Friday, May 26th, 2012
We land in Weeze around 22. Since it is already quite late we decide to stop for something to eat nearby before going to Dusseldorf. Looking at the guide, we see that Xanten is nearby. Then taken the car, we reach this town and head to the center. Pleased to discover that the city is nice, we eat at a pub on the square and take some photos of St. Victor. Then we go to Dusseldorf.
Saturday, May 27th, 2012
Our hotel is in downtown, so we move by foot. First we go to the park around the Landtag, then we go to St. Maximilian and we reach the 2 main squares: Marktplatz and Burgplatz with the tower of the castle. In Burgplatz there is also a statue of 2 children who make the wheel, the symbol of the city. We walk in the main streets, the waterfront and we arrive at Konigsallee, the shopping street, with a central channel. The sky is cloudy.
At late morning we go to Cologne to visit the cathedral. We take a few pictures, have lunch, walk along some pedestrian streets and then we enter the cathedral. We cross the river to take some pictures of the cathedral and the railway bridge. Before leaving the city, we stop near the Zeughaus and Romertor. A few kilometers from Cologne, there is Altenberg, where there is a cathedral with beautiful stained glass windows.
At about 7pm we return to Dusseldorf, we meet with my cousin and then we have dinner. We take a few pictures to the city with the lights.
Sunday, May 28th, 2012
After breakfast we go to Medienhafen district where there are buildings by famous architects.
Then we head to Maastricht. Maastricht is also a very pretty town, with a beautiful center. We climb the bell tower of Sint-Janskerk (a little hard), then we go to the square Het Vrijthof, and we visit the Sint-Servaasbasiliek. We walk some pedestrian streets until we reach the river and the Stadhuis. Back in the main square we have lunch, then we go, by car, to van Basiliek Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Tenhemelopneming (we saw it from the bell).
Our next goal is Aachen, but we stop in Kerkade. The city has the distinction of being half in Belgium and half in Germany, in particular a street of this city, on one side, Belgium, on the other Germany (it can be seen through parked cars). Reached Aachen, parked at a short distance from the Rathaus, we visit the Munster, really nice. At around 6pm we stop again in Xanten, we visit the city with the sun (the first night was dark) we see mill, Klever Tor and St. Victor.
We have dinner and then we go back to the airport.
