The Imperial Castle of Kaiserwerth

These pictures are of Castle ruins that are very close to where my brother is living. In fact, I can get there by walking in about ten minutes if I walk briskly. I loved this place. It's free to tour the grounds and you can walk through most of the ruins. At night the castle is lit up. I bought a book that chronicles the history of this castle and it is quite fascinating. It's been through many seiges with a final one in the 1700's where it was ordered destroyed. After that it served as a quary for building some of the houses in Kaiserwerth. I love the grass growing on the top.


This is me posing by one of the upper windows. Behind me is the Rhine River. This castle was once surrounded by water but one day a man and his troops came to the castle to free his friend the Bishop from the prison and the only way he could approach the castle without getting hit by arrows was to go upstream and make a dam. It took weeks to make it but once it was done it caused a finger of the river to dry up and he was able to approach the castle by land and rescue his friend the Bishop.









Maybe one of my German friends could translate this for me?? Most of the stones were translated to English except this one.













This was one of the water portals to enter to the castle from.














I love this photo. At the bottom of the photo you can see square holes. This was where the beams were to hold the floor up. The room was most likely the main banquet room.












This is looking from one of the lookout towers. It's quite the view from here. To the right is the Rhine, and below is the water portal to enter the castle.

The Rhine Tower

This is a picture of the Rhine Tower. I am at the bottom taking a picture looking up. I can't recall how high it is but it USED to be the tallest tower. The man working the elevator told me the CN Tower in Toronto is higher than this one. Regardless the view is quite impressive.








I'm now inside the tower looking down on the Rhine River. You can see to the far right a line of buildings that are in the previous postings (it's the picture I took while cruising the Rhine). A plaque inside states that some people can see the cathedral in Koln from here. I will post a picture of the cathedral in a later post, it's quite impressive.







This is an aerial view of the parliment buildings in Dusseldorf. Interesting construction. Personally, I prefer the older architecture to the modern/abstract style. I went to the tower on my own that day because my mother is scared of heights and did not think she would enjoy the view. I later did some shopping before I headed home. In fact, the pair of shoes I bought were the only ones to make it home. The other three pairs are still traveling inside my suitcase somewhere in the world. If you happen to find a red suitcase with my name on it please send it home.

Benrath Palace

I LOVE this palace. It has 600 acres of gardens and is just gorgeous! I could have spent another day there just exploring.












This is the the main palace. It was built by the King and he spent only 4 hours here and not one night. That is good use of tax payers money, eh? Too bad the guy on the right walked into the picture just as I snapped it.

Babies and Ice Cream

Ain't he cute? This picture reminds me of a picture I have of my own son at this age. There is something about the shape of his face. The only difference is the colour of hair.











It seems everyone loves to eat ice cream in Germany regardless of the weather. This is an afternoon treat for us after shopping all day. This ice cream parlor serves wonderful ice cream and is packed at peak times during the day. Ice cream in Germany is so much more flavourful it just explodes in your mouth. Mine is the one with the blackberries on top.

Pooping Gold Coins?

I couldn't make a posting without sharing this picture. We were in a hurry to get somewhere when I saw this on the corner of a bank. I just had to take a picture and show it to my son. Of course he thought it was hilarious. I wonder if it is the bank's logo? I should suggest it to my local bank.

Strange Architecture

This is an apartment building that won an award for it's strange design. The architect is apparently quite famous but I can't recall the name.













We took a small cruise on the Rhine and I went up on deck to take some pictures of the old buildings. The 3rd building from the right is probably circa 1960's whereas the rest are all much, much older. The place of the newer building was likely to replace a building destroyed during the war. I often saw evidence of this everywhere we went in Germany.






Here I am posing by the statue of the Prince. Yes, that is real gold I am touching. I was going to scrape some of it off but I was reassured by my brother that it would not net me very much in dollars. I'm not sure if I believe him....

Goofy European Pictures

I came across this water feature in the Alstadt. The goose to the far left is wearing a thong.














Another goofy picture. This sign is written in German but I'm pretty sure it means "no peeing". I guess they have a problem with it there.













This is the outside of a public urinal. I took a peak inside and was going to take a picture of the facility but let's just say the smell drove me away. It's also a little bit sexist that they only thought of men by providing a urinal but no arsenals for females.

Germany

Downtown Dusseldorf. The twisted tower to the left has a story behind it. The tiles were put on wet and when they dried the tower twisted. The legend goes that it will not straighten itself until a virgin is married in the church. The smaller tower to the left is currently a nautical museum.









This square is found downtown Dusseldorf in the Alstadt which is the old part of town. Streets are all cobblestone, narrow, and full of shops and pubs in the Alstadt. The statue of the horse and rider is of a past Prince. The horseman is surrounded by an iron fence painted in real gold.











This is our first afternoon in Dusseldorf after we have had a nap. We are downtown Kaiserwerth which is a small village/suburb in Dusseldorf. This is where my brother and sister-in-law live. The village is very quaint and is within walking distance (10 minutes) from their place. There are lots of places to eat outside in Dusseldorf. Eva is holding up her german dictionary and was able to translate the menu for us. Daniel is sleeping under the umbrella. I am drinking Schwepp's Bitter Lemon and it was definitely bitter!