Mittwoch, 28. Juli 2006
The 3rd day began very early for the most of us – but for one person especially too early! We were divided in 5 groups, so we brushed our teeth, got a shower and drink a lot of coffee.
It took a while until we realized that we were all ready to go, but then we hurried up to get the train to Essen Hauptbahnhof, which had a typical German delay of 25 minutes.
After a smooth ride we arrived. We started our bookshop-safari: we began in heaven (Proust Buchhandlung), get down to earth (Baedeker) and ended up in hell (we don’t mention the real name, but let’s call it “Monster Buchhandlung”).In heaven the owners were angels: very friendly; giving us a warm welcome in their beautiful brightly store.
In Baedeker the travel manager and the assistance of the head manager were also very friendly and showed us very detailed all the departments. They did their job very well and gave every ICYB a little bag with giveaways.
When we first saw the last bookshop we were not impressed with the looks of it; but we decided to give it a go and see inside the unknown “Zu Gast bei Freunden”. This is how a bookshop should definitely NOT be! It was so dark, you couldn’t even see the owner – the only lights were the flashlights of our cameras (which were not allowed at all). After 30 seconds in hell, we escaped as fast as we could out and calmed down at a bench.
When we got back on earth we had to find our other ICYB’s immediately to exchange our experiences. Then we went to the bus and get to know the German “houte couisine”: Currywurst with French Fries.
We occupied the coal minors at the Zeche Zollverein and left them without lunch. Here our Tour the Ruhr started. We got taught about the history of the industry of Essen and the work circumstances in the early 1920th century. The devil with the 2 faces is now considering introducing them in his own book chain. We also got to know about the culture and architecture, when some of the girls in our group saw a perfectly build example walk around half naked on two legs.
After this long, but interesting show, we got on the bus again to our next experience. This was also an industrial introduction to the Ruhrgebiet.
Next station = bus station = going to a Dampf – Brauerei to get a typical German dinner party. The two Bavarians showed the international guests how to say PROST! In the right way (that’s of course in Oktoberfest-way). We loved the meal and the drinks.
Mit herzlichen Grüßen,
Group 3
(Natasha, Patrice, Simone, Roman, Svenja)
Zum Dienstag: [mehr…]
