Journeys and destinations...

The variety in flowers in nature always amazes me. Majority of the flowers in Germany were alien to me. Except roses, I guess roses can be found everywhere in the world.  This year due to travel restrictions and work-from-home, we explored Düsseldorf in spring like never before! Two more things helped. One we bought a car a couple of years ago & second I joined Instagram 😄. Up to last year we would visit a few parks in spring to admire the magnolias or the cherry blossoms but this year we planned special trips an hour away just to admire some specific flowers. The inspiration came from looking at photos on Instagram. Spring season here lasts from March to May. Every month nature (with the help of hardworking farmers & gardeners) creates displays of flowers of different colors, shapes and sizes. In this post, I am writing the timeline and places where we captured some gorgeous flowers. Every year timing of the bloom and location  could be a bit different . Hundreds of different

Düsseldorf has seven main Christmas markets and many small ones dispersed throughout the city. When I was new in Germany, I didn't know most of the dishes (except french fries 😁). I often overlooked the vegetarian varieties simply because the meat was highlighted more in the pictures or in the samples kept in front of the stall. Over the years, I understood what to look for and tried various dishes in the Christmas markets and thought it could be useful for someone new to Germany to know about them in advance. The aim of this is post is to familiarize the reader with the names. More information about the Christmas markets can be found on the city's official website:  https://www.duesseldorf-tourismus.de/en/our-top-events/duesseldorf-christmas-market/ . Many dishes have  eggs  in some form, either in the dough or in the sauce. It is debatable if eggs are vegetarian😀. I have considered them in this list as most of the vegetarians I know eat them  😇.  I ha

Saint Roch Church, Düsseldorf The first time I laid my eyes on Saint Roch Church   Stupefying statue              One can see a great variety of churches in Europe. They were built in different architecture styles over centuries. Some are grand, some modest, some with a lot of history and some tucked away safely from all the hustle and bustle of tourists. When I was exploring the area around my new home in Düsseldorf, my feet turned towards the direction of Saint Roch Church as I saw the rooster on top of it from afar. Many churches in Germany have a rooster on top instead of a cross and some have a rooster on top of a cross. I didn't expect to see anything out of the ordinary as it was just another church!           I was struck with awe when I saw the huge sculpture of Jesus on the outside wall. I literally stopped dead in my tracks. I had never seen anything like it. It moved me. After observing the details of the sculpture for a while I tried to walk ahea