Tuesday, July 26
Today we went back up near Oberhausen to a town called Essen. This town is famous for having the biggest coal mine ever used in Germany. This mine has been shut down since the 1970's. After sitting around for a few years it was declared a World Heritage Site and was preserved. They decided to turn it into a Park and Museum. They have two different kinds of exhibits here, one that is a changing exhibit and can be whatever they decide for it to hold whenever they decide to do it, and the other is one that stays the same all the time and it tells the history of the area.I really enjoyed going to this park because you were able to go into the museum and see exactly how the coal mine worked and everything that the mine has contributed to. We learned that it was first built in the 1920's and stopped production in the 1970's. We were told that it was a key piece to keeping the Germans going during WWII. After the war, it was still used and once it closed down there was a debate on whether or not to demolish it or keep it. It was eventually kept and turned into the Museum and Park that it is today.
Today we also went into the town of Essen and saw many old Churches, some dating back to the 900's, as well as a damn and the top of a huge house that was owned by the person who use to own/run the coal mine. It was amazing to get to walk around another city that is about the same size as Bonn and get to see how they differ.
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| The overview of the Zollverein |
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| Part of the Zollverein |
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| One of the old Churches we saw |
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| A house sitting on the river that we walked by |
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| Part of the lake we walked along |
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