There we are, all but two of the grandchildren of Karl-August and Marie Balser (Opa und Eni). Sabine and I stared everyone off with soup and quiche, and then we were picked up by a friend of Sabine's for a walking tour of the oldest part of the "Revier", the Ruhr Valley coal mining area, which has been turned into a park. We were explained the significanse of the "Arschleder" that the miners used protect their bottoms, and we entered a mine shaft and experienced the discomfort of walking the shafts bent over at a 45 degree angle in the dark(poor Fred!), bumping our hard-hatted heads on the beams as we went - just enough to get an idea of what it must have been like. We even stood at the altar of St Barbara (!) and sang the miner's hymn "Glück auf, der Steiger kommt." Fortunately, we were NOT expected to swing the picks and hammers and push the trolleys up the shaft!
On Sunday, we had a long breakfast at the hotel and then went to Sabine's to sort through old documents and letters found in Tante Lotti's house before it was sold. Lots of stories, laughing and chattering.
