Gary's last weekend in DD

Sept 4 & 5
We got back to DD on Saturday late afternoon. It was great to see that the sun was out, a big change from the last couple of weeks where it rained on and off. I took Gary back to Altstaedt to a very different scene. With the warmer and nicer weather it seemed like all of DD was out. It was the most crowded I've seen. I was glad he got to see what I was trying to describe before. When we were here the weekend before, it was raining on and off and it was cold. As a result it was not as crowded. We sat on the edge of the river to watch the pretty sunset. We went back to Ratinger street to find Braueri Fuchshein which according to trip advisor had the best Alt beer and great german food. Well, I did find it but the place was absolutely packed. Even the sidewalk outside was packed with people drinking beer. It's not like the restaurants back home where the hotess will take your name down and call you when your table is ready. When I did find a waiter and told him we wanted to eat. He told me to find a table and left with his tray of Alt beer. We did walk around the restaurant and all the tables were full. I did read that you will probably have to share a table so I was ready to do that. But there was not a spare spot in this crazy restaurant. I told Gary this was too stressful for me so we left. A few restaurants down the street we found Braueri Uel. It turned out to be perfect because we got to sit outside and the waitress spoke english AND she gave us an english menu. This was a rare event in DD! During the course of our dinner we got to watch Ratinger street (remember this was "the longest bar in the world") fill up with hundreds of people. Some would be eating at the tables outside but most would stand along the bar tables scattered along the edges of the sidewalks drinking beer and conversing with friends. I tried to take a picture of the whole scene, hopefully it came out ok.

On Sunday Gary & I had enough time to take another short hike in the hidden forest by the apt before meeting up with my colleagues Juliana and Laszlo. We had made plans to go to Benrath castle. The castle was a 15 minute tram ride from my place. This was not the traditional sleeping beauty castle that most people would picture. Instead it was more like a palace. It reminded me a lot of Versaille (but much smaller) with its extensive gardens. The palace itself was small in size and served more as a vacation home. We paid for a guided tour and it was well worth it. The inside was incredibly ornate. Unfortunately there were no furnishings but the details of the ceilings, walls, and floors were incredible. The strangest part was that we had to wear these huge wool slippers over our shoes so as to not harm the floors. It was awkward at first but we eventually learn to glide rather than walk. You had to be there.

After the tour of the castle we walked along the extensive gardens. The whole property had to be almost half a mile in length. We walked to the end to the Rhine river and stopped at a Biergarten to enjoy a nice beer. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

My last night with Gary !! :-( We decided to make it quiet and had some pizza at a local take out place in Holthausen then took a long walk towards Benrath to watch the sunset on the river. I will miss Gary but will see him in 4 weeks. Now it's time to focus on work again and get ready for my assignment in Philippines and Taiwan.