| Page Views: 1,677 Last Visit to Essen: May, 2007 | Opera and cycling * in Essen… by Nemorino - last update: Nov 11, 2007 |
*and coal-mining | Touring the Zollverein World Heritage site |
The UNESCO World Heritage site Zollverein Shaft XII is an easy bicycle ride from the center of Essen -- only about five kilometers from the Aalto-Theater, for example. It's best to reserve a tour in advance, but I was lucky because I arrived at the Visitors' Center without a reservation a few minutes before eleven on a Sunday morning and found that there was exactly one place free on a tour that was leaving on the hour.
The tour was like a crash course in coal-mining, led by a man who obviously knew the colliery like the back of his hand, but he couldn't have been a miner because he was over sixty, and miners didn't live that long. Also no miner ever set foot in this compound, known locally as the Forbidden City, because Shaft XII was designed exclusively for the purpose of bringing up huge amounts of coal in wheeled tubs, and sending the empty tubs back down again. Nearby there were four older shafts that were used for transporting the miners and their equipment.
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| In the historic Zollverein processing plant |
Long before I ever toured the Zollverein colliery in Essen, there was another phase of my life in which I was very interested in coal mining, and that was during the United Mine Workers strike of 1948. I was eight years old at the time and was just starting to realize that there were other pages in the newspaper besides the funnies.
We didn't subscribe to a newspaper, but my father bought the Chicago Daily News every day after work at the C&NW station and read it on the train. When he got home I eagerly snatched the paper from his hand, threw it and myself down on the living room rug and of course read the funnies first, but then turned to the front page to see if that awful John L. Lewis, the glowering union leader, was still blocking our coal supply.
I knew about coal because we had a big pile of it in a bin next to the furnace in our basement. My father assured me we had enough to keep us warm all winter, but I was dubious. Also I was worried that he might get stuck in downtown Chicago some day if the C&NW didn't have enough coal to run its steam locomotives.
A few years later we switched to gas heating, around the same time the railroad started phasing out its steam locomotives in favor of diesels.
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Thus far I have seen two operas at the Aalto-Theater in Essen. The first, several years ago, was a blatantly anti-war staging of Verdi's Aida, which I of course liked very much, though some people thought they were overdoing it by having crippled war veterans hobble by to salute the king during the Triumph March.
More recently I went to the premiere of a new production of Rossini's Italian Girl in Algiers, a very funny opera which in this case was set in an ultra-modern airport in an Arab country. The stage set was designed by Hermann Feuchter, who lives near Frankfurt and has designed several sets for the Frankfurt Opera. (And yes, he was once a guest at one of my opera appreciation courses.) |
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Nemorino's Essen Travel Tips
| Overview | Things to Do
Tips: 10 - Photos: 34 | | | | Restaurants | Hotels & Accommodations
Tips: 1 - Photos: 1 | | | | Nightlife | Off The Beaten Path | | | | Tourist Traps | Warnings Or Dangers | | | Transportation
Tips: 2 - Photos: 5 | Local Customs | | | | Packing Lists | Shopping | | | | Sports Travel | General Tips |
 Comments for Nemorino about Essen | | | | |
vinc_bilb Mon Oct 5, 2009 20:57 UTC
Rich and interesting pages, as usual with you, genau (Ich habe nicht mehr Deutsh gesprochen durch 25 jahren). Bravo, simply | evaanna Fri Mar 13, 2009 13:40 UTC
That was an interesting visit to the mine. Never been to one before. Don't quite understand why the youngest child was bathed as last. I am sure a Polish mother would bathe her youngest first, while the water was still clean. | LoriPori Wed Jul 2, 2008 18:55 UTC
Rich in culture. Also the production of coal information was very interesting. | BillNJ Sun Apr 6, 2008 00:42 UTC
Great page -- especially the tip about the inexpensive, centrally located hotel. Best from New Jersey, Bill |
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