I can’t believe it was 10 years since I’d last seen N and R, German friends I met in Sydney with whom I spent many happy hours playing cards and drinking bubbles all those years ago. When I knew I was coming to Europe I did a little bit of armchair detective work to find them and to reach out with the prospect of catching up! Happily they were within easy reach of where I was planning to go and so to Dusseldorf and Ratingen I went to meetup with them and catch up after all this time.

Needless to say we did a little sightseeing while I was there…

Leaving Wiesbaden for Dusseldorf

Cologne Cathedral from the Cologne Hauptbahnhopf

Konigsallee – the paris end of Dusseldorf where all the big label boutiques are.

Old world meets new

The Rhine tower above (predictably) the river Rhine

View across the Rhine from Dusseldorf

Rathaus

The Rathaus (town hall) in the Dusseldorf Marktplatz

Jan Wellem equestrian statue – The elector honored himself In 1711 by Grupello cast in bronze / 8.000 kg / Baroque Sculpture

Cheers – Drinks at a bar on the Rhine River Promenade (Rheinuferpromenade)

Lambertus church castle tower

Altstadt

Venue for lunch

Curry wurst… local delicacy

Alt (old) bier – also a local brew

17th century Haus zum Haus (House to House) in Ratingen

17th century Haus zum Haus (House to House) in Ratingen

17th century Haus zum Haus (House to House) in Ratingen

17th century Haus zum Haus (House to House) in Ratingen

17th century Haus zum Haus (House to House) in Ratingen

Suitbertus-Stuben pub – gorgeous late Gothic Tudor style buildings in the city, which was built around 1490

Another Alt bier (gotta try them all)

Natascha and Sidney

The German nickname for the people of Ratingen is, “Dumeklemmer”, which is old German for, “Daumenklemmer”, which then translates to something like, “one who jams his thumb”. The legend goes on to say that all children in Ratingen are destined to be born with flat thumbs.

Catholic Parish Church St. Peter and Paul, Ratingen

From the Marktplatz

From the Marktplatz

The Ratingen Marktplatz

Dinner, sauerkraut, beef (melt in your mouth) and a potato dumpling.

Another Alt bier

and ANOTHER Alt bier (they’re very small glasses)

There may also have been Killepitsch – a local schnapps in the style of Jagermeister

I spent the morning working from my lodgings until such time as Prisca finished her morning errands and was free to come back and show me around Wiesbaden. We found a Chinese Restaurant for lunch, wandered the streets, sat in a park for some sun and finished the afternoon with a great coffee before heading home for a quiet evening of German wine, cheese and conversation (the conversation was in English, naturally)

Marktkirche on Schloßplatz

Marktkirche on Schloßplatz

Marktkirche on Schloßplatz

Schloßplatz

Luisenplatz

St. Bonifatius Catholic Church Wiesbaden on Luisenplatz

Inscription on the pedestal of the Waterloo-Obelisk: THE MEMORIES IN THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO FALLEN NASSAUER AM 18 JUNI 1815 Luisenplatz

Hessian State Theatre

Warmer Damm

Wilhelmstraße

State Theatre columns

Kurhaus (cure or Spa House)

Kurhaus (cure or Spa House)

Kurhaus Foyer

Kurhaus Foyer mosaic, Neptune

Kurhaus foyer dome

Wiesbaden streets

Wiesbaden streets

Bäckerbrunnen, Wiesbaden – where there’s a tap pouring water from underground hot springs.

Day one I’ve arrived in Weisbaden, just outside of Frankfurt where I am staying with a lovely friend, Prisca, from my C3 days and the pair of us went out for a cruise on the Rhine, a lunch in a biergarten and then visited the region’s answer to Uluru.

After a short walk in the grounds of Schloss Biebrich just near Prisca’s home, we caught the train to Rüdesheim where we met our boat going downstream to Assmannshausen, turning round to come back via Burg Rheinstein to Bingen where we alighted to meet Prisca’s lovely man who drove us to der Rotenfels (the Red Rock) near Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg. They dropped me back at Hannas Gästezimmer, my wee hotel run lovingly by Prisca’s mum, and I fell asleep watching TV and catching up on the internet (if you don’t read it every day it gets away from you)

The day was overcast, humid and warm, and we were lucky to get to the car before torrential rain, thundershowers and hail descended.

Felt just like home…

Schloss Biebrich

In the grounds of Schloss Biebrich – the folly (if I understand things correctly)

In the grounds of Schloss Biebrich

In the grounds of Schloss Biebrich

Schloss Biebrich

Schloss Biebrich

Schloss Biebrich from the rear

Rüdesheim, Assmannshausen, Bingen, Burg Rheinstein

Boosenbug Castle 12 Century Tower… let that sink in a little…

Boosenbug Castle 12 Century Tower… let that sink in a little…

Rüdesheim Vineyards – wherever there’s space there are vines

Rüdesheim

Rüdesheim

How you can tell it’s for the tourists… waitresses in local garbb

St. Jakobus Rüdesheim

St. Jakobus Rüdesheim

Rüdesheim Station from the Rhine

Rhine Vineyards

Ruins of Ehrenfels Castle

Prisca admiring the Ruins of Ehrenfels Castle

Ruins of Ehrenfels Castle

Ruins of Ehrenfels Castle

Klopp Castle in Bingen (where the town hall is)

Krone Hotel, Assmannshausen

Krone Hotel, Assmannshausen

Rhine Cruise in front of Burg Rheinstein

Burg Rheinstein

Burg Rheinstein

Burg Rheinstein

Burg Rheinstein

Burg Rheinstein

Mäuseturm (Mouse Tower) customs collection tower – 14th century origins!

Mäuseturm (Mouse Tower) customs collection tower – 14th century origins!

Genuine biergarten in Bingen with a happy Dee

Wheat Beer. Yum.

Kartoffelsalat at the biergarten in Bingen

Even the tunnels are decorative (near der Rotenfels)

Prisca and me at der Rotenfels (image by Michael Schoen)

der Rotenfels

der Rotenfels

Can you believe it’s been 18 months since I returned to Australia from the US an even longer since I began that adventure? A lot has happened in the intervening time and all of it good. But even when all is well and things are humming along I don’t rest easy without a project, and for much of this year since I had a European talk proposal accepted I’ve been plotting European adventures…

The plan is as follows… and has actually begun being executed as I’m writing this from just outside Frankfurt in Germany, but to introduce the story, here’s the big picture, and the posts that follow will have a lot more of the smaller pictures (an awful lot more).

I start in Weisbaden, just outside of Frankfurt in Germany. From there to Dusseldorf, Bremen and Berlin. Very excited about catching up with old friends, and looking forward to meeting virtual friends in real life for the first time. I’ll cross the border into Czech to visit Prague, then to Cesky Krumlov also in the Czech republic where I’ve discovered I’ve timed my travels well to be able to attend a huge Renaissance Festival there which should prove hectic, and delightful! Then off to Vienna, Austria for the conference. After that, Krakow and Katowice in Poland? And after that… I have no idea but a rental car, a credit card and a desire to make it up as I go along (probably though will include Budapest and Bratislava and other points from there). I’ll return the car to Vienna and then head back to Frankfurt to fly home on July 13th.

Already after 2 nights and one full day here I can feel the next six weeks just flying by.  Hope you’ll come along for the ride!