Düsseldorf 1 / Von Kraftwerk bis Techno

An early start, to take the train from Salford Crescent to Manchester Airport, for an eight o'clock flight to Düsseldorf, where we have come to see the 'Von Kraftwerk bis Techno' exhibition at Der Kunstpalast.

We are staying at the Hotel Friends, which was yet another inspired choice by the Minx. After a short walk from the station, we received a very warm welcome, dropped our bags off in the room, and headed straight out in the direction of Der Kunstpalast.

Apart from an airport transfer, which doesn't count, I've never been to Düsselforf before, although I have often toyed with coming here. It's a lovely city, with wide streets and low buildings, punctuated by green spaces. We walked through the Hofgarten to the exhibition, stopping en route for pizza and a beer.

Our entry to the exhibiton was at two-fifteen and we arrived pretty much bang on time. The first room was a history of electronic musicians and instruments, and featured at least five of the 'Sisters with transistors'. There were also loads of old synths, including the Buchla 200e that you can see in today's blip.

Then there was a room set up to show eight of Kraftwerk's 3D films from their touring show, with the accompanying music: one track from each of the albums that form 'Der Katalog'. The Minx gamely sat through the whole thing with me, and was rewarded by karma with the next part of the exhibition.

In fact, the title of the exhibition was a little misleading, since Kraftwerk occupied the chronological space around the middle of the history. The latter part was focussed on dance music and clubbing, which is far more the Minx's cultural territory. There were photos from clubs she went to while living in New York and Manchester, and collections of the flyers, which advertised future club events.

After that, we took a stroll along the Rhine to a bar that the Minx had found called Bar Cherie, which was just opening as we arrived at five o'clock. It is a beautiful little place and we both loved it immediately.

It filled up very quickly but it wasn't too crowded or noisy, so we sat with our books and spent a happy couple of hours there before wandering back to Hotel Friends.