Sunday, February 17, 2013

German Architecture

Another weekend walking in the streets of Düsseldorf.

First I headed in direction the Reinturm... this very high tower (240.5 meters) dominating the landscape of the city:
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Reinturm
It is a telecommunication tower, but there is an observatory deck and a restaurant at the top.

To my surprise i discovered just beside it, some very interesting buildings, in the mediaharbor
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Neuer Zollhof
Designed by American architect Frank O. Gehry, build between 1996 and 1999.
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Neuer Zollhof
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Neuer Zollhof C and B
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Neuer Zollhof B

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Neuer Zollhof B


On the opposite side, a building seemed to be under invasion:
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Building invasion
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Climbing all over the place
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Climbing invaders.

And there is also the Colorium:
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MediaHarbor
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Colorium
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Tetris anyone ??
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Maybe not
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aA
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Fog over the tower
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The old crane of the harbour
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Neuer Zollhof C
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The End



Additional infos:

Sunday, February 03, 2013

First steps in Düsseldorf...

So here it is, I am in Germany since a week, and I made my first steps into the old Düsseldorf
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Düsseldorf
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Tram... decent public transport....
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Beer anyone ?
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Cycling lane ... where to go ?

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Useful bike

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statue ??
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I think I need a drink
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Pierre Boulle


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what ?
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dusse
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place
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Symmetry
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Speeding on the Rhine
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x
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Rhine
Day 33
Rhine
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Statue

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Playing petanque ... maybe 

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Mario the plumber meddling with chinese dragons ?


So what are my first impressions:

  • A great sense of order and organisation, seriously, I walked in a market and even the potatoes were neatly stacked, and organised by size.
  • The all city is full of bike, you can't walk 5 meters without seeing a bike parked in the street, or having one passing you. Great to see so many people using bike. Bike theft does not seem to be a big concern since most bike get attached with very simple locks, and seems to stay here for weeks.
  • The city is very pedestrian and cycle friendly, it's really a great feel and great to see,
  • There is very efficient public transport system, mainly tram bus also buses.
  • Even when walking in the medieval part, the city looks new and neat, but this might be due to the fact that they had to rebuild almost everything after the bombing.
  • Traffic lights, are pedestrian friendly, as compared to their Irish counterpart, which does leave you barely the time to cross the street before giving way to car ( I sometimes wonder how slower, older people have time to cross). As a result there is no jaywalking, people are very obedient - it seems crossing at a red light is frown upon as it shows a bad example to kids.


Brickmania

Lego Smurf castle ??   Eva.... massive build Swimming in bricks ?