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Dusseldorf was my idea as the first stop, I was stationed there in the Army and wanted to see how much it had changed. The bikes were put in the hotels underground car park, and we began the long haul of getting them unloaded and moving the gear up to the 6th floor. The relief when the boots came off raised a smile, and to get the leathers off, which had begun to stick to your skin as the temperature rose, was wonderful. We queued for the shower, and about 4 hours later got changed and went to get some scoff as the hotel wanted £20 each. For anyone who knows Duss, we were about 1 ½ Kms east of the Rhine Tower, surrounded by some really weird shaped buildings, and the new TV complex. We had 2 nights’ here, but I wanted to get to the Altstadt (Old town) and see how much it had changed, so we set off along the Rhinebank.
We were admiring the site’s as we walked along, looking at the groups of people just sitting on the grass banks enjoying the evening, the buildings, shops etc, and before we knew it we were nearly out the other end, ½ mile from the Rhine Stadium. I was convinced I would recognise the Altstadt when I saw it, I spent enough time there I should do. There was a small square where the taxi’s used to drop you off, but could I find it? could I buggery. By the time we had doubled back and got there, we had walked about 4 miles and we were knackered. We had a walk around looking at the shops and trying to find some of the old haunts, but nothing jogged my memory. There used to be disco called SPITZY’S, and to get in you could go down the stairs, or the slide!! This ran down the side of the stairs but you couldn’t see the bottom from the entrance. About 2 feet from the end of the slide was the Bar, and at the end of the slide was a rope hanging down, which you had to catch hold of or pile into the woodwork. The best laugh used to be to get the new boys to go down head first, and NOT tell them about the rope, we used to stand at the bottom and watch the carnage. We ended up at an Imbiss (snack bar) having chips and mayo and a lot of cold drinks, before having a walk around the rest before starting the long slog back to the hotel. We didn’t need any rocking that night!
Thursday 29th July---Woke up about 8:30, Christ knows why, it’s not like we’re going to do much. We went downstairs to check up on breakfast, the hotel wanted 12 euro’s, about £9 for a few rolls and fillings. We decided against it, and headed off into town, (the new one) for something to eat. We looked around for an hour but couldn’t find anything we fancied, so we ended up in good ol MacDonalds. Brekky was quite nice, and once we’d finished carried on with our sight seeing. Just down the road was a Harley Davidson dealer, and although I’m not a big lover of them we went in for a nosey anyway. The shop was called Pony, which seems to be a nation wide dealer, and looking around at the clothing and accessories it seemed there wasn't that much of a price difference to the UK.
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