Coal Mine, Gasometer, and Steel Factory. Also, Fear of Heights.

Windmill on the way to Essen

      So yesterday (16th) we went to a Coal mine, and then to a Mongolian BBQ in Essen, Germany. It was about a 2.5 hour drive from Bad Homburg to Essen. The coal mine was pretty cool.

Inside the mine

Look what you can do with coal... Make C3PO? Apparently...

Putting burning hot oil on top of my head is #1 on my list of fun ideas.

      At the coal mine there was lots of nice exhibits, and some that were a little confusing. It's very inconvenient having a tour guide that doesn't speak English. There was a platform where you could stand at the top and it was very cold and rainy.. Not the best weather to be really high up in the air.

     After that we walked around for a bit in Essen, and went to a Mongolian BBQ place near our hotel. There you could try Zebra, Beef, Elk, Ostrich, Mussels, Shrimp, Pork, Chicken, Salmon, Tilapia, Kangaroo, and Squid meats. The Zebra was excellent, the Elk was a little tough and I didn't really want to try any of the others.

View from the Gasometer

      Today we traveled with Stefan's sister, Anna, and her boyfriend, Marcus to the Gasometer in Oberhausen. It's a big place where they used to store gas for the steel factory. Anyway, they had an exhibit called "Magic Places" it was pretty cool. And you could ride an elevator to the top and look out at the surrounding cities. I'm not really a big fan of heights so I've about had it at this point.. there's only so much you can see from on top of a 10 story platform. And it really makes me freak out a little bit. (My camera died there so no more pictures.)

     We then went to a steel factory in Bochum and had some really good french pizza there for lunch. We walked around and watched some kids climbing the old walls. It was really cool how they had re-purposed their old factory to a really nice park. Then we toured the Krupp's house, the people who owned the steel mill and much of Bochum. It was insanely nice, more like a palace than a house. The plan for tomorrow includes mostly shopping. Yay!