Trip Day 24+25

Thursday August 31

This was such a special treat. My niece Maren is a wonderful photographer but recently she took a new job since the company who made little 3-D statues of people had folded. She is now working for the Ruhrfestspielhaus and loves it.

She had a day off and took her mother Ute, James and me for a tour. First we sat in the audience and a college of her explained things to us. We had music and special effects and even the 'iron curtain' was lowered and raised for us. The story/history how the Ruhrfestspielhaus came to be was also very interesting.

After that we were led onto the stage. I can't imagine being on there and performing in front of a full house. And its equally amazing what all needs to be happening behind the stage for us to enjoy a performance. We met several of Maren's colleges and all were so nice.

When they had to go back to work Maren showed us around there house. There was another 'little stage' and much more. It is officially the Vestishe Culture- und Congresszentrum which explains its function much better. The yearly Ruhrfestspiele are very famous.

After that Maren drove us to the Schalke 04 Fan shop. I am born in Gelsenkirchen and Schalke 04 is one of Germany's major soccer teams. The fan shop had the typical stuff sports teams have. We found something for William and his cousins.

The left game is for several board games but has boring pieces. The right game has cute pieces but is only one game. I didn't buy any of that.

After that Maren took us shopping. We were stuck in traffic on an Autobahn which is so typical. But we made it to the shopping and I had success finding my WMF salt and pepper grinders I wanted, and something else too. When we came out of the mall though it was raining and the car was a little way away.

Maren dropped us off at Ute's but later we all went out for dinner to a new restaurant in Recklinghausen Muhis. Maren found a parking spot from where we walked into the inner city which is mainly for pedestrians which I love. I forgot to take photos but found this one of Muhis on the internet.

Maren's friend Gregor had joined us too and we had a lovely evening. 

When I read the menu I could not resist to order an appetizer. They had padron peppers and they were perfect. We all shared them but again, forgot to take a photo. But here is my and James' main.

Friday September 1

As always Ute picked us up around 9 and after breakfast at her house we played cards. But we also had to take care of some emails and requests from home. Inge also called and made arrangements with us.

Amazing. First Maren had asked whether we would like to see the Gasometer. But time had not been on our side. When Inge called we heard that she and Martina would like to take us there also.

It rained all the way to Oberhausen and since there is road construction everywhere you get slowed down. We (I should say Inge and Martina) found it easily but there didn't seem be any parking. We tried the overflow but no luck. There were many tents which looked on what could have been a parking lot but there were also no signs which way to go etc. And it was raining. We were very disappointed and finally gave up.

Since we had no goal any longer I asked whether we could go past our old house in Dorsten.

Haddingsberg 18 - a bungalow with two apartments, one larger for my parents and one smaller for my grandparents. With a basement where I had my little place for a while with two rooms and bathroom. 

The house was built with family manpower but mainly my grandfather who was already in his 70s. I have fond memories of schlepping bricks from one end of the property to where my grandfather needed them. He was an incredible craftsman and it was a happy house. So many stories to tell about it. Of course it looked different then because my father tended to the garden. 

And while we were at it and it was after 1 pm  I suggested to have a soup or so at Gaststätte Grütering where James and I had our wedding celebration about 48 years ago. Well, that was different too. It would have been officely closed openening at 5 pm but since there was a little funeral group already we were told to find a seat. James and my onion soup was excellent and all was good even if it didn't look like anything we remembered.

Relactently Inge and Martina agreed to play cards with us and of course we did have fun.

After they had left and it looked like we were safe to take a walk without rain, James and I did and it felt very good. A walk was needed even if it wasn't long enough. 

Ute liked another game and we had so much fun that it got a little late. How can you play the same game so often but it seems always different?  Never boring. We just hope the weather gets better again for the rest of our days here.