The iron mine
On Thursday afternoon at 2 o' clock, we went to the iron mine near Aalen where, before entering, we wore orange mantels and white safety helmets.
The trip was very funny: we entered a tunnel on a little train, then we walked in some limestone tunnels, and we visited the quarry. First the guide showed us a film about the 5 elements of the Earth and the formation of the mine. This mine is elevated by iron beams, so it was one of the safest ones.
The mine isn't used now, but it's open for trips and a part of it has been made a special centre where people suffering with asthma can stay for some hours a day. In fact it has been proved that the air inside an iron mine is very good for the lugs. In the mine we saw the old rail and carriages used to transport the iron.
The mine is 25 kilometres long and we came down at 55 metres; this caused some problems to the workers, because they worked in shifts of 8 hours each, that is the iron was ecavated all day long, at night at the light of one little oil lantern. Most of them had illnesses in their eyes.The workers needed about 1.30 hours to reach their working places inside the mine. The conditions of workers were really very miserable!