Cologne Hotels
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Aliens in Cologne
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When our friends from home recently came to visit us here in Cologne, we took them on a guided tour of the city. We even explored a few places that Steve and I had never been to and one of those was a large coal mine. Not your typical tourist attraction but surprisingly enough, it ended up being one the most interesting things we've seen since we've been in Germany.
Since our friend Kelly works in construction, he is fascinated with anything have to do with excavation and heavy machinery. So before he and Karley arrived in Germany, he did some research and discovered a huge mine called Tagebau Garzweiler just west of Cologne. Located within this large mine are enormous land machines called "bucket wheel excavators". Not being familiar with anything having to do with excavation or mining, I had no idea what all of the excitement was about. So when he suggested that that we take a trip to see the mine and these machines, my first thought was, "Why would I want to see a bunch of dump trucks digging up dirt all afternoon?" Clearly I had no idea what these machines were all about!
When we first got to the mine (which was about a half an hour away from Cologne) I was stunned to see how big it was. I guess I wasn't expecting to see a canyon-like hole in the earth. At first glance, it almost looked as if a meteor had hit the ground. It was very bizarre and a little bit unsettling. The closer we got to the excavators, the stranger things began to feel. Once we reached a point where we could walk, we hiked about a mile through a bunch of rocks and rubble to get to where the excavators were. When we finally got to the ledge and saw them, it was very eerie. They looked just like the machines in all of the scary Alien movies. As I stared down at them, I half expected to see glowing eyes looking back up at me!
As the guys discussed all of the "how it works stuff", I wandered around taking pictures of everything. Usually I don't pay very close attention to things around me when I'm shooting photos. I'm so preoccupied with the pictures I'm taking that common sense kind of goes out the window. Well, as I was crouched down on the ledge taking pictures of the "extra terrestrial" machines I was looking at, my foot slipped. I thought to myself, "Well, if the fall doesn't kill me...surely the machines will finish me off!" Once I regained my footing (and my composure), I caught up with everyone else and was relieved that no one saw my near-death experience. Steve would have taken my camera away and tied a rope around me if he saw what had just happened. Needless to say, I paid real close attention to where I was standing the rest of the time we were there!
After we visited the mine, we stopped at German Brauhaus for lunch at a neighboring town. While we were discussing the magnificent land machines we just saw, the waiter came to our table to take our order. When he asked Kelly what he wanted, Kelly said to him, "Sprechen sie English?" The guy said, "Uh, Oh". We all burst into laughter. Clearly the land machines were not the only Aliens in Cologne! More thumbnails ...
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