Activities between Christmas holidays and New Year
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Video games and BUGA site Ronneburg
On Tuesday we continued with a short trip to the games shop in Gera and the BUGA site in Ronneburg. But how did the idea of going to the game store come about? I have to do something here…
Normally I’m a passionate adventure RPG (or J-RPG) player, but in 2021 I had almost only played Metroidvania-like games (like Bloodstained, Ori or Metroid: Dread) and that’s why I felt like playing a real time-consuming RPG again to play. The “Trails of Cold Steel” series has smiled at me for almost ten years. I didn’t want to start them because you only see the same character models (school uniforms) on screenshots and videos and the environment doesn’t look very varied either. Still, the series has pretty good reviews, and having played the previous series (“Trails in the Sky” on Steam), I knew it had to have a decent combat system… and what’s more: a really good one Staged story with many developed dialogues. When the series was on sale in the Playstation Online Store at the beginning of December, I bought the first of four parts. And what can I say… I got RPG fever right away and spent countless hours playing it (in the end it was about 130 hours). So I wanted to buy the remaining three items on sale for Christmas… but what happened? The offers only lasted until December 23rd, so that all parts were again individually at 40~60€. This frustrated me a lot, which is why I looked for alternatives, such as whether you can still get the product keys cheaply from other retailers or how much the physical versions cost. Unfortunately, there were no other offers and the real games as PS4 versions in particular often cost even more because they were probably produced in smaller quantities. After some research, I came across a shop that sold all the parts physically but almost at the offer price (like in the PS Online Store) and that was a game shop in Gera of all places. Here I had already bought games like “13 Sentinels Aegis Rim” and “It Takes Two” (also great games!) in the middle of the year. So I ordered the parts to be picked up and so that we didn’t just go to Gera because of that, Nathalie suggested making a detour to Ronneburg, which is practically right next to Gera and is a former BUGA site.
So we took the train on Tuesday morning and arrived at the main train station in Gera around 10 am. I used to change trains here more often or had to wait for the next train, which is why the area was quite familiar to me. From there it was only about a 15-minute walk to the store. I had my order picked up at the checkout and the seller immediately brought the first part back, even though I already had it online… but he had caught me with that. If I buy parts two to four in real life, wouldn’t it make sense to have the whole series as a collection? Since I was already very convinced of the quality of the series at this point, I simply bought the first part as well so that I could have it on the shelf in its entirety. (Note Nathalie: The fact that Kevin bought a game that he actually already had digitally and played through just to put it on the shelf, I’ll leave it at this point…)
Then we walked to the train station Gera Süd (another 15min walking distance away) and took the train just a few stations to Ronneburg. This turned out to be a rather small town and we still had to walk a few meters before we arrived at the BUGA site. There we stood in front of closed gates, which of course was strange. We were then let in via a nearby company site on the right-hand side. It turned out later that there was another larger entrance to the left and that most guests usually come from the parking lots, which are just on the opposite side.
Right at the beginning we noticed that the area seemed quite deserted and only a few people were to be seen. The weather certainly played a role, because it was quite cloudy and, above all, cold. However, Nathalie assumed that Ronneburg was an external location for this year’s BUGA in Erfurt (similar to Weimar and Tiefurt) and that there was still a lot going on here. After walking around a bit, however, we noticed that the area belonged to an earlier BUGA from 2007 and therefore some of the exhibits were very weathered. The terrain itself, which is shaped like a basin (comparable to Greiz, only smaller), was a uranium mine. After reunification, however, this was converted into a park so that the Federal Garden Show took place there. At the beginning we therefore still saw large excavators and conveyor tracks from the mining era, while former flower fields and playgrounds could be seen further back.
To get from one mountain to the other (where the parking lots are) you can use the bridge called “Dragon’s Tail”, which at 225 meters is the longest wooden bridge in Europe. This is a bit wavy and because there was some ice and mud on it due to the weather, it was also slightly slippery. Arrived on the other side, however, there was not much to see except for the parking facilities. So we went into the valley and then walked along there. We noticed the many signposts of the former BUGA, which showed where toilets and other facilities are on the site. We had relied on this somewhat, but quickly realized that none of the facilities were still there and only large meadows and playgrounds remained from the former exhibition.
After a while we found a forest tavern where we had lunch. Nathalie had prepared Bentos again, with which we could recharge our batteries. The terrain was quite large, but behind the forest tavern most of the area had already expired, which is why we were able to turn off to get back to the first mountain from which we started. On the way we also came across a small chapel with a guest book in which Nathalie had to write a contribution immediately. Following the meandering path further, we arrived at the top of the first mountain. There was an observation tower here that you could climb up a side wall or just take the stairs. Both were just closed and probably only open in summer. Right next to it, a small path led to a slightly higher mountain. From there you could see the whole area and there were miniatures of the large machines from the former mining industry. Back at the bottom, the last attraction was a small walking path with stations, each of which described different problems of climate change. The stations were nicely laid out with information signs and riddles, but here, too, one noticed that the ravages of time had gnawed at the exhibition. Some signs were already hanging down from the weather, were difficult to read or were missing entirely.
Finally, we would have liked to go to a café, but neither the restaurant nor other buildings (including a museum) at the entrance to the site were open. However, it was unclear to us whether this was due to the weather, the season or Corona. Arrived at the train station in Ronneburg, we could then take a train back to Weimar. In Weimar we had a big hole in our stomach again, which is why we decided to eat in a newly opened Taiwanese restaurant.
Since we were on the train for four days now, Wednesday should serve as a rest day before the next activity is tackled. In the evening we only invited one of Nathalie’s friends (coincidentally also René’s work colleague in Jena), Hiyeon, and did a game night with homemade pizza.
