Globetrotting
DÜSSELDORF
by Rich Rubin
Just twenty minutes from Cologne, Düsseldorf lures
with its sophisticated air, hot design scene, great restaurants,
and genteel boulevards. The Königsallee is
one of the world’s great streets, comparable to the
Champs d’Elysses or Fifth Avenue. While you’ll
certainly want to take a stroll there, it’s in some
of the smaller byways that you’ll find the most fascinating
parts of this lovely town, set both on the Rhine and the
Düssel, the small river that runs through this dorf
(village). Capital of the North Rhine/Westphalia region,
it’s within 100 miles of much of Germany’s population:
not only Cologne but other major cities like Essen, Duisburg,
and Bonn are just a short train ride away.
With such an overwhelming number of
people within a short distance, Düsseldorf has
emerged as the region’s upscale and fashion-conscious
center of style. There’s great food here, perhaps
coming from the fact that it’s quite multi-cultural
(one quarter of the city’s residents are from outside
Europe). Have a seat at a sidewalk café on the
Königsallee (locally known as “The Kö”),
a wide street with banks bordering one side while restaurants
and shops line the other. A canal runs down its center,
crossed by several bridges. It might seem like half
of the city’s 500,000 residents stroll by at one
point or another. Definitely stop in Heinemann
(several locations, www.konditorei-heinemann.de),
famous for its amazing cakes and chocolates. Treat yourself
to a slice of orange torte, vanilla/chocolate mousse
cake with marzipan, or the like. Then, order coffee
at a table and await the arrival of your sugary masterpiece.
Duly energized, stroll through the Hofgarten,
Düsseldorf’s central park, past a Henry Moore
sculpture, and over a bridge spanning a lake laden with
swans. Walk under the chestnuts, pines, and sequoias.
Visit museums devoted to writers Heinrich Heine and
Wolfgang Goethe. If you’re here on a Saturday,
check out the open house held at the Academy of Art,
where you can enter the studios of the student artists
and maybe come out with a masterpiece by one of tomorrow’s
artistic titans.
There’s a truly artsy air to the
town. You’ll see public art everywhere, from the
Moore piece to statues of “ordinary people”
placed high on columns, created by a local artist. Visit
the Carlstadt area of town, a short walk from
the (rather touristy) Old Town, and you’ll find
design studios offering everything from fashion to jewelry
to home furnishings. There’s art and design everywhere
in this town. Back on Ratingerstrasse, at the
entrance to the Old Town, there’s another group
of galleries with remarkably good work at equally remarkable
prices.
Düsseldorf is in some ways a city
of contrasts. In the re-created Old Town (the
city was almost completely destroyed during World War
II), restaurants, bars, and nightspots line the narrow
streets, packed with determined revelers. A five-minute
tram ride away, the Media Harbor stands in gracious
contrast, home to most of the radio and television industries
and an increasing number of fashion-related companies.
The no-longer-used harbor is lined with stunning contemporary
architecture, featuring buildings by such greats as
Frank Gehry (who did three here). The town is something
of a digest of modern architecture, and every day seems
to bring a new creation (currently, there are two buildings
by Daniel Libeskind under construction in the town center).
Continued
|
