So I have finally had my first romantic evening in Europe. Sadly it was completely platonic, but text book romance none-the-less, minus the kiss goodnight. I have recently befriended a fellow American from North Carolina, Clare, in which I was hanging out with last night. After our hopes of hitting a local museum were dashed to irreconcilable pieces we decided to hit the Rheinturm, or Rhein tower, instead. (I call it the Dusseldorf equivalent of Seattle's space needle). So we took a mid-winter evening stroll through town to the wide and mighty Rhein River, where our adventure begins.
The outside of the tower has a straight, vertical line of lights divided into three separate sections and displays the current time. Named 'Lichtzeitpegel' (or light time level) and designed by Horst H. Baumann the light sequence serves as the world's largest digital clock.
Upon entering the tower you find a mixture of silver and mirrors encompassing the elevator shafts shaped into a map of the continents and all the different time zones. After paying the small entrance fee my friend and I journey into the elevator only to conclude that we had in fact stumbled our way into 'couple's night,' clearly demonstrated by the elevator stuffed full with couples, Clare, and myself. Fair enough I would say, the Rheintower has a restaurant level at the top so it really is an ideal spot to bring a date sometime... So as they all emptied the elevator for the restaurant level we continued up to the inside observation deck. The drink kiosk was closed by this point so after our lap around the deck we found two chairs and sat to chat for awhile and take in the scenery.
Eventually we realized we were both starving and decided to go back to my place to cook and have a relaxed evening in after the late, late Friday night we had had the day before. My host mother said we were welcome to make some pasta and take a bottle of Prosecco from the fridge so we decided to do so. After throwing a meal together (mostly Clare throwing the meal together...) and grabbing some champagne flutes we headed to my room since that is the only space I can really host in. Luckily I have a small table and two chairs in the corner of my room and we set up shop. Flowers, soft lighting and music in the background we were a lit candle away from a legitimate "Lady and the Tramp" type scenario.
But really, she is great company and we had a great time chatting, laughing and just hanging out over a yummy meal and some good drinks. So if my most romantic night in Europe thus far was actually a platonic one that's okay, I'll still take it.
The Rheinturm from about a block away. It's blurry, but
I can still explain how you can read the time: In the top
section you read the hour. From top to bottom there is
one light lit, a space, then nine lit. This symbolizes 1-9.
On a 24 clock without AM & PM that is 7pm. The middle
section is minutes. The upper half reads the first number,
the lower half the second number. Since there is one light on
the top half and zero on the bottom, this symbolizes 10. The
seconds read the same way as the minutes. There is one lit,
then moving downward there is a space then five lit, equaling
15 seconds. The time is now 19:10:15.
On our way out all of them lit up
and colored lights streamed up and
down the side. We have no idea why.
The map that surrounds the elevator shaft.
It's North America!! (And Clare in South America).
Our romantic little set up. Aren't we so cute!?
What a great outing, and nice pix too! I'm glad you guys had a good time. Excellent blog entry!
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