Click here to join John and Peter climbing 592 steps to the top of the Gasometer. (5.73 MB, about a one-minute trip to the top)
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Relevant weekly journals:
September 7, 2004: Landschaftspark at night, Gasometer, going up the Kölner Dom.
September 13, 2004: Wasser-spielplatz, goodbye to the
matsch, returning home to San Diego.
Gasometer. Peter, Klaus, und Marlies took us to the Gasometer in
Oberhausen, a giant storage tank, 117.5 meters tall and some 67 meters in diameter. Like
Landschaftspark, it was almost torn down, but was turned into a unique exhibition venue. The exhibit when we were here, was the Breitling Orbiter 3 balloon which successfully circumnavigated the world. The view from the
roof of the Gasometer is a spectacular show in itself. By the way, the image of the
ribs on the Gasometer combine with your monitor’s screen to create a moiré
effect on the thumbnails; the actual structure does not have circular designs.
Click here to join John and Peter climbing 592 steps to the top of the Gasometer. (5.73 MB, about a one-minute trip to the top)
Köln Dom, Deux. We took another train trip to Köln (Cologne). This time, the
skies were blue and it was quite warm. John and Roy climbed 509 steps to the observation
deck on the south spire, 97 meters above street level (the spire itself reaches
over 157 meters). Köln Dom (the Cologne Cathedral) was started
in 1248, but took 632 years to build. When it was finished, in 1880, it was
the world’s tallest building. There are eight bells of different sizes in
the main bell room; the bell you see in the third photo, Petersglocke, is the
world’s largest free-swinging bell (24,000 kg). Roy and John were in the bell
room when the half-hour chimed! That was startlingly loud, and that was just two
bongs on a small bell! You can catch a snippet of the chime on the video clip. They were in the tower when the bells struck 12:00. The
view from the top is panoramic and spectacular. What a great experience! Later
we explored the outside of the Roman-German Museum, which had interesting castings on
pedestals and a section of the actual Roman road that went through the city.
Click here to join us on the ICE train to Köln! (5.30 MB)
Click here to join John and Roy climbing to the top of the south tower (4.21 MB)
Gabi und Jonas were friends from the Tuesday morning music and
movement class through AWO.
The wasser-spielplatz at MüGa was a great place. The boys loved the
matsch so much, that we didn’t get to the wasser-spielplatz until the very end of our stay.
The first photo shows perhaps one-third of the wasser-spielplatz. The second
photo shows Leo playing with a joghurt bucket and a circular gate in one of the
many channels that wind through the spielplatz. The third photo shows Roy
jumping on a jump-pump that squirted water in all directions.
Goodbye to the matsch! The matsch-spielplatz at MüGa is one place the boys will really miss.
In the first photo, you can see part of the Schloss Broich in the
background.
Gyros mit Patricia, Gregor, und Veronica. What a delicious meal, and
our last local German bier. And, what a bittersweet feeling to say goodbye to our friends.
LTU Kinderland at Düsseldorf International was a great place to let
the kids run off some energy before boarding our flight (1530, DUS to LAX). John’s sister Patty picked us up at LAX (and ended up having to make two trips).
Home sweet home. No matter where we go, San Diego is one fine place to
come back to. The first
photo shows the garage banner Doris (our neighbor across the street) made to
greet us; the second photo shows the balloons Barbara and Bill placed on our
front lawn for the boys; the third photo shows the sign Barbara made for our
front door. It was great to be in Mülheim, and now it is great to be home in
San Diego!
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