Susan and I wanted to visit Germany to see the homeland of our ancestors. The first thing I noticed as we approached Düsseldorf was the number of smoking chimneys. Some of them were power plants on the Ruhr River but many seemed to be from steel mills. Ohio used to have many such chimneys in the Cleveland and Youngstown area which are no longer there. As we traveled to our first “tourist” stop I was surprised that some of the stereotypes were not true. There was a lot of traffic, but the cars weren’t all tiny. Admittedly we have not seen a pickup truck yet today, but the cars seem to be normal size.
The visit to a war era coal mine was interesting. We are used to some horizontal shaft mines or strip mines in the Midwest, but this mine was a vertical shaft with horizontal appendages every couple hundred meters. It was 750 meters down at its deepest point. They had an elevator that would lift mine cars straight up to the surface.
The facility at which we are staying for the Church conference is right on the Ruhr River, a beautiful location. The hospitality has been excellent.
I was surprised at the amount of graffiti on buildings, signs, and sound barrier walls along the highway. We used to see quite a bit of graffiti in Mexico, but it seems that this particular part of Germany has surpassed that. Nevertheless, we feel that we are welcome here, things are quiet along the river, and we are looking forward to a healthy and happy visit. — John & Susan
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