Green green my valley is

I live in the North West of Germany in an area called "Ruhrgebiet" named after the river Ruhr. It is a densely populated place of a dozen big cities close together and it was highly industrialised. In the 1920s Bochum - the town where I was born - was the world's biggest coal mining place. However, Bochum's last pit closed in 1969 and most of the steel factories are gone the same way.

Due to its history most Germans still regard the Ruhrgebiet as the same mucky and polluted place as it was until the 1960s. To disprove this prejudice, today I took my camera with me along my afternoon bike tour - inspired by Sabine's blog and her Cologne photos.

This road is called "Blickstrasse" meaning "Road of the View". The view is of Dortmund, 2nd biggest city of the Ruhrgebiet.

The enlarged cutout of the photo above let us find the pylons of the football stadium of Borussia Dortmund, European Champions League winner 1997.

About 200 meters high above the river at a historic place called Hohensyburg, this monument was built between 1883 and 1902 to honour Kaiser Wilhelm I.

Kaiser Wilhelm I himself (*1797, †1888)
Before becoming Kaiser in 1871 he was King of Prussia.

Looking down from Hohensyburg the meeting of the rivers Ruhr (left) and Lenne can be seen. Both rivers have their sources 200K away near a town called Winterberg.

There is still some industry left I have to admit.
The banks of the Lenne are a busy place.

The Lenne mouth from the Ruhr banks.

At this time of the year grey geese are a common sight along the Ruhr. In touristic places they are very tame and can be fed by hand.

Finally a view above Witten - the town where I live - with its main landmark, the tower of the town hall.

This was a tour of little more than 40K and it took about 2 hours. Enough to show that my valley is truly green, isn't it?