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Published: November 9th 2022
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Niki de Saint Phalle
Sculpture by Niki de Saint Phalle in Duisburg From Ruhr area to Koblenz
In late June we set off for our long summer vacation. This year we decided to spend the better part of it by travelling around in Germany. We have visited Germany several times before. We have been to Berlin in
2009, in
2014 and
in 2017. In 2019 we travelled around a bit and visited
Cologne,
Hamelin,
Hamburg and a few other places. Ake also went on a trip to Germany
in 2017. It is probably needless to say that we like Germany.
Summer 2022 turned out to be an excellent time for travelling in Germany thanks to the so called
9-Euro-Ticket. For only 9 Euro anyone could buy a ticket which during a month allowed the ticket holder unlimited travel on local trains, regional trains, subways and local buses throughout entire Germany. This ticket was absolutely perfect for us. First of all it saved us money. We travelled a lot with public transport during the weeks we were in Germany and paying each ticket separately would have been expensive. Also it saved us a lot of time and trouble since we didn't have to find out how to pay for subway,
Donkey's Way
Art installation named Donkey's Way in Mönchengladbach trams and busses in the towns and cities we arrived in. The 9-Euro-ticket covered those transports as well.
We started our Germany trip in the western part of the country, in the so called
Ruhr area. Ruhr is a densely populated corner of Germany where there used to be a high concentration of coal mines, ironworks and other heavy industry. Many of these industries are defunct today so anyone who goes to Ruhr and expect industrial wasteland, smog, filthy industries and a general dystopia will either be very disappointed or positively surprised.
Some of these heavy industries have actually been turned into museums. We visited two of those museums. One was a former coal mine and the other was an iron works. We will write more about them in a later blog entry.
Let's jump into the sites we visted that we feel need highlighting or explanation in the text. For the rest of the story we let our photos do the talking.
Duisburg =>
Tiger and Turtle - Magic Mountain: Tiger and Turtle - Magic Mountain is a sculpture placed on the top of a hill in Duisburg. First time we heard
Tiger and Turtle - Magic Mountain
Tiger and Turtle - Magic Mountain is a sculpture in Duisburg of this sculpture was many years ago when it was featured in an article we read on internet. We then made a note that we wanted to see it and now we did. It was really cool to see it and climb around in it.
=> Sculpture by
Niki de Saint Phalle - a very colourful sculpture in a style that is very typical of that artist.
=> Shepherd's tower - When we walked around in central Duisburg we saw this old tower that used to be built into the town wall. The town wall was torn down a long time ago but the tower still stands there.
Wuppertal =>
Lego Bridge - In Wuppertal the underside of a railway bridge has been painted to look like it is constructed from Lego. The bridge is really made from concrete, but the illusion of Lego bricks is pretty well made and it looks cool.
=>
Wuppertal Suspension Railway - Another railway related oddity in Wuppertal is the suspension railway. Instead of running on tracks the trains are hanging underneath a steel frame. This is the oldest railway of its kind in the world. We have shot a film of it.
Tiger and Turtle - Magic Mountain
First time we heard of Tiger and Turtle - Magic Mountainwas many years ago when it was featured in an article we read on internet. After we left Ruhr area we went south. We bypassed Köln since we visited that city in 2019. Instead we headed for the city Koblenz and spent a while in the area near there.
Koblenz =>
Deutsches Eck and Kaiser-Wilhelm-Denkmal - At Deutsches Eck in Koblenz the river Moselle empties its water into the river Rhine. On Deutsches Eck there is a colossal equestrian statue of Emperor William/Kaiser Wilhelm.
=>
Ehrenbreitstein Fortress - Located on top of a hill on the opposite side of river Rhine, as seen from Koblenz city centre, is the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. The access to the fortress is via a
cable car which has its lower terminus just behind Kaiser-Wilhelm-Denkmal.
=>
Electoral Palace - Fortresses and palaces are in abundance in Germany. Sometimes it feels like every town has at least one or the other if not both. Koblenz has both, the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress and Electoral Palace. We passed the latter one when we walked through town. It looked nice so we stopped just to take some photos.
Moselle Valley and Cochem Emma went on a hike one day without Ake. She then took the
Emma on Tiger and Turtle - Magic Mountain
It was really cool to see it and climb around in the sculpture train from Koblenz to the town
Cochem. From there she hiked for a few hours along Moselle Valley passing a few small villages on the way.
Andernach While Emma was hiking, Ake visited
Andernach Geyser, the highest cold-water geyser in the world. The water the geyser ejects comes from a well more than 300 meters down. The water is naturally carbonated and when the concentration of carbon dioxide in the well becomes high enough it escapes upwards and brings water with it. It is a bit similar to when you first shake a carbonated soft drink and then remove the cap on the bottle.
Maria Laach Abbey Not far from Andernach is the
Maria Laach Abbey, a monastery built in the 11th and 12th century. Ake visited that too while he was in the area.
After Koblenz we continued south on our journey in Germany. We will write about that in our next blog entry.
But before we quit today we would like to mention the use of face masks on public transport. Pretty much the only place in Germany where it was mandatory to use face masks were
Tiger and Turtle - Magic Mountain
We just have to throw in yet another picture of this sculpture on busses and trains. Very few people used mask anywhere else. But as soon as we entered any kind of public transport it was Mask On. And when we exited our transport - Mask Off.
We took a lot of trains and busses so sometimes all day long it was: Mask On - Mask Off - Mask On - Mask Off. It almost felt like we were in a weird remake of
The Karate Kid. Mask On - Mask Off - Mask On - Mask Off.
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RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew
Awww...
I love these donkey sculptures, and it looks like their ears are being touched/rubbed for good luck. That 9-euro ticket is unbelievably good value! What an amazing way to encourage people to use public transport; Australia really needs to up its game when compared to countries like Germany.