Last Day in Dusseldorf (You Mean It’s All Over?)

I think that was the fastest ten days I’ve ever experienced.  I head home tomorrow for Rochester, where a new adventure awaits (more on that later).  This trip has been an exercise in letting go of the things I cannot control and making the most of what I’ve got.  My inability to speak French certainly put the kabash on how much I could extract from my adventures, but asking guides and locals for help often yielded what I needed. Here in Germany, my German skills are pretty decent and I could help myself most of the time, but since it seems half the city of Dusseldorf speaks English, I was always able to make myself understood.

Rhineturm

Exploring Dusseldorf last night was fun and it made me realize how much city dwellers love their rivers.  I walked down the MedienHafen, the newly built “inner harbor” of sorts here in Dusseldorf. It’s home to high tech firms, media outlets and folks who want to live where the action is. It kind of reminded me of Battery Park City in the 1990’s – a “village” within a city that was trying to attract businesses and the big salaries that allow people to pay for condos on the water. It certainly is a cool place . I headed north, following the Rhine River, home to the Lorelei, to check out the old city.

MedienHafen

There were hundreds of folks lining the Rhine, waiting for the sun to set on the river. Beautiful green spaces, kilometers long traced the eastern edge of the river giving folks access to the water. Cafes were abuzz, families played in the parks, couples strolled along the promenade – the river drew the people out and the city was alive for it. I saw the same thing in Bordeaux (granted, a fleeting glimpse) but their promenade was a bustling scene, with a splash pad for kids, drop-dead gorgeous gardens and lawns, and cafes, market stalls and bike rentals all doing a brisk business. Granted, Dusseldorf, Bordeaux, and New York City are all massive cities, but what’s holding Rochester back from greening up the river downtown?

I visited the Neanderthal Museum proper today (yesterday was the research library in an annex behind the museum) and while I needed to compete with three different school groups going through (!), it was a fantastic visit – in part because of the school groups! I was able to talk to a fourth grade teacher who said the kids were learning biology and this fit the curriculum – but like so many school groups at the RMSC, they blow through pretty fast and you always have to wonder what they took away. A different story for the middle schoolers at the Steinzeitwerkstatte (Stone Age Workshop), who were using forensics to determine if skeletal casts and samples were modern human or Neanderthal. Out back, some other students were trying their hand at an atlatl. Their teacher said she likes to give them hands on experiences to help make what they read and hear make more sense.

It’s all about context, isn’t it?  The Neanderthal Museum shares what it knows about the earlier humans, but makes no illusions that Neanderthals were either artists, or song writers, or deep thinkers, simply because there is no evidence to say one way or the other.  In contextualizes the exhibits with what is known, and contrasts that knowledge to what we know about modern human behavior.  Interestingly, they spend a good chunk of time on art, religion and human behavior. It’s like holding a great big mirror up to ourselves and asking, “So, how’s it going?” Makes you (well, me at least) appreciate the Neanderthal that much more.  If climate change and Cro-Magnon competition were held at bay, would Neanderthals evolved and made that metacognitive leap?

Neanderthal Discovery Site: 

Markers show where the original skeleton was found in what was part of a quarry.

My Fund For Teachers European adventure ends tomorrow at 9:20 a.m., when I return to Rochester (by way of Atlanta). However, there is still more Neolithic fun to be had – August is the Stone Technology Show at Letchworth State Park and I’m scheduled to get some flint knapping in as well (the French knapper in Les Eyzies was on vacation and returned the day after I had left – of course).  But before that, my family and I will be making the cross-country car trip to Seattle for a wedding. I’m looking forward to sharing history, the natural world and quality time with my kids and wife. Everyone has something different they’re looking forward to. Jennifer can’t wait to see some of the Laura Ingalls Wilder homesteads, I want to see Devil’s Tower and Mt. Ranier, and the kids are stoked about Mall of America (I know, I know, but everyone got to pick a non-negotiable stop and that’s what they wanted to do). 

A great big thank you to Fund For Teachers for the amazing opportunity to fill my brain with prehistory and rejuvenate the spirit. A bigger thank you to my family for letting me slip away for ten of the forty-four days of my short summer break and of course, thanks to all of you who read my ramblings. More to come, so don’t go away too soon!