The Main Event
Jos, Ouss and I went direct to the Hbf to meet the others, arriving at 4:45, just in time (or so we thought). We waited for a while and had a chance to meet the other travbuddies as they gradually wandered in, with roll call coming around 45 minutes later. Joining us here were kat_mac27, Bondy2007, wanderinwurzel, lovely_lori88, marloesetman, devika1985, Robbo_88, Jefrois, 2win, Otto219, mat-uk, ben589, anamorenoramos, eefab, wayneollerenshaw, ashishrb, nycgirl76, archie1978, mypictures4u, and darlingwish.
Following roll-call (not in alphabetical order) we ventured onto the U-bahn where we terrified a train car full of locals with 44 foreigners crowding into a single car at once. We managed to make the journey over the river and all got off the train at the right station for the walk back across the bridge, along the promenade and back to the place where some of us had stopped for lunch earlier (Cafe Weisse Flotte, if my backwards picture reading is correct).
From there it was on to Dinner. We managed to slog through the rain along the promenade, past the Rheinturm and Gehry-designed Zollhof building to the location of the official dinner, also called Zollhof as it is across the street from the building. There we were joined by Gclaessen, koala, luci26, viciousv04 and Nick (as well as some others from Friday who missed the walk over).
The food was excellent, and I have to give credit to the waitress who never seemed to lose her patience with us and the constant stream of drink orders. Considering the size of the group, things went mostly smoothly, some mix-ups with who ordered what, but overall nothing drastic. Not many places could have handled a group this size.
The group started to break up a little after dinner with the first couple people heading home or back to the hotels, with the rest finding their way eventually to the Altstadt where we managed to find a great pub that had awesome music and great beer. We managed to outlast the initial packed house and by the end of the evening, we had the mid-front bar area almost entirely to ourselves. Some interesting moments and a little paranoia attack based on a vibe from some of the local clientelle, but all's well that end's well.
Thank you Lauro for organizing such a great event. I don't know how you did it, I would have gone crazy trying to put this together. I had a wonderful time, and based on what I've seen from the others, the feeling seems to be shared by all. You outdid youself. I think we need a new award on the site for meet-up organizers and you should by default be the first recipient.
Thanks also to everyone who showed up and helped make this event such a success. I truly enjoyed meeting you all, and look forward to seeing you all again at future events.
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Dusseldorf Walkabout
Saturday morning, after a short nap (six hours or so) and a quick breakfast, I met Jos in front of my hotel and we went for a stroll through the city before daring to call the others to see what they were up to. First stop was by my carpark to see if I had my phone charger there in case it was still needed (I had it, but didn't need it) from which it was only another hundred meters or so to Koningsallee. Not being shoppers, we continued to wander through the area and then over to the Rheinturm. We expected the day to be miserable weather, but we were lucky to have a nice morning, and weren't sure exactly what was planned for the afternoon, so we hopped up to the top of the tower for some experimental photography and great views.
After the tower, we walked up past the Pfarrkirche St.
The first leg brought us back past the Kirche to the Art Museum for some fun in the playground, an amazing piece of scrap-metal art (um, ok) and a nice reflected view of the Rheinturm. From here it was back to Koningsallee for some window shopping, people watching, and coffee. After a brief shopping break, we walked through the Hofgarten, were amazed by some squirrels, climbed a few trees, and marvelled at the giant bottle opener...or person drinking a missing bottle of wine...or screaming...or whatever. We passed by a few museums, molested and imitated some statues, found the tourist ATM (the one with the big line) before stopping for lunch on the promenade (where we coincidentally wound up for drinks later) and then heading up to join the group for the official meet-up.
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