northrhine-westfalia

Ten days we have spent at the Ruhr District or at the „Pott“ as it is called in the local dialect. The good old Pott. Everywhere pounding and steaming heavy industries. Coal, coke, gas and steel. Men with blackened faces which work under physical strain. The air is thickened with coal dust and smells awkward. TV-Superintended Schimansky rules in Duisburg and campaigsn for the miners with a famous sentence. Cut! That is history. Today everything is different. We asked ourselves before arriving: „Ten days at Ruhr District? What an earth can we do there?“ The answer: Pretty much. And. It still does have to do with coal, coke, gas and steel. But nowadays it is nice. We stayed in Essen at the Welcome Hotel. From there we drove to the other towns. Here are our experiences: One day in Bochum One day in Dortmund One day in Duisburg One day

Duisburg. The so called Pott town on the banks of the river Rhine. Heavy Industries. A brash tv superintendent and lots of steel. And coal. And steel. And today? Today there is the landscape park ‚Landschaftspark‘. A former steel-mill became a recreation area. With climbing wall and diving pool, with ways, paths and ponds and with event venues and locations. With beer gardens and trade show halls. And a accessible furnace. Everything with lots of greens and plants. Some planted some wild growing. Good, that you needed always also water for the steel production. So there are already lots of water basins in which water lilies can grow. You can spend quite some time in this area alone. There are always events taking place like festivals or exhibitions. When we were there there was the attempt to break a guiness world record by building the highest sand castle. It is

We admit we have been longer in Essen, but, in case that you only have one day we would have some tipps what to do. We knew Essen before only in connection with art and culture like the Folkwang Institution. But what else? A shopping tour? The pedestrian zone is very long and there are wide streets to stroll around and huge places to relax accompanied by cafes and restaurants. If that is not enough there are some shopping centres. Or you go to a ‚Kiez‘. A ‚Kiez‘ is a urban quarter. We have been to Rüttenscheid. There is a wide boulevard with big trees and nice restaurants and pubs. But there are also tiny shops and those typical kiosks. Here you can fiddle away quite some time. You want more than shopping and strolling around? Well. There is Zeche Zollverein. A world heritage and a really really huge area. To

Dortmund. The town with the illuminated and from far visible turning „U“. With a football team. But what would you do one day long in Dortmund? We did a test for you. First there is „Westfalenpark“. A huge park subdivided in many many areas and subjects. If you would want to walk it all and look at everything you might need a couple of days. So the best is to pick your choice, a small corner and discover it. If you dare you can go up the tower and have a look from above. Or you just rest on one of the large sunbathing lawns and read a book, have a nap or a picknick or watch the clouds go by. There are playgrounds and toilets and beautifully designed gardens, a gallery and pieces of art, workshops and ponds and sculpture gardens, events and a small train and and and.

Bochum. The town who’s postal code has been on a record cover. And where since ages they show a musical on roller-skates. And the town where supposedly you can get the best curry wurst. At least there exists a song from Herbert Grönemeyer about it. We have been there and had a look around. As it has been quite hot, we went to an ice cream parlour first. It was kind of rustic. There have been old used rag-tag furniture and a long queue. The types of ice cream were somehow special like ‚cucumber‘ or ‚pumpkin seed‘. And – also unusual – each type had its own price. So there is no standard price for every scoop. But it tasted very good. Afterwards we strolled through the city. It is very green. There are old trees. Alley ways. We discovered a public book case and a extraordinary tower. If you