Monday, January 1, 2007

Wuppertal


First thing we did this morning was Gardner and I went to the Rathaus (city hall) here in Ratingen to get the kids and myself our visas. This is something we should of gotten a month ago, but with the move, we decided to wait until we were in our new home. Of course, we did not have everything we needed. They needed a passport picture of myself and Shantal (because she would be 10 next year). And then we have all this paper work to fill out. So we will be going back on Tuesday after the Holiday.

Then, we ventured out and went to a city called Wuppertal. It is a beautiful city (for the area that we are in). Gardner actually was a Missionary in Wuppertal back in 1991. We saw what apartment he lived in and then rode on the Schwebebahn.

The Schwebebahn Wuppertal is a suspension railway. Its full name is the "Eugen Langen Monorail Suspension Railway" (Einschienige Hängebahn System Eugen Langen). The people of Wuppertal know it, however, as the "Old Lady" or the "Iron Wyvern". Designed by Eugen Langen, who originally planned to build it in Berlin, it was built in 1900, opened in 1901 and is still in use today as a local transport system in the city.

The suspension railway travels along a route 13.3 km long, about 12 m above the surface of the river Wupper and approximately 8 m above the city streets, between the districts of Oberbarmen and Vohwinkel. At one point the railway crosses the A46 motorway. The entire trip, including stops for people to get on and off, takes about 35 minutes.

As we rode the Schwebebahn, It swayed the whole time. The kids enjoyed this part of our trip. We also ate something called Doener Kebaps. It is a Turkish Sandwich made of Lambs Meat.
We really wore out Grandma today.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hello to you Americans!
My name is Anna and i'm 18 now. I am half American but still live here with my mom(who is german) and my brother in Wuppertal. I returned to Wuppertal in july after living with my father in Michigan for one year and miss him and America a lot. i would love to know more about you and how you like it here in germany, when u came here and why. If you like, you can write to me, this is my e-mail address: annarockthart@web.de
hope to hear from you:)
-Anna

March 2007