i don’t know if my perception is way off, but in my 4 years living here i don’t think i’ve ever heard another american accent spoken around me in the ruhrgebiet, the cluster of cities situated between the ruhr and the lippe rivers near the western border of germany. i’ve heard plenty of spoken english, just nothing in that slightly jarring yet homey twang which is instantly familiar to me, and which my own tongue makes when i speak.
my guess is that’s because most americans who immigrate to germany wind up in major cities like berlin or munich, or move here temporarily as part of a military or civilian defense deployment, in which case they’ve most likely landed south of the ruhrgebiet. there was that one time when ulrich and i drove through heidelberg on our way back north from bavaria and i immediately recognized a group of americans as we took a stroll through the castle ruins, via both the volume and the timbre of their voices.
my point is that the ruhrgebiet is hardly what my friends across the atlantic would think of as glamorous or famous about germany. for the first 3.5 years after i moved here we lived in a small district of Gelsenkirchen, and i distinctly remember being asked by a german border patrol officer, upon re-entering the country after a short trip back home, where my final destination was. when i told him it was Gelsenkirchen, he asked what i thought of it. “it’s really nice!” i said enthusiastically. “liar,” he responded with a wink before returning my passport to me.
it’s true that the ruhrgebiet has a bit of a utilitarian, boxy feel to it and lacks some of the architectural appeal of places like heidelberg, for instance, or münster or munich or other cities which managed to survive WWII with their centers still intact. it’s fairly common to walk through the shopping district of one of the larger ruhrgebiet cities like Dortmund, Essen or Bochum and encounter a ho-hum scene like this:
but one of my favorite things about the ruhrgebiet, which i have yet to see matched anywhere outside of this region - not even in Berlin! (although it’s very possible i’ve just overlooked it) - is its wonderful, strange, twisting outdoor public art structures.
like the Tetrahedron in Bottrop:
…or this “sorcerer’s apprentice” in Oberhausen:
or this light installation which illuminates the Landschaftspark every night, a public park at the site of an old coal and steel production plant in Duisburg:
hiking the short, winding ascent to the Tetrahedron is one of my favorite activities for early spring, when the ground is still thawing and the tree buds are shimmering green, waiting for their turns to burst. as you arrive at the summit to see the steel pyramidal structure towering over the horizon, you have the feeling of encountering something entirely new and unknown for the first time, a galactic and out-of-this-world experience. now i’m curious if that is perhaps the big promise of these outdoor installations: they beckon and nudge you, practically immediately upon arrival, to escape the ruhrgebiet.
omg that last line. . . great photos and great interpretation of space. you'd be fun to walk with through geography