At the Rostock City Harbour you can find old as well as reconstructed warehouses. In the rooms of the warehouse on the left side the headquarter of AIDA Cruises is based. The piers for the huge AIDA cruisers are not far way at the port of Warnemünde.
Two cranes dating back to the 1960s at the city harbour of Rostock. They are strong personalities, aren’t they?
Everybody knows the scenery of American Old West. Can we see anything similar in good old Austria too? Sure! The photo shown above was taken at a theme park in Mendlingtal Valley in Mostviertel. The park is all about logging in earlier times. The building in the background is housing a Venetian saw dating back to 1907.
A detail I was especially impressed in. At the coking plant Hansa I saw a pithead bath. In this hall the workers put their clothes in special frameworks. Each framework is movable up and down by a chain.
Kokerei Hansa is a former coking plant in Dortmund. Today the plant houses a huge climbing gym named Kletterhalle Bergwerk and the remaining installations can be visited by guided tours.
In earlier times German miners used to have a small garden for vegetable and animals behind their homes. While strolling around a mining settlement next to the colliery Zeche Zollern I came across this special breed of chickens. In German they are called Sundheimer.
An interesting detail seen at the colliery Zeche Zollern: The Lohnhalle. This is a building shaped like a station hall with some cashier’s desks inside. Here the miners were paid their wages.
The ‘Alte Verwaltung’ served as administration building and office of the director. It was designed by the architect Paul Knobbe. It looks a bit like a manor house or a chapel, doesn’t it?
Zeche Zollern is a colliery in Dortmund built in 1898/1904. Some parts of the colliery are built like castle, therefore it is also called ‘Castle of Work’. It got famous for several special architectural elements, e.g. a gate of the machine hall in the style of art nouveau.
The Jahrhunderthalle is a venue for such famous events like the Ruhrtriennale. Interesting detail: The hall was constructed on top of an existing plant. After that, the soil was risen up to the level of the hall. So the first plant became part of the basement.
The Zeche Zollverein (Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex) is a larger former industrial site and is inscribed into the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. I was especially impressed by the use of Bauhaus style for some buildings.
The gasometer in Oberhausen is the largest disc-type gasholder in Europe. Today it serves as an exhibition hall. After reaching the top by an elevator or by a staircase outside the building one have an excellent view of the area.