To Essen

Thursday 14th April
The day dawned fine in Koblenz, but as we travelled northwards, it grew colder and the sky clouded up. It's just one hour by train to Essen, crossing the Rhine at Cologne. Once we arrived at the railway station we had to catch a bus to the hotel, the Alte Lohnhalle, part of a former coalmine.



It was the rather imposing building where the miners received their pay, (Lohn) but after the coalmine was closed eventually was bought by people who saw its potential as a reception and accommodation centre. It stands next to the last remaining tower from the Bonifacius mine. Former administration buildings have new uses also. The layout of the lohnhalle is interesting. Inside the large arched doorway is a curving staircase to the left ascending to the second level, which is build on a kind of mezzanine floor above the ground floor. The central portion is open from the ground to the vaulted ceiling, which is high above the guest area. The reception counter and dining area are under a normal ceiling further back on the ground floor and there is an extra wing with more accommodation out to one side of the building.
After making ourselves known to the receptionist, we were provided with a welcome cuppa before being shown to our room, as we were a little early and it wasn't quite ready. Once we were able to leave our bags, we went out for a short walk to find some lunch - there was a really nice cafe/bakery just around the corner - yum!
We had been surprised on our first visit (2009) to the Ruhr Gebiet, the great industrial heart of Germany, how green it was. Many of the former iron foundries and coal mines have been turned into industrial parks, the trees even growing on the roofs high above the ground and almost completely hiding some of the multi-tracked railways. So when we went for a walk in the afternoon after our arrival, at first we were a little disappointed when the streets became scruffier and the buildings rather down-at-heel. We'd reached Gelsenkirchen to the east of Essen.
As it was rather boring, Bruce decided to return by another street parallel to the one we were walking on, but instead of just going one block north, he went two, not realising that the road would start to head northwest!
The surroundings became much more pleasant, however, with plenty of treed areas breaking up the buildings. What really did surprise us was that there seemed to be no shops, just tall grey buildings!
Eventually we reached a much larger, busier road and headed in what we hoped was south. We crossed a street called Bonifacius Strasse but didn't know whether to turn left or right onto it. After going a couple more blocks, we reached a bridge over the railway line so realised we'd gone the wrong way. We tried asking some people near a small dairy but they couldn't help us. A second encouraging sign was that we'd arrived on a 170 bus route - which we knew would stop near the hotel - but it was a little difficult to decide exactly where we were on the map at the bus stop. After a bit more walking, we came within sight of the mine tower and soon found our way back to our room.
After a bit of a break we went out to the nearby shopping centre we'd discovered and had chicken doners from a Turkish takeaway, and tiny Italian ice creams from a nearby Gelato. Jeremy popped in on his way to Duisburg to meet up with Anthony and Eleanor who were staying there for the night, so we made a few plans about what to do after the wedding.

Last day in Germany

Monday 29th June  After checking out of our hotel, we took our bags to Jeremy's (left) then went to the North Duisburg Industrial Park.  This factory was closed 20 years ago, but used to make iron using coke from the Essen plant. 
Interesting sights: small fish in a ground-level storage bunker - how did they get there? trees and shrubs taking over the buildings and old railway tracks; a large wind sail near two cooling ponds (right); gas pipes stretching for kilometres over the countryside!  We climbed 253 stairs to the top of the furnace structure.  Our souvenir - a €5 flattened and embossed with the plant name by turning a handle!
After a brief rest at Jeremy’s, we went out to let Judith work uninterrupted.  It was SO hot, over 30°, that I got a really bad headache.  I wanted to get my hair cut before landing in Africa, but it turned out that but Monday is hairdressers' day off in Duisburg.
We took some books to the Botanic Gardens to read in the shade, but had to move off the grass when Jeremy got bitten by ants to some semi-reclining seats.
After repacking our bags and wrapping gifts, we caught the U-bahn to Düsseldorf. It was fun riding high above the pavements and roads in the free twin-carriage Sky Train, suspended below a curved concrete span, from the station to our terminal!After a search to find the right check-in desk, we enjoyed a good coffee and doughnuts with chocolate & hazelnuts inside before wandering around an interesting photographic display about immigrants living in various parts of the world.  It took a long time to pass through security, but we were happy to use some €2 vouchers to buy sweets for the Maasai children.

Essen to Barkenfeld

Saturday 27th June Humid, partly sunny.  Lots of people at breakfast today, but it's a busy weekend in Duisburg.  It was a day of missed connections!
We missed the first u-bahn to the main station so had to catch a later train to Essen to visit a former coal/coke works.  It was strange using a former coal elevator near Tower 12 (an old mine shaft, pictured above left) to enter the building which is now an information centre and shop, but still complete with all the old machinery (above right).
After having a browse around, we walked alongside the old railway tracks to the coke plant.  The windows of a most unusual-looking school (right) in the distance proved a real eye-teaser.


I loved the Sonnenrad ride (left), which completed two revolutions!  It was a little like sitting in a cable-car except it was attached to a huge wheel which slowly revolved, giving lovely views from the top.  Even Judith enjoyed it, although she hates heights!
We missed the next tram from Zollverein Süd by only two minutes - pictured right: some interesting old houses across the road - but it was enough to make us too late for our train to Barkenfeld, so Judith had to phone her parents re our new arrival time. 
Her father drove us to their home where we had a very late lunch of strawberry cake, strawberries and cream, and coffee at 4 p.m.
We enjoyed our walk around the neighbourhood with their small dog, passing the remains of Judith’s old primary school - not enough children!  We also passed the Green School where Judith’s mum teaches & the Blue School where her father teaches.  He’s due to retire after another half school year, but during the summer holidays, they are going to Mongolia to stay in a yurt!
The town was deliberately designed to be child-friendly - vehicle access is limited to the perimeter of the housing area, and there are lots of paved walkways which are good enough for cycling.  The population is only 10-15,000, not the expected 40-50,000.
We had our BBQ indoors as it started to rain: speck, Bratwurst and salads.  Particularly nice was one of Greek yoghurt, garlic and cucumbers.  We sat outside later on for a couple of hours, it was only just getting dark when we went to bed at 11!