Vier Nächte, Vier Sonnenuntergänge (Four Nights, Four Sunsets)

I’m going to have to recount the last 10 days as a gadabout mostly backwards.  After a brief summary, let’s start with the last four.  In the records, the first weekend in October has never been so warm.

I attended a ‘physics school’ on plasmonics and nanoantennas in Bad Honnef organized by the DPG (Deutsches Physikalische Gesselschaft) Sunday through Friday.  A 'school' is like a conference where the presentations are mostly intended to be somewhat tutorial and helpful for students and researchers who are advanced and early in their career.  Only one talk happens at once and the day is heavily scheduled.  Bad Honnef is a tiny town a little bit south of Bonn and across the river among more steep nested vineyards in the bends of the Rhein.  One can travel there in less than two hours by a train that follows the Rhein from Mainz, which includes some time on the regional rail.  Allow an extra hour to miss a train, if you're me.  

The cities from Heidelberg to Düsseldorf line the Rhein.  Traveling to Bad Honnef took almost two hours because I transferred to regional rail in Koblenz (50 minutes from Mainz), which is much slower.  I took a direct Inter-City train to return to Mainz from Düsseldorf which took only 2 hrs, 11 minutes.

On the first night, I met Stephan, who had been in his Ph.D. in Zürich for 5 days; time in Ph.D. now doubled on paper.  The school ended on Friday, and he and his colleague, Yasmina, in her Ph.D. for 4 months now, were visiting Düsseldorf until their flight home on Monday.  Monday (today) is a holiday in Germany (but not in Switzerland).  Both are from southern Germany and had never visited Düsseldorf.    

                Stephan informally extended an invitation, but I had to check with the whole party.  Yasmina happened to sit down next to me after wandering in for the second of two lectures on Friday morning, the last of the school. 

                ‘Stephan tells me you’re going to Düsseldorf today’ I said. 

                ‘Yes, we’re going to Düsseldorf’ she replied.  

                ‘Is it ok if I also go?’

                Her eyes widened, ‘To Düsseldorf?’  I nodded, I had no plans for the weekend.

                A surprised shrug, followed by ‘Sure.’  Excellent

                I called the hostel they planned to stay at.  All full, they said.  Well, I’ll go there, store my stuff in their room, and if I can’t find a room nearby, I’ll head back to Mainz at night, no problem, I thought. 

                Around 1pm, we hiked out of the DPG building and toward one of the two train stations flanking Bad Honnef.  From there, we shared a group ticket through Bonn, connecting in Köln (Cologne) (nine minutes to switch from platform 9 to 2), then arriving in Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhoff.  From Hauptbahnhoff, we purchased a group ticket for the regional rail, Stephan inquired directions from the locals, and we headed to the hostel.  Stephan and Yasmina negotiated with the receptionist for quite some time, hopefully not only my behalf, I thought.  Turns out, their reservation had gotten confused, and while all three of us could have a bed for Friday night, they were also out of a place for the remainder of the weekend.  Nonetheless, we settled in for Friday, and took to the Altstadt (Old City) by the Rhein.  Most cities/towns in Germany have a section called Altstadt, with narrow cobblestoned roads that no one drives on, lined with some hybrid of quaint, rustic, and Gothic architecture, shops, and bars. 

Our hostel, the following morning

Düsseldorf is the artsy and fashion capital of Germany, featuring statues that look like humans, humans that look like statues, broad allees of high end designers and trendy shops where consumers already donned in the latest styles tap into the hottest of the next minute.  Shops are closed by night when the bars and clubs on adjacent streets awaken even more to conglomerate into ‘the world’s longest bar’.  On first glance, the attitude on the street is materialistic and social and strongly contrasting to Mainz.  The high aspect ratio people and atmosphere along the river side lawn, bars, and cafes contrasts the pragmatic feel and casual appearance of Mainz.  The skinny jeans, trendy accessories, and roller skating in leggings, hot pants, or swim suits hint at a combination of Seattle, San Diego, and Rice Village.  The contrast grows starker in Altstadt past nightfall.  I’m thinking Seattle, plus Florida resorts, plus Jersey Shore. 

Statues that look like humans, at the tram stop

Outside of Hauptbahnhoff

Humans that look like statues.  We were outside this bier haus at night

Coin operated toilet

Even the geese take the tram

After lounging, a refreshment, and a nap on the lawn, we strolled past the bars and shore side restaurants to sit on the steps in front of the Dom.  Yasmina had a ligament in her knee repaired 6 weeks ago and I had an ankle repaired 31 months ago.  Stephan insistently gathered a baguette, smoked salmon, and some red wine to arrive just in time for the sunset, that the church bells decided to accompany.   Once the sunset, we headed into Altstadt, first to the supermarket for a third bottle of wine, and some snacks, and then to loiter with the locals outside a brewery with some Alt, the beer locally brewed there.  Apparently, Düsseldorf and Köln don’t really like each other; you should never ask for Kölsch in Düsseldorf nor should you ask for Alt in Köln.  Yasmina offered cashews to passersby in exchange for opinions of Stephan’s red pants, leading to a night long friendship between three middle aged women taking a break from their families across the river for a girls’ night out. 

The curvy sidewalk, notice the red pants

See the church tower down yonder, we sat by there for our sunset dinner

View from the lawn

I'm not sure where they're putting this car

Tap for dogs

Blurry, but notice the red pants and roller blades

I like shadows, especially on a colorful wall

Ready!

Saturday morning we were without a place for the night.  Over an hour, Stephan and Yasmina researched and called local hostels and inexpensive hotels, eventually securing a room in a hotel that was more conveniently located near the Stadtmitte (city center).  We migrated there, agreed on the evening’s activities of sushi to go, sunset, and dancing, then split for shopping and wandering.  Stephan craved designer socks, Yasmina searched for shoes, I wanted photos and ice cream, so we agreed to meet at the hotel to drop off our loot before venturing into the nightlife. 

The streets of Altstadt were packed

Furs

Check out the red dalmation boot

A hamburger, assembled from cake

People going to mass seemed ready for clubbing

You tell me, then we'll both know

A successful economic center, Düsseldorf unsurprisingly has a Japanese quarter, finding high quality sushi was no problem, and the restaurant even took 10% off if you took it to go.  The sun had just set when we arrived at the steps.  Nonetheless, the colors of the sky, sushi, and wine had the same spectacular content feeling from the night before.  Stephan found recommendations for clubs from small groups of young local females while Yasmina and I shared a table with two locals closer to our age who educated us on Düsseldorf , jewelry, and other places I should go in Europe with the perfect gallery of cocktails. 

Same bridge, different night

Gallery of cocktails

Ghost?

Upon realizing the time was half past midnight, the three of us decided between some options for clubs that Stephan had researched in conversation, among them ‘Pretty Vacant’ and ‘Anaconda Bar’.  Stephan couldn’t understand why Yasmina and I scoffed at ‘Anaconda Bar’.  We headed to ‘Pretty Vacant’ and were among the first five people there.  Yasmina couldn’t stop telling Stephan the place was ‘Pretty Vacant’.  We nonetheless rocked out to The Clash, Franz Ferdinand, something grungy, something more rock like, some version of all that in German, and a splash of Kraftwerk, a new favorite of mine, originally from Düsseldorf (since 1970).  The place was packed by the time we left at half past three.  Yasmina and I stopped for Pommes before strolling home along the tracks for the tram, which don’t run for a few hours every night.

'Pretty Vacant'

Sunday started at half past noon.  We returned to the corner of Japanese Quarter for a coffee at this toy store/cafe.  We split again in the afternoon so Stephan could read on the lawn by the river, Yasmina could decide on shoes she had considered the previous day, and I could indulge my tendencies to roam without guidance in an unfamiliar place.  

I might have roamed through the red light district, quite tame and unpopulated by day, and into Volksgarten, a large park on the south side of the city.  I didn’t know how far south or how far from our meeting place it was until I looked at the map later.  

Guess what's under the bridge?!?

That's what's under the bridge!

Volksgarten, where dozens of people rode bikes, lawn bowled, had BBQs, read and tanned.  

Of course I had ice cream for lunch again

For once, I sought guidance from people in the park and in the train stations for the combination of trains I needed to take to get back to Altstadt by the Rhein, where I would meet Stephan and Yasmina for a final viewing of the sun on the same steps we watched it from the previous nights and goodbyes, as I had determined on Friday that I would return to Mainz on Sunday night. 

In accurate shot with my 'long' arm, yet genuine.  I now have friends in Zürich!

Viele Gruß Düsseldorf

Today, I’m drafting this posting from Mainz-Kastel, the town directly over the bridge from Mainz (see 'Weekend in the Rain: Part II').  I biked over here to meet part of my research group and our electron microscopy counterparts earlier for a barbeque.  The sun has settled again, just 2.5 hours to the south by train along the same river from the previous night's sunset theater.  Today's photos are shown in reverse order.