Düsseldorf - trip 3, week 2
The Düssel River carves its way through limestone, originally giving rise to steep gorges that were the playground of artists and the wealthy looking for a weekend diversion in nature. One such gorge was named for Pastor Joachim Neander (hence the Neandertal, or Neander Valley). Unfortunately for nature, the limestone became more valuable than the sightseeing beauty and the entire valley was excavated. Fortunately for science, during the course of the excavations a set of strange human bones were discovered, which naturalist Johann Carl Fuhlrott recognized as being significant and are now named Neanderthal 1.
The Neanderthal Museum is located approximately at the site of the find, and includes three floors of information on human species, evolution, etc. You can stroll alongside the Düssel to the site of a subsequent excavation where more bones attributed to Neanderthal 1 were discovered (100 years later!). The top level of the pictured tower shows the best-guess location of the original Neandertal cave where Neanderthal 1 was discovered (the red-and-white posts, if you can make them out, are the site of the 1997 excavation).
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| A Campbell soup can - who could this be by? |
We then drove into Düsseldorf itself to visit the K20 art museum, which contains a managebly-sized collection of pieces from the 20th century. Originally designed to hold a large collection of Klee pieces, the content has expanded and also holds multiple Picassos, Warhols, and Chagalls, among others.
P.S. In the Protestant semifinal, England topped the Netherlands 2-1.
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