Travelog for: Thiele

Hi Mummy,
today we met Katja's friend Erika again. The ladies had planned to go to Wuppertal by bus. Wuppertal is one of the neighbour towns of Remscheid. But when they reached Wuppertal they spontaneoulsy decided to go to Bochum by train. Erika wanted to visit an exhibition there. Before we went to the train station Katja showed us the concert hall which is a masterpiece of turn-of-the-century architecture.







From here you have a good overlook across the city centre.



We than went to Bochum by train. The  trains are not so nice here.

Bochum is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. It is about 45 km apart from Remscheid.

When we reached Bochum the ladies went to the museum first. It was not allowed to take photos there.

They visited an exhibition which is showing original stage settings which are used by Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch company, based in Wuppertal in Germany. Pina Bausch is famous for extraordinary stage settings like a stage completely filled with free standing cloves or a stage filled with soil or lawn. Katja told us that for her the most impressing stage setting was a winterly birch forrest. The whole ground was covered with white sand and birch trunks, about 4 m long, were installed to the ground. You felt as if you were walking through a real forrest. All settings were decorated with photos of those pieces in which the settings were used.

Katja showed us a booklet with informations about the exhibition. It really seemed to be impressive.










Because our bus came when we left the museum we even could not take any photo of the museum!

We went back to the town centre to go shopping.

Here you can see the town hall with a gigantic bell in front of it.



This is one of the central places in the town centre.



We went home by train again. At the central station we had to wait for a few minutes. When Katja wanted to take my photo the train was coming. We took another photo through the scratched train window.

Big Bird is celebrating his eighth birthday today!

He had eight candles and we were allowed to taste a sip of sparkling wine. Of course SaruMaru  took a larger sip.



We celebrated and went to bed early because the sparkling wine really made us tired.

Bye
Thiele

Hi Mummy,
the weather is fantastic here. It is cold and the sun in shining. So Katja took us out in her lunch break when she had to do some shopping. I took a scarf to avoid becoming ill (Katja has a bad cold, maybe she forgot her scarf).

We walked along the Route of tools (Trasse des Werkzeugs). It is a lane for pedestrians and cyclists through the town, made on a closed railway route. It was financed by many local industrial firms, most of them are producing tools. Along the lane you can find signs of those producers and also artwork. You can also see the city arms here.



This route is about 5 km long and is leading from the central train station to the district Hasten. Today we started somewhere in the middle of the route and walked towards the train station.

On the backside of a supermarket replications of  pictures of a local artist who died in 1988 are installed.





You can also see abandonded factory buildings.



These buildings are part of the former slaughterhouse. This complex is under preservation order. Nowadays these buildings are used by different companies.



Here are more signs showing names and company logos of sponsors.





We reached the central railway station. Oh dear, the whole railway station is a complete building site. I better do not show you this mess. I like the St.-Andrews-cross more.



We went shopping then. We even bought some firework. We are invited by Katja's sister-in-law to celebrate New Year's Eve.

Happy New Year, Mummy!

Thiele

Hi Mummy,
we were invited to spend New Year's Eve at the home of Katja's sister-in-law and her family. We went there at dinner time.

We had raclette.  Katja's sister-in-law offered several sorts of vegetables like sweet pepper, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, sweet cornand sometimes meat or shrimps  which can be boiled on the of the raclette grill. We also had bread, potatoes and several salads.



You take your little pan, fill it with vegetables and put chesse over it. Then you put it into the raclette grill and it will be scalloped. It's delicious!

After dinner we played a card game whose rules are similar to Uno. We had a lot of fun.



Shortly before 12:00 pm.



Happy New Year!

At midnight we went outside to launch our fireworks.









We went home at 03:00 am.

Bye
Thiele

Hi Mummy,
I'm travelling to my next host now. I had a lot of fun here and I hope I will see more snow in Essen.



Bye
Thiele

Hello everybody,

I've arrived in Essen today ! Will update with photos later, just wanted to tell you, that I am here now !

Greetings,
Thiele

Wow, it is really dark inside of here. But it's getting warm again. It was so cold...



I guess I am at my new destination. Maybe someone is outside there and can hear me? "HELLO?" Oh, there are voices.



Oh, the envelope is open. I guess I should go out.



Hello ! Oh, so much ToyVoyagers. Tilda, Berkeley and Margarida. Wow.



Just wanted to show you the postcard I have for BlackCat. I hope she'll like it.



And the christmas tree is still standing. Nice one !



So, mummy, I arrived good at my next host. I hope I will have a great time here ! Will tell you then !

Thiele

Today we visited the Zollverein coking plant in Essen. It is one part of the World heritage Zollverein.

I first would like to tell you something about it:

The Zollverein coking plant in the Essen suburb of Stoppenberg was built between 1958 and 1961 as a working link with shaft 12 at the Zollverein Pit next door. The coking plant took huge amounts of coal from the pit, as well as from other collieries in the region, and processed them into coke. Soon the maximum daily production of 5000 tons of coke was insufficient to meet demand. For this reason the plant was extended in the 1970s, when it became one of the largest and most modern coking plants in Europe. The Zollverein coking plant employed 1000 persons and produced amounts of coke well in excess of 7000 tons per day. Because coke ovens should never be allowed to get cold, production continued non-stop around the clock for 365 days a year. During the 1980s and 1990s demand for coke steadily declined as a result of the crisis in the steel industry, and on the 30th June 1993 the Zollverein coking plant was finally closed down.

It was really interested to see how such a coking plant looks like. I will show you the photos now and I will try to tell you, what you can see on the photos and what it was for.


That's the shaft 12 at the Zollverein Pit from behind. We went through a forrest when we made this picture.


That is a hoist. It can be moved on trails. It is so big, you can't believe it until you see it.


You can see a part of the coke oven batteries on this picture and behind it you can see the "Sonnenrad". It is a big wheel where you can see the coking plant from above and you can drive in it with this big wheel. It wasn't opened.
This photo was made in front of the ice skating parkour. It is always in front of the oven batteries in winter. It will be close again on the 11th January. There were a lot people skating.




Again two photos in front of the oven batteries. I am sitting on the coping of the conveyor band.


That's a machine which brought the coal into the oven batteries. It is really big for a little one like me.

I hope you like the pictures and the informations about the coking plant. Maybe we will go there again and show you some other areas of it. But now we have to get warm again.

Greetings,
Thiele

When we looked outside today we were really surprised. So much snow on one place. BlackCat said that it can be around 10cm new snow. Wow. I really like it !

Thiele

Today we went with BlackCat into the city centre. She had to go to the doctor and we went with her. As we had not much time she just showed us the church in the city. I really like this little church !

Today we said Goodbye to Berkeley and Margarida. They have to travel on! I hope they will have a good travel!

Today a new envelope arrived here.
We were really snoopy who has arrived there.



Then a little head looked outside of the envelope.



Oh, it is Friendship bear ! Welcome !

Hello !

Today a lot ToyVoyager arrived here. 4 new Voyagers arrived here. Wow. That is a lot, or?

So, we welcomed Germania and Tiger Lilly !



And then Bruni Lila.



And then we said hello to Cassandra.



So much new guests !

Happy welcome !

Today we went to a part of Essen that is called Kray. BlackCat needed to get a package from the post office there so we went there all together. On the way back to a bus stop we saw this wonderful church. It is the St. Barbara church. BlackCats grandparents married in this church. Doesn’t it look nice?


The church tower


The front door of the church


Another view of the tower.