https://www.germany.travel/en/trade/gtm.html Archives

Countries, Europe

Auf Wiedersehen Essen und Gluck Auf

19th April 202319th April 2023 funtime65

Auf Wiedersehen Essen und Gluck Auf, or goodbye and Luck Up… and Essen and the Ruhr Region are certainly lucking up.

I have spent the past week in Essen in the west of what was once called by the West ‘West Germany’.

But is now just Germany.

And I have been looking up with admiration at the striking structures that fuelled the Ruhr Region.

But have now been transformed into tourist attractions.

Solid coal

There has been the UNESCO Zollverein Museum, dedicated to King Coal.

There are more than 6,000 exhibits in what was once a Coal Washery.

And this dramatic space presents the exciting natural and cultural history of the Ruhr region.

On three levels, the permanent exhibition illustrates the Ruhr Metropolis as it is now.

And the pre-industrial memory as well as the dramatic history of industrialisation and structural change to renewables in the Ruhr area.

And what’s more this post-industrial landscape is perfect for street art, dancing, hiking and biking.

It really is the business.

Which is why it is a convention favourite.

And why the international German Travel Fair welcomed us there to eat, drink and be merry.

The old reality

Essen and the Ruhr region have reinvented themselves these past 20 or 30 years.

And while for a century and a half Ruhr people went down to the bowels of the earth for coal, they have always looked up.

And would wish each other Gluck Auf, or luck up, in the hope they would all return to the surface in one piece.

Now the only reason to look down would be if you were on an Essen virtual reality tour through the pedestrianised city centre.

Where you can walk in the footsteps of the characters of 1887 around the funeral of industrialist Alfred Krupp.

And the Grillo Theatre project.

The trick is to focus your eyes and headset in front of you.

Then look down, wait for the green circle to revolve and then look back.

And be transported back to 1887.

A smell of Koln

There is something of that time too about the Koln Cathedral on the banks of the Rhine, a must-do day trip, completed as it was in 1880.

But, of course, a Gothic Medieval wonder, and home to the bones of The Three Wise Men.

The temple of modern religion is, of course, the Westfalion Stadium, home to Borussia Dortmund.

And where the 20,000 terracing end soars impressively like the noise from the home support, a veritable Yellow Wall.

Clock this in Essen

On our last day in Essen I found myself looking up again as the clock struck the hour.

And the Pletzch Jeweller Shop, which had been here on the Kettwiger Strasse since the 1890s.

And which has a clockwork show for people going about their daily business.

My business is catching a plane, back for Scotland.

I look up at the timetable and notice my train to Frankurt is boarding soon.

Auf Wiedersehen Essen und Gluck Auf

Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

Oh de Koln

18th April 202318th April 2023 funtime65

It’s been 37 years in the making though that’s 595 less than the actual cathedral but Oh de Koln!

Way back then it was a mere pitstop on our way to the Munich Oktoberfest.

And a combination of too little time and too much booze meant we were in and out of the Gothic wonder.

Thirty-seven years is, of course, too long to pass before worshipping again at Koln (or Cologne) cathedral.

But with more time on our hands and without the distraction of a party of boozers we got to take in the full awe of the church.

And that meant getting in behind the church.

Not sure if there was a lift up then to the roof.

Our thirtysomething guide was naturally too young to have experienced it himself.

Closer to God

But it’s true what they say about the higher you go the closer to God you feel.

And for a time in the 19th century Koln Cathedral, at 157m tall, was the tallest building in the world.

Before Washington Monument was put up and Eiffel Tower rose above Paris.

And as striking as both those edifices are you do not get up so close to the Gothic intricacies of the Koln delicacies.

Although being this close to the gargoyles might make you feel like your mother-in-law is keeping an eye on you.

Mind you maybe that was the intention.

Down by the river

The panoramic views of course from the roof are sensational.

And there was a pang of jealousy looking down on the tourists enjoying their boat cruise along the Rhine.

Although, of course, they would have been looking up at us thinking the same.

The sheer scale of Koln Cathedral of course is impossible to capture on one viewing.

And that’s no doubt what they had in mind to get you through the door for the hundreds of services a year.

Germany’s magnet

And so we can see from its grandeur why it’s the most popular site in Germany with 20,000 visitors a year.

But why here?

Well, the bones of the Three Wise Men are said to reside there in a golden reliquary.

Get some cop-on yourself join the flock, it’s free to enter the church, onvs.

And a behind the scenes through the riggings tour.

And a lift and a spiral staircase up to that spectacular view is reasonably pitched.

Where like us I bet you exclaim Oh de Koln.

It certainly won’t be another 37 years before I’m back.

Particularly as I’m now a fixture and fitting at the German Travel Mart and am one of Lufthansa’s frequent flyers.

Countries, Europe, Sustainable Tourism

What Germans mean by Gluck Auf

17th April 202317th April 2023 funtime65

Now you may be startled the first time a German tells you to Gluck Auf but don’t fret they’re really just wishing you good luck.

Gluck Auf is the everyday greeting of Esseners who hail from the mitten in Europa (the middle of Europe).

Hardy folk the Esseners, mining as they did its land for 150 years.

And versatile too as they have transformed themselves from the coal centre of Europe to its green champion.

While preserving the hardy and resilient character which is, for want of a better word, their essence.

And which they reference in that exhortation which translates as Luck Up.

The everyday exchange between miners before they descended in the bowels of the earth.

Wishing that they would see each other again safe and well above ground.

Ruhr odyssey

We are continuing our odyssey in the Ruhr region.

And hearing of the greening of the Ruhr, Germany’s industrial heartland which is now leading the way in sustainability.

To such an extent that global warming has turned the Ruhr into Reisling Country.

Not that you need to worry though that they might have dropped the Beer part of the Coal, Steel and Beer appellation.

We had learnt on our Football Cult(ure) leg of our German Travel Mart experiences the lengths clubs will go to to keep their supporters libated.

When Schalke 04 ran out of beer on their centenary party at their stadium and had to serve non-alcoholic beer it was a red flag.

And so they built pipes into the ground to ensure that never happened again.

Bear in mind too that Schalke serve up 45,000 litres of beer at their Veltins Arena every match.

Not to mention enough curryvurst sausages to put a fresh hole in the ozone layer.

Sustainable future

That though is tempered by the sustainable flora and fauna forward planning.

And blue-sky thinking that has seen former Chancellor Willy Brandt’s prophecy from the Fifties come true.

That one day clean air would return to the grey Ruhr region.

And it has, with blue water too which has made it a hub for canoeists and water sport aficionados.

While hikers and cyclists too have been drawn to the countryside trails.

Old King Coal

Those very same bikers have found in the post-industrial landscape a playground for their passion.

Which they demonstrated, as did the street and breakdancers, on our opening night.

In the impressive UNESCO Zollverein Coal Mine Complex.

No such exertions for our party, just sit back, drink our Ruhr Reisling, eat our curryvurst sausages.

Clink glasses, exhort Prost, look each other in the eye and add Gluck Auf.

Countries, Europe

The Ruhr Roar

16th April 202316th April 2023 funtime65

We pride ourselves in Scotland on the sound our football fans make but truly it can surely never match The Ruhr Roar.

I am standing in the Yellow Wall of Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion and a little kid 100 rows is screaming.

We’re told her screech would be amplified 20,000 times when the supporters are yelling on their beloved Borussia.

You imagine it would be difficult pitchside for a coach, say ex-Borussia boss Jurgen Klopp, to get his messages to his players or his staff.

But today on our stadium tour it is not a problem, we only need to get the attention of the barman serving us beer in the technical area.

Another brand might say if they did football tours these would be the best football tours in the world.

Deutschland uber alles

Scotland rule the world: German Football Museum

Certainly for German fans as we visit too the National Football Museum.

Though not the Hungarian in our group who left with the cheers for the German team who beat his side to the World Cup in 1954 ringing in his ears.

The Miracle of Bern, the first of four World Cups Germany have won is referenced relentlessly throughout the one-hour tour.

And to think my own native Scotland have only won four finals matches in their entire history.

All of which means that the closest you’ll ever get to see a Scot next to the World Cup is in a museum like this.

Now football museums may seem a niche interest but they are a cultural guide into a people at play.

Gelsekirchen’s kickin’

And you know what I say about seeking out the quarters where the locals play and pray when you travel.

Continue reading “The Ruhr Roar” →