Wanting to explore outside of Holland this year, we recently took two trips to German cities, both about two hours away by various means of transportation. The first was to Essen, last Saturday, which was about two hours away by car. The parts that we saw were the more modern areas, filled with shops, but a lot of the city was rebuilt after World War Two as it was an important target for Allied Forces because of its factories. Despite the airstrikes, old structures do remain. It was very hot, as there was a heat wave throughout Holland and parts of surrounding countries for a few days where temperatures topped 35 degrees Celsius, which is about 95 degrees Fahrenheit, dangerously warm as the average summer temperature is 22 degrees here. But, it was still fun to walk around, as long as we stayed in the shade.
Dusseldorf was the next city we visited, this past Thursday, and took two trains to get to, including the high speed international ICE. Luckily it wasn't so brutally hot this time. We spent ten hours walking around the city, from one street to the next, and still managed to miss most of the historical buildings, all located in the section of the city they call Altstadt, which translates literally to "old town". Like Essen, Dusseldorf was also heavily bombed during World War Two and most of the city was in ruins. So a lot of the buildings are modern, rebuilt during British occupation. It was an interesting city, situated right on the Rhine river. It was strange to not be able to understand what was being said around me, as it was the first time I've experienced that, but with a few words you can communicate with people pretty well.
The journey back home included an hour delay of the train in Dusseldorf, which is unusual for trains, as most of the time the delay isn't more than half an hour, but we should be able to be refunded for part of the cost of the tickets, so it wasn't a big deal. We got home around midnight, a long day but a lot of fun.
Dusseldorf was the next city we visited, this past Thursday, and took two trains to get to, including the high speed international ICE. Luckily it wasn't so brutally hot this time. We spent ten hours walking around the city, from one street to the next, and still managed to miss most of the historical buildings, all located in the section of the city they call Altstadt, which translates literally to "old town". Like Essen, Dusseldorf was also heavily bombed during World War Two and most of the city was in ruins. So a lot of the buildings are modern, rebuilt during British occupation. It was an interesting city, situated right on the Rhine river. It was strange to not be able to understand what was being said around me, as it was the first time I've experienced that, but with a few words you can communicate with people pretty well.
The journey back home included an hour delay of the train in Dusseldorf, which is unusual for trains, as most of the time the delay isn't more than half an hour, but we should be able to be refunded for part of the cost of the tickets, so it wasn't a big deal. We got home around midnight, a long day but a lot of fun.