glorious düsseldorf : a tourist in my own city and meeting my 77th travbuddy.

finally i have some time to write a blog about this. but i dont know where to start!

i met one of my friends in travbuddy byiang personally. she visited me and my city düsseldorf for 2 days before heading off to her eastern european trip. we were supposed to travel to spain and eatern europe together, but for some unforseen circumstances they were always cancelled. so i was really happy that she wanted to stop over for a couple of days in düsseldorf to see me!

on the first day, i picked her up at her hostel, she was asking me to give her itineraries - but i told her, why?! because i want to show her personally everything there is to see in düsseldorf and also the non-touristic places.

byiang was not the first person (and definately not the last) that i would show düsseldorf. everytime i do this, i feel like i am also a tourist in my own city, but i love doing this - showing people around düsseldorf, which is not very well-known outside of germanic speaking countries in europe and in the world.

i showed her königsallee, the famous shopping, fashion and expensive city in germany. then from the kö, we took a short subway trip to the otherside of the rhein river in düsseldorf which is the district of oberkassel where rich people with beautiful belle epoque (age of beauty) houses lives.

then we crossed oberkasselerbrücke (bridge) towards the old town. from the view we can see the art academy of düsseldorf, thyssen krup building, lambertus basilica, schloßturm and the rheinufer.  i am anxious of byiangs reaction, but all she can say in the first part was gorgeous and amazing.

inside the old town - i first toured her to the quiet part of the old town, byiang enjoyed taking pictures because this part of the old town is completely deserted. after a bit of walking i got hungry and introduced byiang to some european junkfood. my all favorite is fritjes from holland. we had frikandel (a sausage with mayonaisse, curry ketchup sauce) topped with fresh chopped onions and french fries. byiang absolutely loved it! hahahahaha

then we continued to walk in the old town and i showed her the rhein promenade, our townhall, the museum streets and the art gallery street and the unknown ana maria luisa de medici plaza.

i got hungry again! hahaha so we ate first at mcdonalds - then went to my favorite bar das schauckelstülchen for a couple of drinks. it was laready dark AND perfect to go to the harbor where neon lights are on and the glorious blue/violet lighting of the rheinturm is on.

i was very excited because byiang had a very powerful camera - nikon d80. i am very frustrated about the tower - because i couldnt get the night shots of it with my small compact camera.  it was very windy and chilly! but it doenst matter - i got what i wanted! a picture of the tower in its fully glory. thank you very much byiang!

after that, it was time to call it a night and we decided to meet the next day for a tour of two small of the five castles in düsseldorf.

on the second day, i met byiang at about 2:00 pm at the central station and headed off to the first castle which is called schloß eller - a prussian designed castle with a moat encircling the castle and woodlands around it. byiang was just so excited seeing the color of the trees around and the red earth with fallen leaves. i took her to the woodland paths and she enjoyed herself hunting for squirrels and enjoying the colors of early autumn.

after that, we went to the other castle which is more grand and with well maintaned and manicured gardens called schloß benrath - it is from the rococo period - where everything is grand, elaborate and ornate. well, in my opinion although schloß benrath is really beautiful i like schloß eller better because of raw plantage of woods surrounding the castle instead of manicured ones.

it was raining heavily when we were at the castle it was also damn cold but nothing would stop byiang from taking pictures! hahahaha.

it was a fun day, as i like byiang, we had so much things in comon from a point of view of a treveler, and also i missed talking in my language as she is also from the philippines.

we had dinner in a chinese fastfood in the oldtown, everyone knows me there and its been a long time since i was there and they were very excited to see me back again! hahahaha

before caling it a night, we went back again to schauckelstülchen and had latte macchiato. i wished byiang in her travel around eastern europe as she had 2 weeks ahead of her. it was fun to show düsseldorf around and i would do it again next time.