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Düsseldorf and the VicinityDüsseldorf and the Vicinity
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Düsseldorf and the Vicinity

June - August 2015
A 59-day adventure by Tom Read more
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  • Tom BanksDüsseldorf and the Vicinity
    Day 7

    Schloss Benrath

    June 10, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    I went on a daytrip to Holland today. It was for work. And then later in the evening I visited Schloss Benrath. I really can’t complain.

    Schloss Benrath was built in the late 1700’s and sits on the bank of the Rhein a couple of miles south of Düsseldorf. It takes roughly about a year and half to get there on an apocalypse tram. Or, to be more precise, about 25 minutes. But that is a lot of time when you’re in a race against the setting sun.

    I got to Benrath at about 9m, so only had about an hour and a half to play with before darkness set in. I didn’t get a chance to see much of Benrtah, the town itself, or the enormous palace gardens, but both seemed really nice. Tonight, I was here just to see the palace.

    Pink, Baroque, lovely. The palace sits, raised slightly, in front of a circular, tree lined pond. Geese and goslings, ducks and ducklings swam about the pond, which reflected the pinkness of the palace and the pale orange of the retiring sun. There are two wings on either side of the palace, which curve about the perimeter of the pond.

    To the back of the palace is another pond; a long one that seems to stretch on forever. Here nature has been tamed and controlled, in a very French, ordered way. A mini Versailles. The lawns were full of people, sitting watching the world go by or walking their dogs. (One person, would you believe it, was walking a bear. A barking bear! I jumped, ever so slightly, when I saw that beast.)

    There is an Englischer Garten too, full of roses and tulips and other flowers I couldn’t put a name to. An Englischer Garten with tulips. You see, Mum, there really is no excuse.

    Then there was an orangerie, an enormous orangerie. I’m partial to an orange myself, but these lots must have taken it to a whole different level. The orangerie was larger than the actual palace itself.

    Schloss Benrath seems to get overlooked. It isn’t on most people’s radars. Whilst my spinach ravioli was cooking (two days down, six to go), I was studying the new Düsseldorf street plan map that I’d just bought. I was trying to figure out the best way to the palace, when a housemate walked in and offered to help me. ‘I’ve been once,’ they said, ‘but that was over ten years ago, and I was there only by accident’. That was coming from someone who had lived in Düsseldorf all their life. So we worked out the best way to get there, and off we went.

    It is worth remembering, though, that this is the Rhein land. Palaces here are a plenty. So if Benrath should fail to get the attention it deserves, it’s because it’s a small fish in a big pond. If you head south there are palaces and castles scattered across the entire landscape. I remember travelling from Koblenz to Strasbourg, and for much of that journey the train followed the Rhein. On both the French and the German side, there were palaces and castles and fortresses almost every 200 meters are so. This patch of land has, over the years, been fiercely thought over. Although watching the geese paddle around the Schloßweiher, you would never have thought so.    Read more

  • Tom BanksDüsseldorf and the Vicinity
    Day 9

    Ein Kafka Freitag

    June 12, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    As Tom Banks awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

    I didn't really. But, as I went to bed on Thursday night, I fully expected to wake up on Friday with a nightmarish, kafkaesque day ahead of me. I had taken the day of work especially so that I could go and jump through the necessary German bureaucracy hoops. I was not expecting it to be easy.

    The first thing I had to do was go to there nearest Einwohnermeldeamt and register myself as residing at such an address. There are a number of these Einwohnermeldeamt offices scattered all across the city, each one relevant only to the residents of a particular neighbourhood. I searched google for the closet one to me, and scribed an X on my map (yes, I have finally found myself a Düsseldorf city map).

    I set off in to the 30 degree heat, searching for this buro, dreading the bureaucracy that lay ahead. It was a ten minute walk to the street the buro is on, and when I got to there, it wasn't obvious which building it was in. I had to do a bit of searching. But, eventually, I saw the government signage and paraphernalia, and knew I had arrived at the the correct building. I was a little surprised, then, to walk in and find myself in the middle of a buffet for Turkish woman. Out of about 25-30 people in the room, I was the only man, I was the only one not wearing a headscarf. Already something had gone wrong.

    'You are in the wrong room,' one of the women said to me, 'you must go upstairs to floor three.'

    I most definitely was in the wrong room, that's for sure. I took her advice and headed up to floor three. There, I had to sit in a room that reminded me of a doctors surgery; I had to press some buttons on a touch screen computer, which then in turn printed off a little piece of paper with a number on, and I then had to go and sit on a chair and wait for that number to be called out.

    My number was 430, and I watched the screen as it counted up to me, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429, me!

    Off I went, into the unknown, into the bureaucrats office. I heard the words, 'Guten tag,' for the first time since arriving in Germany, and I was instructed to sit down. I did so and handed over my passport. The woman then went about typing random stuff into her computer; typing in that really quick, loud, important way that that only secretaries know how to.

    And then we were done. Quick, easy and painless. She printed off a sheet with my address number thingy on and then started reaching about for something under her desk. 'Welcome to Düsseldorf,' she said whilst handing me what I thought was a pizza. Alas, it was just a box containing really useful information . But I was feeling hungry and needed some breakfast. I said 'auf wiedersehen,' for the first time since arriving here, and headed back out in to the heat. Next stop a bakery.

    After my Croissant, I had to walk for about 20 minutes to another civil service building (they are everywhere!), this one called a Finanzamt. There, I had to get myself a tax number. I got there and it was the same thing, same process. I sat down, waited my turn, got invited in to an office given a number and then that was that.

    Now what? Now I had to go and get another number from another civil service office - yes, another number from another civil service office! The number is called a Sozialversicherungsausweis, which, just for fun, you can try and pronounce. If you are good at it, why not try and pronounce 'Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänsmütze'? Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänsmütze means captains hat and Sozialversicherungsausweis basically means national insurance number. So yeah, after about 15 minutes of form filling I got my Sozialversicherungsausweis.

    Last thing last, I had to open a bank account at the Sparkasse. Surely, given that everything so far had go to plan, this would prove difficult and madly bureaucratic? But it didn't. It, too, proved easy and quick. And now it is half one, and I've achieved everything I need to achieve. Thank god for that.

    I'm going for a meal at 8pm in the Altstadt, but between then and now I have nothing to do. So why not wander around Düsseldorf for a bit and explore some of the neighbourhoods I'm unfamiliar with?    Read more

  • Tom BanksDüsseldorf and the Vicinity
    Day 9

    Königsallee

    June 12, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    The Königsallee is to Düsseldorf, what the Kurfürstendamm is to Berlin, what the Champs-Élysées is to Paris, or what Regent Street is to London. In other words, it isn't just the main high street (high street for 'high-end' brands) but also a cultural centre point and meeting place within the city.

    The Königsallee -- affectionately referred to as the Kö -- isn't really one street, but two. They run parallel with each other, separated by a tree lined canal . As far as I can tell, the canal is purely cosmetic, added to impress a feeling of class. But I don't really know. I only say that, because at the end of the Königsallee it just seems to stop. In any case, it's very nice. Every 100 meters or so there is a little bridge crossing it, where you can stand and contemplate life in Düsseldorf. The trees, the water, the bridges, all detract -- in a good way -- from the busyness of the high street.

    The shops on either side of the Königsallee are Gucci or Prada or some other such meaningless brand. It's for rich people. I guess if it weren't for the other activities that take place along the allee, it would be effectively a dead, sanitised playground for the wealthy. But the non-Gucci activities save it. Today, for example, running the whole length of the Königsallee were stall selling used books for three Euros, or beer, or chocolate, or Jazz vinyls and such stuff. It's a nice place, too, if you want so shelter from the 30 degree sun.    Read more

  • Tom BanksDüsseldorf and the Vicinity
    Day 9

    Some more of colourful Bilk

    June 12, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    There is only one adjective that can describe Bilk, and that is 'colourful'. It is extraordinarily colourful! I apologise for posting pictures of nothing but apex' of apartment buildings, but they are just so attractive to look at.

    It's a lively neighbourhood, with Greek, Italian, South African, Ethiopian, you-name-it type restaurants on every corner. And tables and chairs from cafes and bars pour out onto the pavement. Kiosks are open all night, and the dam apocalypse trams don't seem to stop either.

    Bilk reminds me a lot of Berlin and Barcelona, a cross between the two. And that can't be a bad thing - they are my two favourite cities. Did you hear that Joe? Bilk is a bit like Barcelona!    Read more

  • Tom BanksDüsseldorf and the Vicinity
    Day 9

    Die Altstadt

    June 12, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Die Altstadt -- the old town -- is where people go of an evening. I've been several times before, but this afternoon was my first time there with a camera. I wouldn't dare take my camera after the sun goes down. For what is strange about the Altstadt is how it can go from being the quiet, peaceful old part of Düsseldorf in the day, to the scene of debauchery that it becomes at night. To be fair, most of that is located on just one long street, but still.

    The reason why most of drinking that gets done in Düsseldorf gets done in the pubs and bards of the Altstadt, is because the Altstadt has forever been the site of breweries. There are a dozen or so of them here, brewing the 'Altbier' unique to Düsseldorf and the region.

    Apart from the breweries, every other building is either a cafe, a bar, a (Irish) pub or a restaurant. And the whole of the little old town is, as it should be, pedestrianised. I'm back off to the Altstadt now, for a meal at the Uerige brewery.    Read more

  • Tom BanksDüsseldorf and the Vicinity
    Day 16

    Schloss Dyck

    June 19, 2015 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Is it possible to tire of looking at castles? Probably. You'd have to have a real appetite for them if you were to attempt to see even half of the castles that Germany has to offer.

    Today, a drizzly day in north Germany, I stopped of at Schloss Dyck on my way home from Mönchengladbach. The pictures will have to speak for themselves because I'm too tired to write anything.Read more

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