Piquant Photos: Dec 2013: Dusseldorf Bound

So I had to pop over to Dusseldorf for a day..went over the night before on an evening flight, a tiny plane

but the evening was lovely

reached there by about 5 so decided to take a walk. Every time I have been to Dusseldorf, I never got a chance to explore the city so took the opportunity to have some fun.

Stayed in this place…lovely hotel and the breakfast was absolutely brilliant. And then it had this clock

a German hotel having a British Grandfather Clock? Anyway, headed out

So this is Peter Cornelius. Or could be this Peter Cornelius. Not quite sure…what are the chances, eh? My gut feel is that its the latter because this painter chap was born in Dusseldorf. Cool.

And then I pass along this building. Made my eyes goggle and hair hurt. just looking at it..

Is this a tomb? or a memorial stone? not quite clear…

ummmm, this is something for Robert Schumann. Curious biography…fascinating sculpture as well.

A little pool with a bridge and ducks

the opera house

Hmmm, this fellow was called as the Drunken Shakespeare.

Felix Mendelssohn…one of the great composers of the Romantic Era.

I come to the end of the park and then looking both sides, cross the road.

curious looking church.

no kids zone? why?

these four statues standing there…hmmm, could do with a lick of cleaning fluid

why not indeed?

You know, this crest business with multiple legs is quite interesting, I have seen this in Sicily, in the Isle of Man and now here in Dusseldorf. But this comes from something else. I quote from the Dusseldorf entry in Wikipedia.

The custom of turning cartwheels is credited to the children of Düsseldorf. There are variations of the origin^[12] of the cartwheeling children. Today the symbol (Der Radschläger)^[12]represents the story and every year the Düsseldorfers celebrate by having a cartwheeling contest……………..

The tradition cannot be linked to one specific historical event, instead, there are several stories surrounding the beginnings of the Düsseldorf Cartwheelers. Probably the most well known version is Battle of Worringen. In the battle of 1288 Count Adolf devastatingly defeated the Archbishop ofCologne. As a consequence of this victory, Düsseldorf obtained Town privileges. The inhabitants, especially the children ran joyfully on the streets and performed cartwheels.
Another story talks about a wedding procession during which one of the wheels of the wedding carriage broke. In order to fend off the threat of bad luck, a boy supposedly jumped to the carriage, took hold of the wheel and thus became a living part of the wheel. Whether the story is about the marriage of Jan Wellem and Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici or the wedding of Margravine Jakobea of Baden and Johann Wilhelm is debatable.
Another story gives an account of this wedding between Margrave Jacobe von Baden and Johann Wilhelm, in 1585. According to legend she felt miserable about her marriage, but the cartwheelers who displayed their skills next to her carriage were able to make her smile. Numerous travelers were attracted to the city by great exhibitions- the forerunner of today’s fairs between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. During this time the children who did the cart wheeling found out that it was a profitable source of income. The bourgeoisie accepted this in good humor as a symbolic act of local patriotism. In the beginning the lads shouted "för eene Penning schlage ich das Rad“ (cartwheel for a penny). The Jan Wellem monument returned to Düsseldorf at the end of the Second World War. The procession was accompanied by torches, fanfares and the cartwheeling boys.