A Day of Thinking About What I Should be Doing if I had the Energy!

I have a lot to do, but at the moment I feel totally lazy!   My feet are still getting over their walk down the gasometer and then up the mountain!   Here are yet more lions, I saw these today on the side of the M3 tram at Weserstrasse.  They are advertising "Wolters" beer which is brewed in Braunschweig, and is a rather bitter drink that I avoid if possible!   I like "Krombacher" which is brewed in Kreuztal, Germany, and which has a fruitier, sweeter taste.    I'll drink "Wolters" only if nothing else is available!

Today I started to prepare a talk I will be  giving  to the DEG  (German/English Association) on September 15th about the Kennet & Avon Canal from Bath to Devizes.   Bath is twinned with Braunschweig, and the talk is part of this year's 40th year celebrations of the twinning.   I just hope I can get my Powerpoint presentation to work.  I need to sequence the photographs, add captions and organize my talk around the pictures.  I'll write myself a crib with dates, depths, lengths, milages etc as my ageing brain cannot remember off hand all the detail.   I like talking to an audience, once I get going I have to be forced to stop!   I can talk for England!

These Feet are NOT Made for Walking, (well not until they have had a well earned rest!)

These are the feet that climbed up to "Rabenklippen" in the Harz, (not in these shoes,) had a good lunch and then came down again!  It was a hard walk, especially as I'd spent the week before climbing blast furnaces and coalmines in the Ruhr Valley.  Today the feet are resting, although I went out this afternoon and  bought yet more smelly cheese.   September arrives on Thursday and I can smell autumn in the air.   The leaves are  tinged with brown, and for the first time I feel I want to return home for the English winter, which hopefully,  will be slightly warmer than the German version. 

I had some good news from Monika yesterday.  She has managed to exchange the "Turandot" tickets for another evening.  We visit again next Tuesday Sept. 6th at 19.30.    Fingers crossed please for a dry evening this time. 

A Hard Sunday Walk in the Harz Mountains.

 On Sunday we walked in the Harz Mountains, and thank goodness we had good weather, not too hot for climbing and walking.  The plan was to take the cablecar up to the top, walk, have lunch and then walk down.   However, much to my horror (and I was not alone) we walked up and down.  After an intitial feeling of total exhaustion, I settled into a comfortable pace and had a really wonderful day.  The photo below shows the viewing platform where captive lynx, who have a huge protected area in which to roam,  can be seen at certain times of the day, especially when they are fed.   The lower photos shows the "Ravencliff" restraurant where we enjoyed yet more beer and a good lunch. Below is Karin with Donau the dog, who did very well on his four legs, which must be an advantage.   Today I am totally kaputt, my legs have said, "No more."

Gasthaus - Rabenklippe

- [ Translate this page www.rabenklippe.de/frgasthaus.htm - Cached

Turandot was Cancelled! Shame

This is the set in the open-air theatre where it should all have happened, but because the heavens opened, lightning flashed and  thunder clapped, the performance was cancelled on safety grounds.   We felt fed up, as did the rest of the bedraggled audience who had to make their way home in torrential rain.   The photo below shows from left:  Yet another Lion, Ralph, Katrin, Karl and Monika sheltering under in entrance of an hotel.  It was such a shame, but we will be offered exchange tickets for any performance in the State Theatre at a later date.   Our group of five grew into a group of nine, as friends joined Monika and Ralph, so we wandered into the Altstadt and found a cosy little "pub" for a few beers and some music.  The lowest photo shows Roland, who found a seat underneath a lampshade.  He said he'd always been a hothead!

Rain, Storm and Turandot.

I think the rain from England has arrived, as last night it poured, there was a lightning storm with big bangs in the garden!   Thank goodness it is slowly getting brighter  because tonight I'm  going with Monika and Ralph to a performance of Puccini's "Turandot" in the Burgplatz open air theatre.  I have just read a synopsis of the opera, and I do know some of the music, "Nessun dorma" is one of the arias.  The poster, right, is the original poster for the opera first sung in "La Scala" Milan on Sunday 26th April 1926 and conducted by ArturoToscanini, a conductor with much wild flair!   I like Turandot's heavy lidded eyes and her expression of, "Oh dear, I must marry the man who has solved my riddles."   I like the green jade earrings too.   I'll write my review of tonight's performance tomorrow, complete with photographs.

Thursday 25th August, Minden, the River Weser and Mittleland Canal.

I have "Blog Writer's Elbow," after a hard day of  blog writing but now I'm up to date with all the news!   I went shopping at lunch time today, on the bus in 30c, as I had no bread or cheese, but I dashed back and am now watching a big thunderstorm coming Timmerlah way, the sky is black and I can smell rain in the air.  The photo left shows us leaving the Oberhausen hotel on Thursday morning,  heading for a tour of Minden and a boat trip on the River Weser.  Below is an interesting clock in Minden town square.  Min and Din come out on the half hours, look at each other while some pleasant music plays and then they retreat into their respective cupboards!  The original building was destroyed in the war, but this is an exact copy.

Below are three photos of our boat trip.  We boarded the boat on the River Weser and then went up through Schlactschleuse onto the Mittelland Canal.  The lock is very deep and industrial sized, in Germany the canal network is still used to carry coal, stone and other commodities that would otherwise travel by road.  They are no little canals like those in England, these are all mega sized.   It was very hot yesterday and it was a welcome break to cruise on the water with a breeze blowing.  The bottom photo shows the Minden watermill which is still used to grind corn, and it was possible to buy small bags of flour.   On our return journey we visited the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial perched high on a hill overlooking the town.  We paid our respects and then headed off Timmerlah way.  Thanks goodness I'm back to normal, from now on I have only one  Blog a day to write.

Wednesday 24th August, Duisburg Steel Works and the Nightingale Coalmine.

What a blast from the past was Wednesday's visit to the "Duisburg Countryside Park"  and the  old steelworks.  The photo left shows Klemens our guide,  describing production at the works, with one of the torpedo wagons used to transport molten iron ore in the background.  By Wednesday my legs began to protest, but they somehow managed to take me to the very top of a gantry overlooking  one of the blast furnaces.  The photo below gives an idea of the height.  In the background, hidden in trees, is a climbing school, that uses some of the original concrete structures as climbing walls.  There is a youth hostel on the site providing accommodation for young people who visit to climb. No for me!.  www.landschaftspark.de

Two lower photos show us, complete with yellow safety hats, in the "Nightingale Coalmine."  The Wikipedia link will give you all the information about this mine.  At one stage our guide turned off the electric lights, and then lit up with only a dim torch.  This simulated candlelight was all that was available to the poor souls who toiled in the mine way back in the mid 1700s to the early 1900s.   The lowest photo shows us at "Arwin's Brewhouse" in Oberhausen Centro, the largest shopping centre in Europe.  We dined here that evening instead of in the hotel.   Wolfgang finds it amusing to photograph me at the same time as I photograph him.  It was a lovely end to a busy day of walking, climbing, clambering and banging our safety helmets on the roof of the mine.

Clonk, clonk, clonk, in English and in German!

Zeche Nachtigall – Wikipedia

- [ Translate this page  de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeche_Nachtigall - Cached

Tuesday 23rd August. Essen City Tour, Margarethenhof-Margarethe Krupp, Villa Huegel and Coalmine "Zollverein."

                                                                                                                                                    

Tuesday, it must be Essen! We picked up our city guide opposite the railway station and he gave us a tour of this enormous city. The photo right shows the new HQ of the ThyssenKrupp Company, built in shiny steel and glass. It is the centrepiece of a newly redeveloped area of the city. Many old buildings did survive the war and have been put to imaginative uses, old warehouses have become theatres and art galleries. We paid a visit to the "Margarethenhoehe" a small development of houses and gardens within the city, the first of its kind in Germany, and founded by Margarethe Krupp in 1904. She gifted the money for its construction on the occasion of the marriage of her daughter Bertha to Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach.  Today it is part of the Krupp Foundation, which is the majority shareholder in the ThyssenKrupp Company.  The photo below shows our group outside the main entrance of the "Margarethenhoehe".

A lower photo shows our coach outside "Villa Huegel" the family home of the Krupp family and built in 1870 to 1873.   The Americans confiscated it in 1945 and used it as an HQ, only returning it to the Krupp family in 1952.  It is now part of the Krupp Foundation and houses the family archives, letters and photographs.  www.villahuegel.de  will give you more photos and information.

The bottom photos shows coalwagons coming up out of the pit at Coalmine "Zollverein."  While standing on the viewing platform over these rails, our guide played the noises that would have been heard in this shed, as wagons came up every few minutes and emptied the coal into bigger containers.   Visit: www.zollverein.de for more info.

Monday 22nd August, I'll Start at the very Beginning, a very Good Place to Start!

On the road again!  This year's four day holiday  with the Timmerlah residents took the group to the industrial Ruhr Valley.  The whole area is part of the "European Route of Industrial Heritage" containing coal mines, old iron and steel works, blast furnaces and of course, the Gasometer, which  at 117.5 meters, the tallest in Europe.  It was built in 1927/1929 to hold gas for the Oberhausen iron works. The enormous inner space  is an exhibition centre and the present theme  is "Magical Places,"  photographs and objects from the most mystical and significant places  around the world.  I found a gigantic photo of Stonehenge, so Wiltshire is represented!  The most poignant exhibit for me was a watch found in the ruins of Hiroshima which stopped at 08.15 on August 6th 1945,  the moment the bomb was dropped.  www.gasometer.de   www.wikipedia.org  has info: Gasometer Oberhausen. 

In the centre space stood a huge concrete model of a giant Rainforest  tree, lit from varying angles, and with rainforest sounds playing, it looked very spectacular.   An all glass lift took visitors up to the top.  I made the mistake of leaving Mother Earth, but hid at the back of the lift, closed my eyes and crossed my fingers that German lift technology would not let me down.    It didn't and I emerged into blue sky and sunshine at the top and walked down the hundreds of steps to the bottom. 

The photo below shows the steps down, and the bottom photo shows, viewed from the top, our little coach waiting for us in the coach park.  It is a place worth visiting if anyone is ever that way.  In late afternoon we left for our hotel and arrived at 17.15.

Back Tonight after Four Days in the Ruhr Valley.

Here we are on Monday 22nd August arriving at the Oberhausen Gasometer, the largest in Europe,  after a three hour journey from Timmerlah.  I will write the Blog tomorrow, as I've just returned home after a long hot journey back from the Ruhr Valley via Minden and a lovely boat trip on the river Weser and the Mittelland Canal.  The whole trip was historically most interesting.

Monday 22nd to Thursday 25th August - NH Hotel, Oberhausen.

I'm off tomorrow morning at 07.00 on a four day coach trip to Essen, Oberhausen, Witten and Duisburg.  I am staying at NH Hotel, Dueppelstrasse 2, D-46045 Oberhausen.  I hope to have an internet connection in my room, but if all goes quiet for a few days, it means I have a problem.   Details of this hotel can be viewed online, if anyone wants to see where I'm enjoying myself.   Watch this space.

Open Day at the Kralenriede Bunker

The Bunker was open to the public today and Guenter and I with about 20 others took the opportunity to look around the bunker built in 1942 to hold 600 woman, children and the elderly, although a greater number often sought safety.    No males between the ages of 16-60 could seek refuge, they were all supposed to be fighting for the cause.  It was very well lit, I was expecting something really creepy, dark and with big spiders, but on a very hot Sunday, it was refreshing cool.  The guide gave an interesting history, in German of course, some of which I could understand, but a lot went over my head!  The photo left shows Guenter wandering in a corridor, where small rooms lead off on either side, with just enough space to accommodate a family. 

Below is me and a loo.  Water was a precious commodity and with only a very few loos for 600 people, you can imagine what life was like if people had to spend many hours or even days in this place.   The link below is in German, click translate for some funny English, which will give you all the information and a plan of the entire high bunker, which was all above ground.  Several bunkers still exist in Braunschweig.  Kralenriede is kept as a monument but others have become blocks of flats, foundations of buildings and warehouses.     More photos will follow later.
Bunker Kralenriede
- [ Translate this page ]www.vernetztes-gedaechtnis.de/krahlenriede/krahlenriede01.html

Vicki and Loo.

A Quiet Day on the Timmerlah Front.

Mummy Lion and Playful Cub.

Here's another lion seat support, this time a mummy and cub, ahhh.  My old moggy "Maltby" looked a bit like the cub,  although moggy  was black with a less dangerous mummy.  Me! 

I had an uneventful day today!  I needed one after my busy week of sightseeing with Rob and Louise.  It was very warm, but I had to go into town for some milk, as this week I'm off to Essen on a coach tour, and had to make sure I have milk for a cuppa when I return late next Thursday evening.  I walked to  Weserstrasse for the M3 at the renovated tram stop with its new track and bicycle park, as yet unfinished,  see the photo below.  The lower photo shows the "Oldtimerbus" waiting  in "Rathaus Square" for customers to arrive  for its sightseeing tour of BS.  

Tomorrow I'm visiting the Kralenriede Bunker, which has an open day.  It is very creepy, so I'm told, but I'm going with Guenter and Martin so I'll have some company. 

The Buessing "Oldtimertourbus" in Rathaus Square.

Bats at Choir Practise and Goodbyes at Hannover Airport

Pipistrelle Bats

Robert and Louise enjoyed their week's stay with me, and today I took them back to Hannover Airport for their flight to Southampton.   They packed their bags on Thursday evening while I was at choir practise with the bats!   At the practise we sang during the first half and then stopped for  our usual drinks  break, (I always drink a small beer, it's good for my voice) and during the second half we were joined by a bat.   One bat became two bats, two became three and so on, until six bats were circling their way around the large hall in which we practise.   It was quite an amazing sight to see them ducking and diving at close hand.   We couldn't work out how they had got in as no windows were open.   As we left we told the manager that he had bats in his hall.  "Several Bats?" he enquired,  "I only had one last night."   We left him to deal with the problem.  I assume they would find their freedom if he left a window open, or would that be inviting more to come in?   I know nothing about bat behaviour.

The photo below shows Robert and Louise waiting to go into the departure lounge at Hannover Airport.  I was sad to see them go, they were good company during the week.

Rob and Louise waiting at departures at Hannover Airport.

Sightseeing and Another Visit to Nussberg!

Robert at the Schillstrasse Memorial.

Today was very busy with last minute sightseeing.  The photo right shows Rob at the Schillstrasse Memorial to those who worked and died at the Forced Labour Camp on the site of the Bussing Auto works 1943/44.   The wall is covered with little plaques with words  of remembrance from the families and friends of those who lost their lives, and from the people of  Braunschweig who became involved in trying to help the many children who suffered in the camp.  It is a place to sit and reflect about man's inhumanity to man, and to vow never to allow it to happen again.

We revisited Nussberg and the "Thingplatz," the site of big rallies in the amphitheatre during the 1930/40's, and found the remains of the stage, the steps down to the arena and the rows of seating.  The photo below shows Rob on the steps and in the lower photo Rob and Louise at the Speaker's Platform in Franzches Field.  This dais was used to address big rallies in Braunschweig during the National Socialist Era of 1930/40. 

Rob at the Nussberg "Thingplatz."

Rob and Louise at the Speaker's Platform.

Train Spotting on a Wednesday Evening.

Electric Sunset.

We took a stroll beside the railwayline in Timmerlah tonight and watched the trains go by, regional trains, goods trains, the ICE Express trains and empty goods wagons.   We had to tread carefully along the path, as lots of tiny frogs/toads were littering the pathway, hell bent on self destruction on the line!  We waved at a train driver, hoping he would sound his whistle, but no, the driver just waved back at us.  Tomorrow we are going back to Nussberg, as one visit is not enough to take in the history of the place.

Louise and Robert train spotting.

Nussberg Again.

On the Speaker's Platform at Nussberg.

Louise and Robert on the Bunker at Nussberg.

Robert at Tetzelstein.

Sightseeing and Dining Out in the Magniviertal.

Rob and Louise at the "Til Eulenspiegel" Fountain.

We went sightseeing today and took the tram to Radaklint and the fountain and then walked back through the Old Market Place, the Kohlmarkt and into the city centre.  We sat and watched the world go by whilst sitting outside the "Schloss" eating our lunch of crusty baguettes filled with cheese and salad.   Tonight we went to a restaurant in the Magniviertal with Monika and Ralph and enjoyed a meal in the warm evening air.  A lovely day followed by a lovely evening with good friends.

From left: Ralph, Monika, Vicki, Louise and Robert.

Waiting for the tram home, Ralph and Robert at Schloss.

Singing in the Rain, Just Singing in the Rain at Burg Warberg!

Concert Programme

 In spite of the pouring rain we sang like angels, yes we really did!  Every two years all the choirs in the Braunschweig area get together for a "Singer's Festival," and today 30 choirs gathered at Burg Warberg to sing and make merry.  But it rained, the kind of rain that comes straight down, soaks you, and has no intention of stopping for hours.  Our choir was lucky, we sang on a dry stage inside the Castle to an appreciative audience.   In the gardens were many beer and drink stalls and places to buy burgers and hotdogs.  What a great pity the sun did not shine, it would have been a wonderful day in the warmth.   Robert and Louise are  staying  this  week  and tomorrow we start some serious sightseeing.  We will start the day early and visit all the places of historical interest.  

Below are more photos of our "Singing Festival."

Our choir wearing red jackets, waits to go on stage.

Singing in the rain on the outside stage.

More singing in the rain!