Maxkirche/St Maximilian Church


I don't know why I didn't notice these pillars before, they're quite charming to look at. There's nine of them in Düsseldorf and they're known as the pillar saints. A casual stroll in the city can turn into 'spot the pillar saint', but during my stay there I only saw two. This is the bride.


Now I'm a sucker for crazy museums, and when I saw that Düsseldorf had a museum dedicated to mustard I had to go. A bit more low key compared to the Leprosy museum, or the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen museum, and doubling as store selling exclusively Löwensenf products, I think it is still worth a visit for any tourist, especially since it doesn't cost anything!





Old mustard mill.



Labelling stamps from the 30's



There was a huge selection of flavours, from the more common honey mustard to the more imaginative coconut curry and fig. The most unique for me was the strawberry mustard, and I was so impressed I walked away with my very own jar.


Modern mustard mill for small scale production.

The only downside to the Löwensenf Senfladen is that all the text material is in German, so unless you speak the language it was hard to learn anything. Then again, you don't need to be fluent in German to sample all 14 flavours!


Marktplatz


Bolkerstrasse, the heart of the Alstadt, "The longest bar in the world."



Now if you ask the crew what they love most about German food, most will say the Pork Knuckle (well, those that are able to eat it). Usually I can never get through an entire knuckle, and for some reason the only place I've managed to have a truly amazing pork knuckle is in a random bar in Mainz, near Frankfurt, back in 2006 during the FIFA World Cup. Then a Hungarian Crew member, Istvan, told me about Schweine Janes, and whilst they specialise in pork knuckles, what I loved about this place is that they do various grills and pork platters, and this one plate I had was just phenomenal. The meat was so juicy, and the crackling perfect, but to have it all served by super friendly staff made me want to visit again very soon.



The Königsallee, said to be the Champs-Élysées of Düsseldorf. Somewhat hectic to walk along one side of the road where all the shops are, on the other side it's quite nice.

So as far as the ankle goes, it's fine now. I don't really get any pain, but it is still quite stiff. I get physio once a week, and I still struggle with going down stairs, but I have these resistance bands that I do my ankle exercises with and they do help. I've been told that I can expect ankle swelling during flights, and that this won't stop for another 7-8 months! Sightseeing is a bit of a challenge as well, in Düsseldorf I lasted about 4 hours before I needed to take the weight off my legs. I'm still not allowed to go running for another month, which is driving me crazy! It's a long recovery process, that's for sure...