That title’s for Dawn 😉

A short trudge up the road got me to Essen where I was to stay with Jörn and his girlfriend, Birte. They turned out to be great company and we spent far too many hours talking when I could have been touristing! Still, the weather wasn’t that great so no big deal.

I did take a trip out west to see the Gasometer, the largest in Europe which is now a tourist attraction. You can climb all over it, inside and out. At 117.5m at the peak, it’s a hell of a view and awful for anyone with vertigo. Inside is even worse! From the viewing platform on the 10th floor, it’s almost completely dark aside from a scattering of lights. As you come in from the outside stairwell, you can’t even see your feet so it’s like you’re floating in space. Very unnerving.

The exhibition downstairs was quite interesting. A lot of satellite photos of various landmarks, cities and so forth. A shame that the copious notes next to each one were in German.

I failed to find the time to visit the nearby UNESCO protected abandoned mine, which is a shame. But it gives me something to do on my next visit. I spent three evenings and some of the afternoons talking to Jörn and Birte while being ridiculously well fed and watered, which was just as good a way to spend the time. I was also given free reign on one of the spare PCs to get this blog updated and to move the 1000 Miles one to a new home with a new design. The joys of being hosted by a true geek!