Down By The Riverside (10 Km): The Biggest Construction...

Düsseldorf, Germany

Down by the riverside (10 km): the biggest construction of Duesseldorf, the Rhinetower, is our starting-point and with a height of 234m not to fail. From the look-out platform we have a fascinating panorama. But unfortunately we can't involve the tower in our running tour, because the staircase is closed for pedestrians. We pass the parliament of North-Rhine-Westphalia, an interwoven glass construction, symbolising the complexity of democratic institutions. Now we reach the Rhine embankment and move straight forward to the north. Until 1993 this route was dominated by a fussing city motorway. Then a tunnel was build to relocate the traffic underground. Today the motor free area at the Rhine bank is the most popular promenade and the living in the city has got a new impetus. We are passing on the right hand the famous Altstadt and are running towards the old Schlossturm, the only remain of the castle of Duesseldorf, which was 1872 destroyed by the flames. Another landmark follows. No, we are not in Pisa, also Duesseldorf has a leaning tower: the steeple of the St. Lambertus church, which is surrounded with legends. Who was responsible for the misery? The revenge of the devil or the master builder. Nothing at all is true. Responsible were quite simply the twisted roof beams, who had to be renewed after a thunderstrike in 1815. If your condition allows only a small round, turn to the left, cross the Rhine on the Oberkasseler bridge and go back on the other side of the Rhine. We prefer the big lap and go straight forward, passing the Kunstmuseum, which remembers us to the fabled reputation of Duesseldorf as an art centre, until the day, when the former Bavarian rulers of the North Rhine had stolen most of the splendour and brought it secretly to Munich, because they bartered away their Rhenish estates to Napoleon in order to be appointed by the emperor to kings of Bavaria. A circular tower, the head office of the Victoria insurance