LEVERKUSEN SURROUNDINGS

When I visited my old schoolfriend from 1951 who lives near Leverkusen, she showed me the surroundings. We couldn't do all we wanted to do because the weather was so bad.

First we stopped at Schloss Morsbroich .











Morsbroich Castle, home to the avant-garde museum, is situated in a vast, well-kept nature park with a sculpture garden. First recorded in 1220, Morsbroich was the seat of the Teutonic Knights from 1619 to 1803. In 1774 Ignaz von Roll demolished the medieval castle and replaced it with a baroque palace. In 1857 Friedrich von Diergardt, a silk manufacture from Viersen, took over the house and added two wings to it in 1885. The city of Leverkusen acquired Morsbroich Castle in 1974. Today, it houses an art museum and a restauran.

Unfortunately it was too windy, and cold, that we couldn't see the garden only a little bit at the entrance where the first spring flowers showed their nose.

Next stop was the Restaurant "Die Wacht am Rhein" (The Guard on the Rhine)



From outside I didn't like the architecture of it.



There was a modern sculpture from a famous sculptor, so famous that I don't remember his name. It was out of metal and to me is a question of taste.



Inside the restaurant was nicely decorated and modern, the food was excellent, they mostly serve local specialities.



Marilyn greets you at the entrance !



The Bayer Leverkusen company owns most of the area and here was the employees club for canoe and other water sports.





It must be very beautiful there when the weather is nice, there is a lot of traffic on the Rhine.

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WEEKEND REVIEW MARCH 4

My friend is living near Leverkusen where Bayer, a multinational chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences company has its headquarthers. My friend's husband had worked there too, that's why they are living there. I didn't know this area at all only Cologne so she showed me around.



First we saw from outside the Morsbroich Castle formerly a Baroque castle, which is now a municipal museum for the exhibition of modern and contemporary art. It also provides the setting for theatrical productions and other cultural events under the title "Morsbroich Summer".



There is also a restaurant inside and when we were there new weds just had their wedding picture taken. A nice background !

Then we went to the "Wacht am Rhein" a very modern restaurant serving typical local German food.



The view over the Rhein is beautiful, unfortunately we had grey and cold weather. It must be very nice in summer.



We had lunch there and a huge beer, but alcohol free, there is an unbelievable choice of alcohol free beer in Germany, which is much better than the sweet sodas. I forgot to take a picture of my meal, it was delicious it was an enormous pancake with bacon and onions.



The next little town was Schlebusch which belongs to Leverkusen. It's a nice old little town and certainly worthwhile to be visited when the sun is shining ! I liked the poster "Real Belgian chips", but  didn't try them I was still full from my pancake.

Unfortunately I must have caught a cold when standing in front of the Dom in Cologne when the strong wind whistled around and didn't feel well at all. I decided to drive home before it got worse. What a pity. But I did well, I had no problems and arrived safely home, where I just fell into my bed !