The rest of the week in Essen

Wednesday was Vocation Day, where we all got to meet some wonderful people and learn more about our professions in Germany. 

In the evening we joined some Rotatian friends for dinner in the city, followed by drinks and conversation at the home of Dagmar Gaßdorf. 

  
On Thursday we had a guided tour of the Zollverein coal mine complex at Essen. This Unesco World Heritage Site was very interesting. We had lunch at the Kokerei cafe and then visited the fantastic Red Dot design museum. 

Afterwards we had a great BBQ at the home of Stephan and Sybille Vocke. The famous TV personality Sybille prepared a wonderful Currywurst for us, and Jess Jessie Wolf and Karina helped wash it down with some more grappa!!   

 

On Friday we visited Villa Hügel, the former home of the Krupp family. What an amazing history and beautiful surrounds. 

   


After lunch we had a guided tour of the Aalto-Theatre (opera house) in Essen. Another beautiful building where we all felt inspired to sing, dance, make costumes and sew wigs!

We finished our week with a farewell dinner hosted by our friends from RC Essen-Centennial. The restaurant had a great view over the lake and city.

  

 

 

 

 

Bakery treats, elevators and presentation #3

Another great day with our host and guide for the day Annabel von Klenck how took us to the Bäckerei Peter and then to Thyssen Krupp.

After learning about the bakery we made some beautiful bread! Following this we were in awe at the state of the art technology at Thyssen Krupp. 

   
 

   

In the afternoon we prepared for our third presentation, which we delivered after a lovely dinner. Thank you RC Essen-Centennial for welcoming us. 

 
And look who made a special appearance for our talk! Oh Birg! 

   

Essen – day 1

Our first day in Essen started with a guided tour of the old Synagogue, which is now a museum. What a wonderful exhibition and educational experience. 

  

Following this we visited the beautiful convent in the old part of the city. 

  

After a walk through the city we visited the Volkshochschule, an adult education facility. This school offers many courses for adults, including a “second chance” course for people to finish high school. 

  
After lunch we had free time to roam around the shops in central Essen. Jessie wanted to buy this onesie – we think it was pretty cute! 

  
This was followed by a bus tour which took us to the Isenberg Castle ruins at Bredenu, Schloss Hugenpoet – where we had afternoon coffee and delicious cakes, then on to Kettwig for a walk around the old town. Then on to Werden where we visited the Music School, town centre and the catholic Cathedral. There was an organist playing at the time of our visit – wonderful! We then spent the evening with our respective host families for dinner.

   
                 

Goodbye Detmold…Hello Essen!!

Sun 13th June 

Jana had us up early and drove us from Detmold to Essen. Uwe took us to watch some amazing young piano players at a local show. 

  
 We were warmly welcomed by Rotary and Rotaract members with a BBQ in the sunshine. In the afternoon a few brave team members (aka not Karina and Jess O) went for a bike ride around the lake. We all met a local “beach” bar, followed by some great tapas. So far – Essen has been great! 

  
   

  
 

Sat June 13th – at one with nature

On our final day in Detmold-Blomberg we were treated to a day out in nature! We were picked up by Jana Haase, one of the members of the German GSE team. We visited the Externsteine and then went Geo-caching at the Hermann memorial. Jana’s family happily participated in our jumping competition!

   
               

After our lunch of Bratwurst we had a tour of the Adler (eagle) bird sanctuary, where we met some cute baby birds.  

   
 

We spent the late afternoon in a beautiful hotel where we tried the local cuisine Pickert. We then walked/ skipped/ meandered up to the Falkenberg ruins. Tobias and Diana arranged a lovely picnic – what a great way to end the week.  

Charming towns, Italian food and the worlds biggest costume box! 

The day started with a guided tour of Blomberg by Rotarian’s Dr Jörn Clamors and Cess de Looze. We were enchanted by the beautiful buildings and scenery! 

   
     We then had a wonderful lunch at an Italian restaurant in Schwalenberg followed by a look at the man made Schieder lake. After lunch we tried some grappa – you can see in the photo it was very smooth! 

   

After lunch we visited the Landes Theatre at Detmold where we went behind the scenes. We all had a great time looking at the props, costumes and wigs! Jess was particularly excited and we had to drag her out of the costume room! 

   
   

We then saw an outdoor performance of a comedy called “Funny Money” with a lovely BBQ dinner.

  

Thursday June 11

We shared a nice lunch with the Rotary club of Detmold-Blomberg before our presentation. 

   

In the afternoon we had a walking tour of Detmold and Jessie accepted a cartwheel challenge in front of the castle. 

  

  


 We had a behind the scenes tour of the local court house – where Usman found himself before a judge (we still aren’t sure what he was on trial for)!

  
   

A beautiful dinner with some Rotatian friends to finish the day. 

   
   

Vocation day

Today was vocation day – we all had scheduled appointments with various employers for our individual vocations. Very well planned and informative.  

For the evening meal we were hosted by Rotary President Asmus Link and his wife and the host families. A wonderful dinner with smoked trout on the menu.

Another great day with wonderful experiences.
   

    Jessie’s host “dad”

 

Jess’s host “mum”

Tuesday June 9

On Tuesday we started with a visit to Phoenix Contact at Blomberg. We had a great presentation by Prof. Dr Gunther Olesch, followed by a tour of the plant. 

  
After lunch we were given a reception by the mayor of Detmold, Mr Rainer Heller who discussed the functions of the local council of Detmold. 

   
  We then went to a local Birdpark where we saw birds and animals from all over the world. We launched a team “jumping” competition, which Tobias also participated in!  Winner takes all (watch this space)!

                

This was followed by a game of Soccer Golf with members of the Junior Chamber of Commerce. Usman won “soccer golf champion of the world” and took await the sweet prize of a block of chocolate! In the evening we had dinner in the Brauhaus.