Notes from Goslar

Day 15

 

Goslar has become my new favorite city that we have visited here in Germany (previously held by Luneburg). We arrived and immediately had time with our host families. My family, Bettina and Carlos, along with their 4 children, 3 of whom still live at home (one girl age 19 and 2 twin boys age 15), were great! After a delicious lunch, we went out to do some sightseeing. First of all, Goslar sits along the edge of the Harz mountains, so the landscape is much different than what we have previously experienced. The town was also founded in 922 A.D., and there is a lot of history to be learned, especially regarding the mining history...too much to put in the blog but I recommend you do some googling!

 

Our sightseeing trip included:

• Kaiserpfalz, or The Imperial Palace, which had beautiful paintings depicting the history of Germany and of Goslar from the 19th century. The Romanesque Palace was built in the 11th century.

• St. Jakobikirche, which was originally an 11th century Romanesque church, but was converted into a Gothic hall church toward the end of the 15th century. It includes a famous Pieta by Hans Witten as well as a baroque alter and pews. It is the only Catholic church in Goslar (and they are few and far between here in Northern Germany since most are Lutheran).

• Restaurant Tower, which included a beautiful terrace lookout over the entire city.

 

After our brief tour, we had dinner and then headed back downtown for a public viewing of the Germany vs. Netherlands soccer match. It was quite entertaining!

 

Day 16

 

Today I had the opportunity to visit the Rammelsberg Museum, which is an old mine site that was in operation for more than 1000 years. Think about that for a minute...this ore mine was in operation from 968 a.d. until 1988. I was able to talk with Dr. Martin Wetzel about the educational programs that are used there. The museum itself is based on the actual mine site, which provides a feeling of what it was really like during the mining times. Each year, over 100,000 people visit the museum, a compilation of old miner and members of their families, tourists, and children's groups. The school programs are different depending on the age level, but they generally consist of an all-day visit and workshop at the museum. They also run the equivalent of summer camps, which serve over 800 children in two weeks, and they serve a radius of 100 km. Maybe most interesting was the fact that they train young students (which they call mine dwarfs) to be tour guides for the mines, especially during special occasions. It is an effort to help keep young people engaged and interested in the mining history of the town.

 

After our meeting with Dr. Wetzel, we had the opportunity to go on a tour of the facility and see the museum. We even got to go into the caves as well and see the large water wheels that were used to empty water from the mine. One of the coolest things about this is that the mine is so old, these massive wheels were built by hand in the mines...quite impressive.

 

Following my visit to the museum, we had our rotary meeting and presentation. Afterwards, Lindsey, Debby, and I went to the Monchehaus Museum Goslar (modern art museum) and then did some shopping around town. We then had a chance to spend time with our host families.

 

Day 17

 

Because of the history of Goslar as a mining town, we had the chance to visit some of its mining history as we drove through the mountains. We thought we would be doing some hiking today, so we were a little disappointed to be driving everywhere, but it did allow us to see more things.

 

For lunch, we stopped at this little shack on the side of the road for pea soup...when they first said we were going to have pea soup for lunch, we all gave them sideways glances, but then we found out that "pea soup" in Germany is made from chickpeas. It was quite delicious, and of course it came with sausage.

 

Then we drove some more to another place for dessert. This is why I will be fat when I return from Germany! Luckily we decided to split so none of us had to eat the whole thing.

 

After lunch we stopped at some sightseeing locations in the national park. We got to see Brocken mountain, which is the tallest mountain in this area.

 

Afterwards we returned to town where we explored a bit and then watched a chime display showcasing the mining history of the town.

 

Finally, we had dinner with all the host families and club president in a hotel which uses the old outer wall and tower from the town as part of its restaurant. And of course, Lindsey had to show everybody Zumba since everyone here keeps asking about it!

 

This weekend we have the district conference and then we finally have a scheduled rest period, which I know we are all looking forward to!

Sara