It’s an overcast Sunday morning. I did a bit of laundry while Stefan worked. And the kids finally enjoyed the backyard because the family with their two girls were playing back there also. We stayed home until noon. It was really nice.

The kids played so much in the sandbox, and we were all happy the kids got so much playtime before the rain began.

We decided to drive to Dusseldorf for a bit of adventure. It’s only 30-40 minutes away, and we have our car right outside. So instead of trekking around Cologne in the rain, we decided to trek around Dusseldorf in the rain! (I don’t know, but it made sense at the time). Of course Oly fell asleep in the car. So we drove around a bit longer to give him a solid 40 minute nap. Lillian is really enjoying the audiobooks I put on my phone. We listened to a bit of Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary, a book I enjoyed as a kid. She loves it. I forgot it’s all about Ramona’s first year of kindergarten, which Lillian will start this year. Pretty cool.

//Stefan Note: We saw papas P90 here next too a 650k EUR benz, it was red too

Our first stop in Dusseldorf was a car museum Stefan found online. I couldn’t find it in any of my guidebooks, but we decided it was worth checking out for Oly. It turns out it’s this beautiful old train junction (a large semi-circle space where multiple trains came in to be serviced or turn around or whatever). The building itself was super cool. Then it seems most of the cars were for sale. For a ton of money. So it was free to just walk around and peruse. No touching of course, whcih was a hard one for Oly. He sat on Stefan’s shoulders to curb the temptation. He was so happy. He just kept saying, “look at that one!”, “mamma, take a picture of that one!”, “That one’s my favorite!” and “That’s a super old fast car!” It was amazing. There really were a ton of fancy old cars. I’d recommend it for fanatics (whether they are young or old). There’s even a small (overpriced) cafe in the center from which you can see the whole room of cars. We had a ball. The rain started pouring heavily and we heard it rumbling on the roof. A bit of thunder scared the kids a bit. I love rain. This type of weather just makes things more interesting.

//Stefan Note: Olaf Note: Das GunderVagon

We ran to the car and the rain stopped by the time we’d parked in the city center. We walked around the downtown area, which seems very nice except everything was closed on Sunday. This town seems fancier than those we’ve visited already. People were dressed nicer, and there were tons of fancy stores. Maybe it was the “car museum”, but I saw fancy cars everywhere.

We walked across the old city center, Alstadt, to a cool beer bar called Brauerei im Füchschen, which means something like “Little Fox”. We sat outside, under the roof, and drank the town’s infamous Alt beer. It was actually very good. I think I like it more than any of the Kolsch I’ve had so far. We had a cool salad that had potatoes and runny eggs with it. Who wouldn’t want fried potatoes and runny eggs on a salad?! Germans are amazing. Oh also the pork knuckle Stefan ordered was hands-down the best pork knuckle ever. So delicious. No wonder I’m already gaining weight on this trip.

I drove us home so Stefan could have more than one beer. It was stressful. Germans drive like crazy people! Most people were going close to 200km/hr! I can’t believe it. I was terrified. Thankfully it was a short drive, and we were home by 7:30pm.