Bonn is like Cologne's "little sister".
It's situated only 25 km south of the Dom-City and their
inhabitants of both places are quite familiar in things
like menthality and dialect which means the nice
"Kölsch" or Rhenisch accent or slang. The
most important aspect is the common history mostly based
on the era when the Romans were the masters all along
the left bank of the rhine in old Germania. In the 19th
century Bonn had become well known in the world because
of its famous son, the composer Ludwig van Beethoven.
But the real rise of this middle-sized city with 300.000
inhabitants today has started in 1949 when it became the
capital of the new "Federal Republic of
Germany". The first chancellor of the FRG, Konrad
Adenauer (who was Cologne's mayor until the Nazis chased
him away in 1933), used his influence for this important
decision. In this role as Germany's capital city for 42
years Bonn has risen to a nice and modern place. Even a
fast subway line was built in the 1980's. There are only
short
distances between
the most important sights. Some examples of them
are the Old City Hall at the Markt that was built
in the Baroque style in 1737. Visitors often climb
the famous stairway in front of the facade to the
platform where famous guests of the state, queens
and kings once stood and
made their speeches to
thousands of people standig on the market place. Only a
few steps away there's the Beethoven house where the
composer was born in 1770. The nice building is a museum
about life and works of Beethoven now. The city's main
church, the "Münster" of the 11th century,
also belongs to the "musts" of a guided tour
in Bonn. There on the "Münsterplatz" you can
meet the "alive" Beethoven as a metal monument
standing on a socket in front of the main postal office.
Worth to be seen is the former residence of prince
elector Clemens August von Wittelsbach that houses many
rooms of Bonn's university. From the campus you may
follow the Poppelsdorfer Allee (avenue) with its
beautiful buildings of the Art Nouveau and the gas
streetlamps to the Poppelsdorfer Schloss (palace) where
classical concerts under open sky take place in the
summer. In general, downtown Bonn or the southside of
central city with its many houses built in the beginning
of the 20th century is a real highlight.
When visiting Cologne it's worth
making a trip to Bonn, Schloss Brühl (rococo palace) or
Königswinter with a ride by rack railway up to the
castle ruins on the Drachenfels.
Trips and tours to Bonn, Brühl
and Königswinter
OLD
TOWN BONN AND BEETHOVEN HOUSE We'll take you to the
most beautiful spots of Bonn's old town: Müns- ter,
city hall, city gate, old market and Old Customs
Office with the nice rhine view. We also follow
the traces of the great Ludwig van
Beethoven to his parents' house. For your Inquiry
please name the title of this guided walk and tell
us the required date and time as well as the
number of persons.
BRÜHL
AND PALACE AUGUSTUSBURG After
a walk through the nice old town of Brühl (20
km south of Cologne) we will visit the park and
the Schloss (palace) Augustusburg that was built
on behalf of prince elector Clemens August von
Wittelsbach in 1725. For your Inquiry
please name the title of this guided walk and tell
us the required date and time as well as the
number of persons.
KÖNIGSWINTER
UND DRACHENFELS First we we'll
make a relaxing walk through the nice old town to the city museum and
take the rack
railway up to the castle ruin on the Drachenfels
(321 m) with the beautiful view down to the Rhine
and sometimes even to Cologne. For
your Inquiry
please name the title of this guided walk and tell
us the required date and time as well as the
number of persons.
What to see and visit in Bonn
Markt
and Altes Rathaus The centre of Bonn is the Markt
where you can find the Old City Hall (Altes
Rathaus). This buiding in the Baroque
style was built in 1737 on behalf of Clemens
August. Historically important are the steps in
front of the facade where high-ranking VIPs and
majesties stood and made their speeches to the
crowds of people on the market place: 1949 Theodor Heuss,
First president of the FRG, Charles de Gaulle in
1962, 1963 John F. Kennedy, Queen Elisa- beth
II. in 1965 and 1978 and the Sovjet President Michael Gorbatschow
in 1989. The obelisk on the Markt reminds of Bonn
as a residence city of Cologne's archbishops.
Beethoven
House and Münsterplatz His name is known around the world.
But did you know that Beethoven was born in Bonn?
That's a really important fact for this
middle-sized city. The Beethoven House is situated in the street
Bonngasse 20 where the master was born on December
16th, 1770. Today the house has become a nice
museum that wants to give an insight into life and
works of Ludwig van
Beethoven. Visi- tors can buy some souvenirs in
the shop or join the concerts in the nice concert
hall there. After that just meet maestro
"alive" at the monument for Beethoven on the Marktplatz just in
front of the main postal office. more
Museums'
Mile and Government Sector For good reason Bonn's inhabitants are proud
to have four internationally
famous houses: the Museum Koenig for Zoology, the
House of History of the FRG, the Kunstmu- seum Bonn
and the large Art and Exhibition Hall of the FRG
with its regularly changing subjects. Just
around the corner and along the Adenauer Alle lies
the former government sector. It's worth visi-
ting
because of the interesting buildings like the Villa
Hammer- schmidt (former home of the President), the Palais Schaumburg
and the House of Parli- ament (Deutscher Bun-
destag)
that is used for sometimes inter- national
congresses. more
Some pleasant hours in Düsseldorf
Some people knowing the city of Düsseldorf think of
the Königsallee at first. The "Kö", like the
common abbreviation, is the most important street of
this city on the rhine that got its name from a little
river with the name "Düssel". It's a stream
or creak that leads into the river rhine just beside the
St. Lambertus Church standing in the old town of
Düsseldorf. The whole city has 587,000 inhabitants
looking back
proudly a city's history of more
than 700 years. It was in 1288 and after the
famous "Battle of Worringen" near
Cologne when the little village Düsseldorf got
the rights fo an independent city in the German
Reich on behalf of Graf Adolf von
Berg who was the owner of the land including the
area of
Düsseldorf. In the following centuries the
development of the new town was quite slowly. The era of
the indus- trialisation in the 19th century made the
city suddendly grow faster and the number of inhabitants
rose up to 100,000 people quickly. A great time of glory
were a couple of years in the 17th century when prince
elector Johann Wilhelm II von Pfalz-Neuburg (or
"Jan Wellem") was the governor of Düsseldorf
and some other areas around the city. One of the most
famous and beloved sons of Düsseldorf is the poet
Heinrich Heine who was born here in 1797. Today the
"village at the (stream) Düssel" is a modern
city with an economical focus on industrial services.
The culinarian specialities are some hearty meals and
espacially the "Altbier", a dark and lightely
sweet beer.
When coming to Cologne we
recommand visiting the nice
city of Düsseldorf, too. Guided
walks are offered for travel groups in the blue
and grey table below this
article.
What to do and visit in Düsseldorf?
Monuments
The historical part of Düsseldorf is found
between Heinrich-Hei- ne Allee and the bank of
river rhine. Here in the old town the nice city
hall of 1573 built in the Flemish style with the
equestrian statue of Jan Wellem from 1711 is worth
to be visited. Only a few steps away the Burg-
platz with the round tower rules the wide square.
The tower once was part of a castle built in the
13th century by the Lords of Berg. The whole
castle burned down in 1872. Behind the castle
tower the distorted tower of the church St.
Lamber- tus of 1206 rises over the place. The
highest point of Düsseldorf ist the Rheinturm
with a visitors' platform in 168 m height.
Museums
Düsseldorf has 18 museums. A very important one
is the Heinrich-Heine Institut that deals with
life and works of the poet who was born here in 1797
and died 1856 in
Paris. According to a legend not only Heine but
also Goethe liked to be Düsseldorf. Life and
works of the German "rince of poets"
from Frankfurt is documen- ted in a museum with
1000 original exhibits. Anyone interested in the
city's general his- tory should visit the City
Museum. And as modern city Düsseldorf is proud to
have one of the most important and largest
collections of Modern Art of the 20th century in
the world. Museum and exhibition is called
Kunstsammlung NRW.
Shopping
Even if you don't like to go shopping a walk on
the nice Königsallee is worth to be done anyway.
Many trees are standing there and stone bridges
span over a ditch beside the street where shops of
well known fashion designer companies are found.
Jewellery, watches, perfumes, household and
electric devices are offered also in shopping
malls like the "Kö-Galerie". Here and
along the whole Kö many coffee bars and
restaurants with teraces on the side walk are
open. It's nobel but quite expansive to go shop-
ping on the Kö. That's why most of the inha-
bitants buy clothes and other things in the
Schadowstrasse or in the old town.
Guided walks in Düsseldorf for
groups
OLD
TOWN TOUR An interesting and funny
walk through the old town of Düsseldorf with many
anecdotes and stories about the city in the past.
Our path leads to the most important monuments,
places and lanes of 700 years' history: City hall,
Jan Wellem monument, Burgplatz with castle tower
and rhine promenade, the church St. Lambertus and
much more. For your Inquiry
please name the title of this guided walk and tell
us the required date and time as well as the
number of persons.
KÖNIGSALLEE Guided walk on the "Kö"
that is one of the world's most beautiful
boulevards because of the trees and the canal with
the stone bridges. You'll hear interesting aspects
of the boule- vard's history and get some tips for
your first or next shopping tour on the Kö: Where
to buy what kind of things best in these shops
with designer clothes or at the nobel malls? For your Inquiry
please name the title of this guided walk and tell
us the required date and time as well as the
number of persons.
BREWERY-TOUR A popular drink in Düsseldorf
is the dark beer called "Altbier". It's
best as a draft beer in one of the Brewery Houses
in the old town. Some good names of breweries are "Zum Schiffchen", "Zum
Schlüssel" or "Uerige". They have
been brewing their own beer for generations. Come
with us to disco- ver the history of the breweries
and the Alt. For your Inquiry
please name the title of this guided walk and tell
us the required date and time as well as the
number of persons.
Copyright 2005 - NICE
CITY! Köln
Trips & Tours to Suburbs
Schloss Brühl
It's a real piece of
jewellery, this Baroque palace called "Augustus- burg"
in Brühl near Cologne. This fact has already been known by
the UNESCO because the organisation has taken this beautiful
building in the list of the world's heritages in 1984. As a
visitor in Cologne you really should think about a short trip
to the castle with a guided walk inside of it. Brühl is a
nice little town just beside the castle and it's only 20 km
away from Cologne. That means only four hours to spend extra
for you Cologne visit. If you are interested in such a trip
please see our pro- gramme with tours to some good destinations
to visit around Cologne. Augustusburg was built beginning in
1725 using the French baroque style by the architects Johann
Conrad Schlaun and (from 1728) Francois Cuvilliés on behalf
of Cologne's Archbishop and prince elector Cle- mens August von
Wit- telsbach (1700-1761). Also in 1725 Dominique
Girard planned and designed the baroque gardens by using
French examples, too. Fortuna- tely the green is still kept the
same like in the 18th century. Inside the palace marble,
stucco and frescos rule the interieur designed by
some of the most impor- tant architects and hand- workers living
in the baroque period. Espaci- ally the marble staircase is a
real masterpiece that the German architect Balthasar Neumann
from Würzburg built in 1740. Behind the gardens with its
water fountain in the middle of them a small forrest and some
fields can be walked through in order to reach another palace of Clemens August called "Schloss
Falkenlust". This house was used for one of the owner's
most beloved sports, the falconry.
Königswinter und Drachenfels
Another nice
destination and worth visiting for every Cologne visitor is
Königswinter. This town is quite beautiful because it's lying
just between the bank of the rhine and the middle-height moun-
tains of the "Siebenge- birge". That word means
seven rocks with much of green vegetation stand close to
Königswinter and the rhine. The old town with its narrow
streets and lanes has been a classical trip destination of
many Cologne's fami- lies. Both children and also adults love to take the racket railway up to the
"Drachenfels" (dra- gon's rock) on 321 m height
where an ruin of an old castle built in 1140 by Cologne's arch-
bishop Arnold I. can be visited. The view from there down
to the valley with the rhine and even to Cologne cathedral at
clear wheather is really marvellous. Back down in the old town
of Königs- winter you have a remar- kable choice of pubs with
live music and dancing with people up to 40 years drinking
wine and beer as well as restau- rants and snackbars to be
visited.
Düsseldorf
When
visiting Cologne you should not miss to try and visit one of
the cities and places around in the suburbs. One of these
destinations worth visiting is the city of Düs- seldorf. It's
a modern place lying beside the river rhine like Cologne does.
As a visitor you should join a guided walk through the old
town or over the really nobel shopping street called
"Königsallee". With its trees and the ditch beside
the road it will perhaps remind you of the boulevards in Paris
like the Champs Elysées. If you come to Cologne or
Düsseldorf in a travel group we recommand booking a guided
tour like offered on the left side of this webpage.
Phantasialand
Only a step away from
Schloss Brühl there's the "Phantasialand". It's one
of the largest entertain- ment parks in Germany. For it's only
20 km to go from Cologne the area of Phantasialand has been
enlarged continuesly by the newest technical attractions since
it was opened 40 years ago. You may want ride the flumes or
roller coaster, use the carussels, or join one the shows in
several theatres in the Western City or in Chinatown where
houses of that time were originally rebuilt. A first overview
is being offered on a ride in the monotrack train that runs
over the heads of the visitors through the whole area. When entering
it after paying for one day almost all of the attractions
can be used for free and as often you like to. It's also nice
that guests of Phantasialand can bring their own food and
drinks (in their backpackers) with them. No one is forced to
buy anything in the six Chinese, Italian or Mexican
restaurants, snackbars or at the stands with delicious
smelling French fries or sweets. But because of these
impressions you certainly will be attracted to order a fresh
and often less expansive meal. Finally it's nice that this
park of joy is open in winter time from November to March. more
The way to your trip and tour
1st:
Choose programme
2nd: Click the green button "Inquiry" and fill out
the form
3rd: You'll get our infor- mation or offer by e-mail
4th: If you like to accept our offer simply send an e-mail as
your answer
5th: You'll get our confirmation of order by e-mail, too.
Incidentally,
for all telephone numbers, the prefix, ++49 221, applies if
there is no other prefix in parenthesis given. All information
is subject to change.
