Neandertal

'It's too hot,' my boss said. 'The office is closed tomorrow, you have the day off.' So, yeah, today has been a free holiday. In the morning, I had to run some errands, but from about 12 onwards I was free, left with nothing to do. The good thing, though, about Düsseldorf is its proximity to so many other cool places. I thought about going to the Netherlands again for the second time this week, but the logistics of going getting my car and then sitting in it put me off. I thought about maybe Münster, but I didn't fancy sitting on a train for over an hour. Eventually I settled on the idea of going to Bonn. I've always wanted to see the old West German capital, so I checked the train times and made my way over to Düsseldorf Bilk train station.

As I reached the top of the steps and made my way onto the platform, I saw there was a train pulling in and that its destination was Neanderthal. Change of plan, I thought. I hopped on and off I went. Again, I repeat, the cool thing about living in Düsseldorf is having so many cool places near by and accessible.

It took about 20-25 minutes to get to Neanderthal, which is just as well considering that it was over 35 degrees outside and somewhat hotter in the train carriage it self. I was amazed at how quickly we were out of the city, how it suddenly just stops and gives way, completely, to a dense forest. And what forest! The Neander Valley is just that; a valley, one hell of a valley. The result is an almost vertical wall of trees.

Anyway, I made it to Neanderthal, got off the train and made my way, through forest, towards the village centre. A village centre that almost entirely caters to the tourism.

The river than runs through Neanderthal is the Düssel, which, of course, is where Düsseldorf gets its name from. You wouldn't much know there were two rivers that followed through Düsseldorf, because compared to the Rhine the Düssel is but a pathetic stream. It is the Düssel, though, that collects the water from the Neander Valley and carries it through the hills here to the Rhine.

I followed the Düssel for a while, through the accompanying forest, to the spot where the first Neanderthal was discovered. Again, I carried on walk for a bit, before deciding to turn back, head into the village and explore the museum.Read more