Europe 2016: Neuss

📷 Photographs

Wednesday, 21 September 2016

While this post is titled (and is centred around) Neuss, today was mostly devoted to our time in and around Ypres. Susan lost two great-uncles and a second cousin at Mount Sorrel 100 years ago. First, a visit to the Menin Gate on the east side of Ypres. Then we spent some time nearby at the Hill 62 (Mount Sorrel) Memorial, which is now a lovely spot. At the time we were not aware that 21 September is the UN Day of Peace, which made our visit all the more poignant.

Thursday, 22 September 2016

Friday, 23 September 2016

Saturday, 24 September 2016

Sunday, 25 September 2016

Today we spent visiting Düsseldorf, a city of about 600,000 on the east bank of the Rhine. It was a particularly lovely day and the local populace took full advantage. It seems that most of them were on the huge Rhine embankment promenade that seems to go on forever and is lined with cafés and bars. It is a great place to wander about, watching the people (many of them eating ice cream) and the river traffic. Barges, passenger craft and a few small pleasure craft all feature in a continuous march up and down the river. We had planned to visit an art museum (for which Düsseldorf is known), but it was just too nice to go inside!

Monday, 26 September 2016

We spent today in Köln (Cologne), which we liked quite a lot. The highlight of our visit was the Kölner Dom (not surprising!), which is really, really impressive. About 40 km south of Düsseldorf, the main part of this city of 1 million lies on the west side of the Rhine. There was a lot to like here and given the chance, we would return for a longer stay.