Skip to main content

Mining Day

In my heart, I truly am a southern gal. And I would like to think that I can handle the heat, as in the hot, hot days of July. But this southern gal is used to having an air conditioned house to return to after braving the summer heat. These past few days definitely bring to mind the sweltering summer days in Tennessee growing up. We did not have air conditioning then, nor do we now. Box fans in the windows and lots of pop-cycles was the preferred method of cooling off way back in the '70's. And things aren't so different here in Germany. We close the shades to keep the sun out, we have fans and pop-cycles. We bought water guns this weekend to have fun and cool off, including our tempers, which seem to have short fuses when the heat rises. With the outdoor temperature at 100 degrees today, and the inside temperature rapidly rising, we needed to get out and get cool.

Today was Mining Day in Imsbach, which is  3km from our own charming village. The flyer stated that we could take a tour of the mine and there would be food and activities for the kids. So, we climbed into the van and made the short 5 minute drive over there. After paying the small entrance fee, we grabbed some bratwurst and coke and snacked while we waited for our turn in the mine. Then, grabbing some mining hats, we headed to the mine entrance. Oh, my goodness. There was a marvelously cool breeze coming from inside the mine. I could have stayed right there and been perfectly content, but our guide showed up. It was one of the best tours we have taken so far. Fun, interesting, and informative. Emerging from the mine, there were many hands-on booths set up for the kids. All in all, a great day!


A very sweet gentleman carved these little figures. He also gave me his phone number because he has his own little museum nearby where he has more displays like this and he said he would show the kids how to cut into the rocks. I am thinking a great science day is in our future.




copper ore inside the mine








They built this adobe oven specifically for Mining Day. Here they are breaking it open to show how the ore melted down.


"Panning" for minerals. Each bucket we purchased for them to sift through had a guaranteed five rocks in it. I will not tell you how many buckets were bought. Let's just say we spent lots of time under this tent.

Farmland between villages

Labels:

Comments

  1. BarbaraJuly 6, 2015 at 9:12 AM

    I feel for you. It's been a long time since I've done without air conditioning!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Paris

With our backpacks repacked for the next leg of our adventure, I awoke in the wee hours of the morning to make sure we were ready. We walked from our house down to the train station, stopping at the bakery for breakfast. Tony was able to join us just for the day, but I am so glad he was with us for even a short time. Upon arriving, we navigated to our flat, waited for the owners and checked in. It was in a very old building, the wooden steps creaked and groaned under our feet as we climbed to the third floor. It was definitely a quaint flat, harkening back to a much earlier era. We then headed out to meet my sister and her family at the Louvre. We said goodbye to Tony and went to find dinner and strolled past the Eiffel Tower. Then back to the flat to get some sleep. Our second day started out a little rough. I could not get the wifi to work, nor would my phone work. I decided to shower and try to not stress. I went to plug in the hair dryer that was at the flat, only to discover...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rome!

We went to Rome! I realize I never finished blogging about our trip to the Italian Riviera and now I want to write down all that we saw in Rome. Maybe by writing about our trip from the end to the beginning, I could eventually make it all the way back to our other trip to Italy, along with our weekend in Garmisch that was in between. Probably not, but a girl has to remain optimistic, right? My sister and her family planned a European trip and we joined up with them in Rome. Tony could not come along because he had to be in Poland for work. When I write things like that, it still seems so weird. Thanks to super cheap airfare (around $40 per person round trip), and splitting the cost of an apartment with my sister's family, the trip was fairly reasonable, cost wise. Also, our apartment was restocked by the housekeeping service each morning with juice, yogurt, bread, cereal and milk. The night before we left, I was a bundle of nerves and was unable to sleep. I had ne...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Door Table

Once there was a store in Georgia. It is no more, but how I wish it was. I likened going in there to treasure hunting. One never knew what was going to be in there, and you had to dig through and wade through all the "other people's treasures" to find your own. I once found a set of blue and white teacups and saucers from England. I found lace handkerchiefs, a rocking chair, and an end table. But by far the best find was my kitchen table. I had stopped by one day while the kids were taking horseback lessons and the then little ones were asleep. The store was not open, but I went up to the window to see if anything new was there. And it was there. The table. And six chairs too! We were in need of a bigger table with Jack on the way. My mom had offered to give us her old one, which I was going to accept if I didn't find something I liked better. I didn't want anyone else to even see the table because I knew it was supposed to be ours, but one can never tell abo...
9 comments
Read more