This is for the towns around and some different special places I come across from time to time.

The area where I was born and where I lived for most of my life is the former coal mining district of Germany. Alltogether this area is as big, rich of history and culture and full with inhabitants as nearly any capitol of this world. But different from them itīs devided into numerous towns and cities. Each of them has its individual history as well as a common one.
The common link is - above all - the coal mining period, which last for more than hundred years. Although the infrastructure has changed within the last thirty years, you can see and feel this by looking at the architecture, the industrial monuments and the people living here. Many of them came as workers or students and stayed as inhabitants.

I admit there are places in the world where life may be more relaxed and which are more beautiful. But this is my home (I felt whenever I came back) and I love it.

So I decided to travel around here from time to time, visiting places of my own history as well as places I havenīt seen for a long time or even never before and thus give the towns around - and some locations nearby, which I visit more frequently - a gallery of its own. Hope you like to travel with me.