3. Juli: Zons, Dusseldorf

Sunday, July 3:

We had a leisurely breakfast, typically Germany with muesli, rolls with meat and cheese, and yoghurt. Then we drove past Kaiserwerth, past a car show, and across the Rhine River by ferry to Zons, a walled city on the Rhine river. Zons was a customs town which had received permission from the bishop to levy fines on the traffic on the Rhine beginning in the 1300s. We parked across the street from a bunch of goats.Then we walked to the town, past the windmill. We walked along the wall, looking at the towers and the buildings on the other side.Then we took the ferry across the Rhine again, drove to a market past Schloss Benrath, a pink castle with a large golden ball in the pond in front. We bought lunch at a stand. I had curry wurst, and Kristen had a vegetable sandwich. Then we went back to the house to rest and in the evening after a dinner of spatzle with cheese and sausage, we went to the old city of Dusseldorf. On the way we stopped by the main train station to validate our train pass since the train station by the Ho House would not be able to do that. We drove across the Rhine to look at the old city from the other side. Then we parked and walked around, seeing many beautiful old buildings. We were greeted by the four Muses as we walked into the city. Some kids had rented a six person pedal car and were pedaling around the parking lot in front of the river.Dusseldorf makes its own beer, a special dark beer. Apparently Dusseldorfers like to drink standing up, so most of the places along the street and in front of the river had stand up tables. After we had ice cream cones, we walked along the Rhinedrove back to Ratingen to get ready for the next morning.