During this trip we went to the city Dusseldorf. This a city that provided me a lot of good memories. And this a place that makes me feel like my hometown. Short introduction of Dusseldorf: “It is the capital and second largest city of the most populous German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne(WIKI)”. Also this is a city with confluence of Rhine and its tributary Düssel.

This morning we went to the place call Hofgarten. And above is the picture of the site plan. As you can see, this is a large site. Water flows through the central part. Before visit this place, i checked some reviews online. Many people described this place is beautiful, peaceful and enjoyable. This is a place that you can sit for a whole afternoon and just watch passing by people.

As I arrived there, I can truly feel how visitors’ mood. I sit on the long bench and did my sketches, which it amazing and made me calm down. And I took many pictures of the site:

This is famous design of this park: LED bench. At night all benches will light up the main road and many people would like to take pictures at here.

The green balcony building

The beauty of geometric art

The wild flower on the road side

 

At Week 3 we went to Phoenixsee, which is locate at the city of Dortmund. This is a highly recommend place for every Landscape Architect to visit. This is one of the largest urban development projects in Germany. And this is a multi-functioned area. Surrounding by luxury apartments, modern hotels, riverside café and recreational parks.

This site used to an industrial historical site. The new development of Phoenixsee rise up the value of the city and bring effective environmental design for people.

The lake at the center is a fully human-made one. And one 3.2 km circulated pedestrian surround this lake. This lake provide a great space for relaxing and sporting. Also by looking at the riverfront planting design, all plants organized as same order as in USA.

By walking the long path we almost took 2 hours. On the way to the destination we climbed to the top hill of the site. The site view is perfectly unfold in front of my eyes.  Germany has many landscape projects that bought me fresh ideas, and I am glad share this beauty with everyone!!!

Finally Home! The train ride to Berlin was pretty rough. Lydia and I had to stand the whole way. Then I had two layovers until I landed in Virginia. Melania picked me up from the airport and we drove to a beach house that my family rented for the week. I’m really excited to spend time with my family after not seeing them for 5 weeks. This is the perfect buffer before I have to start work. This trip was amazing!! But I am glad to be home!

Today is our last day in Germany. I have to take a train to Berlin tomorrow, and then I fly home by myself. I have to pack all of my things and then we are having a group dinner and drinking wine on the rooftop. I am supposed to play Frank in ping-pong today, so far nobody has beaten me. 

 

After drinking some wine and whiskey Geza beat me in ping-pong. It was a very humbling way to end the trip. 

Today we visited Duisburg Nord. It was once a coal plant and now turned into a large park. We walked around and climbed the structures as a class for the entire morning. Then we ate lunch at the small stand in the park. I got french fries because that’s all they had that I could eat. Then for the back half of the day, I walked around on my own. I just enjoyed hiking through the park and doing some sketching. It was a very relaxing way to spend the day.