Visiting Pempelfort: An afternoon on Nordstraße (and its surroundings)

Get to know Düsseldorf's second-largest district, you and your loved one better

At this point, we would like to issue a friendly, tongue-in-cheek warning: if you are not planning to enter into holy matrimony in the coming weeks and months, but your partner is, you should give Pempelfort a wide berth. On Kaiserstraße, you will find a string of stores that are almost exclusively dedicated to celebrating love. There are boutiques with wedding dresses, those exclusively for suits and stores that stock rings in all materials, colors and sizes and, if desired, engraved with a stone and the name of your loved one. Speaking of engraving: there are also a number of tattoo removal studios in the same street - in case Bernd, Gabi or Felix don't end up doing it forever after all. But to end this introduction on a positive note: Pempelfort is paradise for those looking to get married. After all, this is where you can test out everyday life with your chosen one. Wondering how? Go ahead, let's start right in the center.

The "main artery" of the district, namely Nordstrasse, which borders Kaiserstrasse, is largely focused on stores for everyday needs. So try out where your tastes differ and where they are similar. Taste your way through the numerous bakeries that offer everything from crusty baguettes and sandwiches to lavishly decorated cakes and tarts. Let them give you some flowers, as cliché goes. Pick out new glasses for your partner together and discuss whether you should choose meat from the local supermarkets or "fresh game from the Eifel" from one of the privately run butchers. Browse through the many bookshops or kiosks, where you can find paperback novels "with stories about hot passion", for example. Get advice on buying a new wardrobe, take it to a tailor and ask yourself whether you would prefer to hang a print of a well-known soft drink or the bright Mickey Mouse from "The Max Store" (Nordstraße 12) on the wall of your living room. Or would you prefer the more upmarket designer armchair from "ASW Schöner Wohnen" (number 12) right next door? Speaking of money: the Ministry of Finance of North Rhine-Westphalia is also located in Pempelfort.

The choice of lunch or dinner is particularly tricky! Where to eat? To the French restaurant "Les Halles St. Honoré" (number 31), to the "Eat Tokyo Central Kitchen" (number 28) or rather to the "Pizzeria Lilis Bar" (Nordstraße 22)? Or would you prefer a homemade bowl from "The Funky Bowl" (number 46)? Or do you feel more like sitting down at "Café Florian" (number 56), where many a group of men enjoy their first beer at 9.30 am? The "Weiss Blaue Haus" (Nordstraße 115) offers the same picture, with traditional Bavarian brews on the menu.

As you can see, there is hardly anything on Nordstraße that is not available - both in terms of culinary and consumer goods. Accordingly, it is often bustling early in the morning, with schoolchildren hurrying through the district alongside pensioners on walking frames, tourists with umbrellas and city maps and men and women in neatly pressed shirts and blouses. It is hard to imagine that Pempelfort was once barely populated, even until the beginning of the 19th century, when it lay outside the city walls of the time. It was not until 1854 that the Prussian king declared Pempelfort an urban area. Nevertheless, there was still not much going on, apart perhaps from the hustle and bustle of the Pempelfort estate, where the philosopher Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi lived. What thoughts would have crossed his mind with the wonderful diversity of today's residents! After all, Pempelfort is home to a wide variety of people: some who have lived here forever and a day, while others only come to the area for a short (working) stay. Some people from Pempelfort have already celebrated more than one milestone birthday, while others are just growing up here. Some come from abroad, others can look back on a family tree that includes generations of Düsseldorfers. Some work in privately run companies, while others work for the Düsseldorf district government or the Higher Regional Court, for example.

In their free time, however, they all meet regularly in the Hofgarten, whether consciously or not. The oldest parts of one of the city's most attractive green spaces date back to 1769. 35 years later, garden artist Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe was inspired by English parks when he redesigned the grounds. To this day, shady oaks, beeches and all kinds of other tree species tower over Pempelfort, while girls and boys compete in the playground, joggers and cyclists tear down one kilometer after the next, and dog owners desperately try to convince their four-legged friends to bring back the sticks they have thrown. Anyone who knows how to agree on the keyword "education" - whether of their offspring or their pet - was (or is) ready to take a big step. It's a good thing that not only the aforementioned Kaiserstraße is just around the corner as a "wedding stronghold", but also the registry office at Inselstraße 17. A later anniversary could be celebrated, for example, with the creation of a work of art at the Christie's auction house (Inselstraße 26) or a visit to the Tonhalle , which moved into the former planetarium in the Ehrenhof in 1978. It is said that Pempelfort almost magically attracted representatives of art and culture. As the district became more and more bourgeois, professors from the Düsseldorf Art Academy, artists from the Düsseldorf School of Painting and the Malkasten association, which has had its headquarters in Pempelfort since 1867, moved here.

Today, colleagues would probably meet in the Ehrenhof for a lively exchange of ideas, before then eyeing up the latest exhibitions at the Kunstpalast or the NRW-Forum. Critically, of course. Do the same and not only gather impressions of art from different eras, but also learn something new about your loved one. What style do they like? What would they do differently when reproducing a painting? Research suggests that it keeps a relationship fresh when unexpected sides and interests of the other person come to light. And when you've reached the point where there's no longer any doubt about your sweetheart, why not take out life insurance? The Ergo insurance group is just around the corner.

This article is funded by REACT-EU.

Pictures: Düsseldorf Tourism