Our home is a restful oasis situated in the lively Ruhr area with nis´ce surroundings. Essen, was the Europe´s Cultural Capital 2010, close by the "Zeche Zollverein" is a world heritage site and one of many Industrial ,useums in North Rhine Westphalia. An innovative misture of culture, science, architecture and nature. Essen-Kettwig is agreen starting point to discover WEstern Germany and the neighboring countries. The Netherlands with the Northsea (2 h) and Amsterdam (1,5 h), Belgium- Brussels and Ghent (2,5h ) even France-Paris (3,5 h) or Boulogne Sur Mer only 4 hours.For short trips you can combine cheap flights from the international Airport Dusseldorf (20 min.by car or 30 min. by public transfer).
Historical places (castles, roman ruins) and famous cities are clos by (Essen, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Xanten, Münster,Aachen) and dont´t forget the wonderful Romantik Rhine Valley, the famous Loreley and the "Drachenfels". There are a lot of events all year round in Dusseldorf or Essen: concerts, theatres, fantastic expositions, musicals ("Starlight Express" in Bochum; "Dance of the Vampires" in Oberhausen) ballett in the "Aalto theatre" in Essen or classic concerts in the "Philharmonie Essen". in a small area you can find more than 200 museums (Folkwangmuseum, Bergbaumuseum, Neandertalmuseum; Römermuseum, Archäologiemuseum; Römisch-Germanisches Museum and so on), leisure parks (Movie Park, Phantasialand, Toverland) shopping malls (luuxirious "Koenigsallee" or Limbecker Galeries" or "CentroO"), zoos ("Zoom" in Gelsenkirchen, "Sealife" Oberhausen.
You can do watersports and boat trips on the Essen´s own Lake Baldeney or on the "Sechs Seenplatte" (six lakes) in Duisburg. You can also visit old castles , hike or bike nearby (forrest within walking distance) or in the beautiful "Sauerland" There is something for everybody what he wants entertainment, adventure and recreation. Dusseldorf and Cologne are cities with a lot of history, where you can enjoy the famous " german old beer" from different brewery. in 1 1/2 hour you can reach the city of Aachen and the "Dreiländereck"(Three countries corner), where the borders of Germany , Belgium and the Netherlands all come together..