October 1, 2025 - Dusseldorf, Germany

Tobey was up early and visited with Stephan, Ashley, and Amelia before they left for work and Kindergarten. I, on the other hand, slept in and had a lazy start to the day. Around 11, we took the train from a stop near their house to the old part of town to do some exploring.

Tobey had downloaded a walking tour and we tried to hit most of the stops - even if we did backtrack and miss some!

The Haus der Universitat at Schadowplatz

Steigenberger Parkhotel below was built and opened in 1902. It sustained significant damage during WWII, and post-war was used by American and British occupying forces.

Kriegerdenkmal im Hofgarten is a war memorial stands on a remodeled remnant of the former city fortifications in the Hofgarten. The monument was inaugurated in 1892 and is dedicated to the fallen Dusseldorf soldiers of the German Wars of Unification and Franco-German War.
The Church of St. Andreas is a Roman Catholic church located in the center of Dusseldorf.

We also visited the Dusseldorf Memorial and Education Center. It is dedicated to all the victims of Nazi persecution in Dusseldorf. Unfortunately, all of the signage was in German and they were out of headsets, so we did our best. From 1933 to 1945 the Gestapo offices were located in the west wing of the building complex. There were hundreds of pictures of victims and even a bomb shelter in the lower part of the building. It was very well done, even if we couldn't read the signs.

The Neanderkirche in the center of Dusseldorf was built in 1684.

Altes Rathaus, the old town hall in Dusseldorf, is the wing on the northern side of the market square. It was built between 1570 and 1573 as the office and meeting place for mayors and the city council.

We walked on the boardwalk along the Rhine River enjoying the views. There were lots of restaurants and places to stop and relax. Barges were going up and down the Rhine all day.

The round white building behind us is the Schifffahrtsmuseum (maritime museum). We walked by but there was some construction going on, so we just enjoyed the view.

We enjoyed the architecture and views all around the city.

This sculpture in Dusseldorf's Old town is really bizarre, but it is to remind people of the struggles of war. It is located behind St. Lambertus, the tallest and most famous church in the city.


This is the front of the church.

After a long day exploring, we made the decision to walk back to Stephan and Ashley's since it was only about 3-1/2 miles. Maybe we're crazy, but it was fun seeing different neighborhoods along the way. We also went by the Goethe Museum which is dedicated to the German poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The building was beautiful!

We arrived back at the house about 5pm after a full day. We all went to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner. After Amelia went to bed, we had a little time to visit before before calling it a day. Stephan leaves tomorrow for Oktoberfest in Munich and Ashley has a workday. We will do some sight seeing before heading to our hotel before our early morning flight heading home (via Istanbul!).