An afternoon in Dusseldorf before returning Home

A couple of months ago I enjoyed my first Dusseldorf layovers.  After a quick nap, we strolled downtown and enjoyed wienerschnitzel and pomme frites in Frankenheims, an old world tavern.  We layover in Neuss, a small city of 152,000 residents, nestled at the confluence of the Rhine and Erft Rivers. Founded as a Roman military outpost in 16 BC, today it's one of three of Germany's (Deutschland) oldest Roman settlements.  "Guten abend, drei bier bitte!" It's good to speak the language!

With another DTW crew, we're now standing outside of Frankenheim's, a beautiful building constructed in 1597 and restored after WWII. This is a typical cobbled stone square or platz, bound by interesting small businesses and St Quirinus, a massive, gothic church. This particular "platz" though is Munsterplatz. As you can see the weather was less than perfect for an early spring day, so we spent much of the afternoon ducking into bright, colorful, inviting bakeries, enjoying cappuccino and pastry. I just can't pass up a croissant with butter and jam. Europeans have coffee and pastry down; walking past one of these businesses is nearly impossible though, particularly if they serve gelato too. For my ANE pals reading this, yes, that's Irwin with the cap.

It's 5 p.m. or 1700 as a German would say and we've done an about-face to watch the glockenspiel. What's a glockenspiel you ask?  Continue below.

Here's the Neuss glockenspiel.  On the hour, doors open, chimes ring, music plays, bells toll and these colorful military figures march in step to guard the city below. It's great fun to watch. Perhaps the worlds most famous glockenspiel is located southeast of us in Munich, (Munchen) built in 1908 on the Rathaus in Marienplatz.  It's considerably more intricate than this version and attracts huge crowds. The literal translation of glockenspiel is "bells play." And as you can see in this photo, there are many bells. 

"Willkommen an bord"

Meanwhile, back to business the next day with Jim and Howard as we prepare to push back, taxi out and fly back to DTW.  Normally these flights are crewed with two FO's and one captain, but due to a scheduling anomaly, we'll complete this trip with two captains and one FO.  Lucky Howard huh? As a former Air Force pilot who saw duty aboard Air Force One, he has considerable international experience. 

Just behind us is this Air Berlin 737. Take a look up towards the Dusseldorf sign. Did you notice the the bottom of the letters are chopped off. It's not just this sign, but all airport Dusseldorf signs appear this way.  I queried several people, all German, and never received an answer.  I'm hoping someone who reads this can shed light on this oddity.  

Another 737 is behind us now as we complete our external inspection. This is Hapag-Lloyd, part of a large transportation company that operates a fleet of A-310's and 737-800's, mostly for vacationers. Standing just forward of our left wing, you've observed that our European 757's have had winglets added for greater fuel efficiency.  There's the Dusseldorf sign again. Any ideas?

While taxiing out to runway 23L, we happen across this Russian made TU-154. It looks remarkably similar to a 727 with a lot wheels doesn't it? First flown in October 1968, the production line continued through 2006.  There are many variants, but they carry as many as 180 passengers at near mach 1 speeds.  Fuel must not not be a concern in Russia!

We've been cleared into position to hold and as you can see, it's a bit foggy out here this afternoon.   With headwinds today, our flight-time will be nearly nine hours. That's a long ride in a 757, but according to the arrows here, we're headed in the right direction!

Just west of Scotland, as we step out onto the Atlantic track system, we're treated to this spectacular view of a Boeing 767.  

Nearly five hours after takeoff from DUS we make landfall at "LOACH," just north of Goose Bay Labrador.  Yes it's desolate, but spectacularly beautiful don't you think, as we fall in line behind a couple of other contrails.  We're not alone out here!

Hmm... a last minute decision to turn?  Actually no, I suspect a turn on course to head for the New York City airports.  The other contrail is on track for YUL, DTW, ORD or CLE. I love the stark beauty of this photograph

Just a little further along, here's a little better look as one of our compatriots peels off on his own. We'll leave you here as we make our last HF report to Gander, eat a little lunch, check our fuel and prepare for a re-release on to DTW.  Auf Wiedersehen!