the attractions was this bird of prey show with giant hawks and owls on display . The birds were gorgeous.

We made a special effort to make sure we did not miss this band - the Happy Gangsta's whose music was a mix of hip hop, polka and Oompa music. Good fun. The orange juicer on the right of the photo was the best piece of engineering I have ever seen - orange juice on demand. You can see one in action at this link.

We then headed back to the city for a bit of a rest before dinner. We were lucky to ride on the historic Tram which had been pulled out to transport people to the Hamm festival from Dusseldorf centre. This one was from the 60's and Wayne was in his element. Dusseldorf has a lovely Old town as well. 

We headed into Aldstadt (Old town) for dinner and stumbled upon this heaving Jazz festival playing in the street. It was Whitsunday, so everyone had Monday off as well. it was such a great atmosphere. The beer was flowing freely, people dancing and enjoying the beautiful day. 

We located a beer hall that Elliot had identified as worth visiting and it was fab. 

Uerige It was inside and right in front of the music with all the windows open, the food was

outstanding and very reasonably priced. Who needs to talk while eating yummy sausage?

After dinner we walked around the town having a look at the statues, buildings and stopping to watch some more of the Jazz festival going on around the town.

Top left & Right  The Schifffahrtmuseum or  Maritime museum, it used to be part of a castle.
Botton left - Rathause or Town hall
Bottom right - Jan Wellem Equestrian Statue (one of the founders of Dusseldorf) 

Top left (no idea)
Top right : Kirche st Andreas
Bottom left: Martinssaule (St Martin and the begger)
Bottom right: Vier Karyatiden (The 4 arts)

After walking around town for a bit we headed through the very large park in the middle of the city that has many paths and a few lakes. The photos below were from that part of town.

This is a shopping mall with the Apple store inside. It is very impressive to look at.

A little bit of street art.

All of us in front of the Rathaus after a fantastic day out and about in Dusseldorf.