All in all, this is a very pleasant little boat ride on a rather impressive boat (a catamaran,…read moreactually) for 10 Euros. It's a very leisurely sojourn south on the Rhine, for about half an hour, and then passing the launch point on the return trip to head a ways north. It's a smooth ride, and I promise that your beer won't even ripple. There is a canned narration in both German and English, which is really nice, language-wise. The narration spent way too much time talking about subjects like the uber-expensive soccer-star condos along the shoreline, and not nearly enough time talking about the extraordinary bridges the boat crosses under. The varieties are suspension, truss, and concrete pier. Not one word about those marvelously engineered and absolutely necessary adjuncts to modern civilization. I might be asking too much. It's just a tourist thingie. Just do it.

Hallo folks,…read more I will provide you a translation of SimpleMinder's comment, as it is well written: --- For 11 years now there is the experience area for your senses (=Erfahrungsfeld der Sinne) at Pit 3 of Mine Zollverein in Essen, Germany. It is based on the basic principles of Hugo Kükelhaus, who was born in Essen as well. He was working on the relation between environment and human senses and tried to develop a method of connecting sensory perception with physical and physiological rules. The best thing is, that you can try everything out here: Learning by doing! The exhibition is clearly structurized. One part is dealing with optical, the other with acustical senses. But not only your sight and hearing is put to the test, there are also phenomena refering to smell, feel and physics. There is, for example, a path you can walk barefooted, a floating stone making you feel weightless, clay jugs offering opportunity to palpate their contents, a gong, coloured lightbulbs proofing the shadows not to be dark and much more. Another sense, degustation, can be thrilled in the caféteria! In addition, there is an area on the outside that was enlarged last year. The most funny thing is a swing that can only be operted by two people! The museum is located in an old colliery building, what makes everything even more interesting, especially in regard to industrial culture. For some extra $ (adult 1EUR, children 50 EURCent) you can even climb up the old pit frame to enjoy a fantastic view upon the surrounding area. All in all a fantastic experience, I highly recommend a visit. Especially children will love this site!!! Pictures have been added to the German version.