The pre-school children from the Weierbach daycare center recently went on an exciting and eventful excursion. Their destination was the fascinating gemstone region around Idar-Oberstein. The first stop was the Steinkaulen mine in Algenrodt. After a short walk from the parking lot to the visitor mine, everyone made themselves comfortable on the benches in front of the mine and had breakfast. After this successful start to the sunny day, all the children and teachers were given a helmet before finally going into the mine. Here we were able to marvel at numerous sparkling gemstones. Andreas, who expertly guided us through the gemstone mine, explained to the children how gemstones are created and the complex steps required to cut them and make them sparkle. At the end of the tour, each child received a sparkling gemstone.
Afterwards, the children and their teachers hiked through the forest to the historic Weiherschleife in Tiefenstein. A special surprise awaited them after the sporty stage: Thomas Kreis's "Offene Flamme" restaurant treated all the children to fresh chips - a tasty refreshment.
There was also a lot to discover at the Weiherschleife. The children marveled at the old grinding stones that they had been told about beforehand. Afterwards, the children were able to let off steam in the playground. Watching the fish and ducks at the pond was also particularly popular - a great end to the eventful excursion.
After the long weekend, it was straight back to work for the ABC kids on Monday. We took the city bus to Idar-Oberstein to visit the impressive Felsenkirche church. The path led up many steps until we finally reached the church. A little out of breath, but happy to have finally reached our destination, we enjoyed our breakfast in front of the church with a great view.
Jörg, who guided us through the rock church, gave us a warm welcome. He told us a lot about the origins of the church and the exciting story of the Emich and Wyrich brothers. It got a bit spooky when the "ghost" of the church scared the children - but everyone had fun! Next to the bell tower, we were able to enjoy the wonderful view over the city from the viewing platform. After saying goodbye to Jörg, we made our way through the forest, past Oberstein Castle and up to the castle pond. Once there, the children explored the adjacent forest, played, climbed and ate together.
Time passed far too quickly and we had to take the bus back to the kindergarten. It was a wonderful day full of discoveries, shared experiences and exciting stories about our gemstone town. Our special thanks go once again to Andreas from the Steinkaulen mine, Jörg for the guided tour of the Felsenkirche church and Thomas Kreis for the delicious food.