Hallig Gröde - Sunrise Continued

A nice pastel-colored sunrise on the next morning.

View from the east jetty towards Hallig Habel and the main land. Within this mood, even the notorious wind generators are somewhat aesthetically pleasing.

And one more thing.

An assortment of images, both from last year and more from this year, can be found on the album page Kölner Lichter.

Quite spectacular with the Hollenzollern Bridge in the foreground.

Last year, I took some images of the fireworks from a position in the southern city, not really optimal. So this year I went to the Zoo Bridge, which was somewhat crowed in the end, but gives a phantastic view.

Since the start in 2001, the fireworks are now a major summer attraction.

Start of the main fireworks of the “Kölner Lichter” on the Rhine between the Hohenzollern Bridge and the Deutzer Bridge.

Hallig Gröde - Sunrise Revisited

A familiar place, providing a beautiful setting for the sunrise, the eastern excavation pit.

This view was already portraited here in the PhotoLog. But somehow the scene from two years ago with just the right amount of stagnant water couldn’t be re-created. This pit was once excavated for the ring dyke around the Knudswarft.

Brown Coal Mining Inden - Traces

On the far side of the conveyor belt, curved traces form interesting patterns.

Detail of the “miniature moraines” remaining of the excavator work in this area.

Brown Coal Mining Inden - Conveyor

What’s being digged up must be carrried away, seemingly endless conveyor belts are used for the transport.

This scene reminds me somewhat of the movie Koyaanisqatsi, endless conveyor belts cutting through the landscape. Here at the edge only the upper stratum, plain earth, is being digged up, the brown coal strata lie deeper.

Brown Coal Mining Inden - Man and Machine

Even at some distance, the sheer monstrosity of the excavators is fascinating, but to quite some degree also terrifying.

A whole territory is being digged up here! A good overview of the open cast mining activities can be found at this web site.

Brown Coal Mining Inden - Digging

Even on a Sunday, the giant excavators are digging through the brown coal open cast mining Inden.

Northeast of Aachen, NRW, Germany, there is a vast brown coal mining area. On the way back from a trip to Aldenhoven, also near to that area, I took the opportunity to shoot some photographs.