Thursday 19 June 2014 Bochum

Cool Cloudy 15C

It is a public holiday in Germany today (Corpus Christi, we think) and so a leisurely start to the day. We drove into town and had breakfast at a bakery. There wasn't much open except for a few bakeries and cafes. Nice, but cool - the coffee (still searching) was hot and welcome.

Our hotel is on a large park on the edge of the town. The signs of the big storm in early June, fallen trees and debris are still all around the park, Some of the debris has been cleared from the main pathways but the park is still full of broken branches and some large tree trunks which were uprooted.

Wondering what to do, we decided to walk through the park to the German Coal Mining Museum. Entry was free today (perhaps because of the holiday?). The museum was very interesting with many of the tunnels open for viewing. Many samples of the original equipment used for drilling were on display and the tunnels showed the history of how the coal mines developed and were operated since the bronze ages.

After the tunnels and a climb of the pit head gantry (freezing cold, nearly snowing) we inspected the museum with hundreds of intricately detailed models that showed cross sections of the mines as well as how the miners worked in getting the coal out of the mine shafts over the ages. It had been raining while inside the Museum and the temperature seemed to have dropped so we returned to the hotel to pick up a scarf and gloves.

We found a nice coffee shop this afternoon that Christof had recommended in the centre of town and warmed up a little more (still searching) and headed back to the hotel again.

Just got back when Christof called and we (Chris, me and the Google Maps lady) set off for Nadine's home in Lunen (about 30 minutes away) for a barbecue dinner (see temperature above - that was the max at 3.00 p.m.) where we arrived without further adventure. .

Christof and Nadine kindly offered extra clothing on arrival and we set to a selection of german sausage, chicken, bacon skewers, and other delicacies of the area (no curry wurst yet) in the back yard and watched the invigorating sight of the rain falling gently..

It was good to catch up with Nadine again and meet her parents and friends, a couple of who are bravely heading for Australia in August (mid winter) - we warned them to bring their summer clothes :)

We left around 10.30, with the rain clearing, the Google Maps lady lead us back to our Bochum hotel for a well-earned night's rest..