Untethered : Home Free Global Nomads Edition One: August 12 to 18, 2018 The Netherlands and Germany

We begin our journey leaving Alto, MI to Grand Rapids Airport, we arrive in Chicago (ORD) for a 4 hour delay. We relax and have some snacks before boarding our flight to Amsterdam. We arrived 20 minutes early, get through Immigration, get on the train to Centraal. We walked to Michiel and Stefans, where we are great with smiling faces and big hugs.

After breakfast we head off to the beach in Zandvoort. We walked to Beach Pavilion Fosfor, sit in the shade have apple pie and Macchiato coffee. The weather was overcast and comfortable. The water was 21c but nice.

Stefan and Michiel on train from Central to Zandvoort

Wayne ready for the beach

Amsterdam Beach at Zandvoort

After getting back to the flat, we shower, grab dinner and off to Düsseldorf⁩. We arrived in Düsseldorf⁩ in 2.5 hours. The first few days we slept late most mornings, had coffee and breakfast then went grocery shopping. We made dinner each night for Michiel and Stefan, so they could just relax when they arrived home.

We took a couple of walks when we had good weather, the first few days weather forced us to relax. The water levels on the Rhine were significantly low, probably 4 feet.

Walking up the Rhine River Promenade, ‎⁨Düsseldorf⁩, ⁨North Rhine-Westphalia⁩, ⁨Germany⁩

Heimatbrunnen near abeautiful Baroque church

Heimatbrunnen ( Home Fountain ) is a nice little monument and fountain that was dedicated to Düsseldorf⁩ in 1982 and sculpured by artist Karl Heinz Klein. The Heimatbrunnen has reliefs on that show various events significant to the history of Düsseldorf⁩ such as the foundation of the settlement of Dussel to the rebuilding and regeneration of Dusseldorf post WW2.

Kö-Park

Königsallee (Graf Adolf Straße)

We took in the City Museum of Düsseldorf⁩ housed in the Old Spee Palace in the Alstadt (Old City). The history of this City in interesting in its development to a modern key industrial City and capital of North Rhine Westphalia. The entrance fee is 4 Euros, we spent 2 hours in the museum then sat in the enclosed garden in the shade. It was the perfect day to be outdoors and have a short walk from the flat. The museum is a must do in the City to have an understanding of its place in history and achievement to an industrial power.

Enclosed garden of Stadtmuseum (City Museum)

Garden

Placque leading into the Gardens for Anna Maria Luisa Medici Forenz

Media Tower on the Rhein, perfect night to get a photo

We went to Kaiserwerth for the afternoon with Michiel since he got out of work early on Friday. A beautiful sunny day in the convertible, Keith drove to get acquainted with the car and roads. Kaiserwerth is a quaint old village in Düsseldorf⁩. We walked around the old monastery/castle then stopped at Lido for gelato topping off our visit.

Beautiful destination on a sunny day known for its charming baroque houses from the 17th and 18th centuries. Take a stroll though the medieval village to the ruins of the "Kaiserpfalz", the legendary Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa's "Royal Palace", are located immediately on the banks of the River Rhine. Originally dating from the 10th century, the palace was built under the rule of Emperor Heinrich III and enlarged between 1174 – 1184 by Emperor Barbarossa, when he transferred the toll from the Netherlands to Kaiserswerth and needed a fortress to control the Rhein.