Day 8 (June 12th)

Met YH for breakfast. Changed it up a little and had the sliced chicken sandwich with lettuce, tomato and mayo on a roll (not bad) with chocolate milk. Decided to head over the bridge to Oberkassel. This is the section of Dusseldorf west of the main city. It took about 30 minutes to walk to the other side. Mostly residential houses with lots of moms walking/strolling with their kids. Took some pictures of the buildings. There were a few stores but nothing unique. Definitely cheaper then the main section of Dusseldorf. I had packed a turkey sandwich with cheese so I stopped at a little store and picked up an Oscar Maxxum alt beer (ok) and headed to a park bench on the Rhine. Very relaxing but a little cool out and overcast. Finished lunch and continued to walk around. Found another store and picked up a chocolate bar to snack on. Continued on my way and found a Buddha temple in a Japanese garden. Very nice place to chill out and take some pics. Headed back down to the Oberkasseln Brucke bridge and into the Alstadt (old city) of Dusseldorf. There was a group of young adults playing German rock music. There was a bunch of young adults (some punked out) dancing around (almost like a marsh pit dance) in front of the truck where the band was playing. Watched them for a little while and headed back to the room. Met Al and had dinner with Renee and Rich from Citibank (both from NY). Actually Rich lives in Great Neck now so we spoke about that for a while. We ate at a fancy restaurant called the Monkey Bar. I had a scallop with savoy cabbage as an appetizer and fried turbot fish for the entree along with a Monkey Alt beer. For dessert, I had a strawberry and Sichuan pepper sorbet. The food was expensive and nothing extaordinary. Dinner was long and lasted for 3 hours and 15 minutes. Headed back to the apartment after dinner.