The town is situated in the West of Germany, in an area that is called "Ruhrgebiet". It has 591.807 inhabitants (30.09.2020) and 52 quarters.
In the south the landscape is a hilly ground that is called: "Bergisches Land". People who can speak German thinks that is the name of the landscape. But it's wrong. The "Bergisches Land" comes from a landlord "van Berg" who resided in until 1815 in this area. Essen borders on the town Mülheim in the west and in the east to Bochum/Gelsenkirchen. But it's a smooth transition.
In the north the "Rhein-Herne channel" marks the north border of the town. Essen has a little harbour of the inland water transport. The "Rhein-Herne channel" is connected the river Rhein with the "Mittellandchannel" that goes to Berlin and the harbour of the town Dortmund.
The main station is in the middle of the town, that was opened in 1862 by the "Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn".
From here are departing the local trains, communter railway system and the main line tracks. One is the famous Thalys connection to Paris via Liège and Bruxelles. But for the Thalys you need a separate ticket because the German Railway "Deutsche Bahn AG" exited the syndicate of SNCB/NMBS, SNCF and NS so that you cannot use with the normal German railways tickets in these trains. In Germany you only can enter the train in direction to Belgium and France.
In the north area of Essen the motorway A42, that is called "Emscherschnellweg", marks the north border, too.
There are other motorways in Essen. The A40 (Dortmund-Venlo) goes through the town in the middle. It is the "new" motorway A430 or the national street B1. It is still a busy street. The A52 begins at the interchange "Essen-Ost" on the motorway A40 and goes to Düsseldorf. The region "Düsseldorf" plans for 20 years the extension to Gladbeck in the west of Stoppenberg and through Altenessen. At present they modernize the road in the area of Essen-Rüttenscheid so that there is every morning a big traffic jam. The A52 is the only motorway that goes directly to Düsseldorf and Düsseldorf airport (EDDL). The motorway A44 begins in the southeast and goes to Velbert.
The public transportation is served by the enterprise "EVAG" (Essener Verkehrs Aktiengesellschaft - public transport company of Essen) that was founded in 1954 and has his head office in the quarter Rüttenscheid, in a building that is called "Erzhof".
The overview of the lines in Essen are here
The most important pleasure resort is the lake Baldeney in the south of the city center of Essen. It begins in the north of the "Bergisches Land" and it's a reservoir. The reservoir was damed in the 1933 for keeping clean the river Ruhr. The inflow is in the north of the lake Baldeney and the outlet in the west where the big weir is. There is a lock for the excursions boat that flows to Mülheim or their arrival. In the lake Baldeney it forbids to swim in it. The local administration attempt to relax the prohibition but they can't agree in this year (2016).
In the north there is the villa Hügel, a big house for the industrial Krupp who lived there for a long time. But now it's a museum or if statesman come to us. The last meeting was in 2001 the German chancellor Gerhard Schröder with the Russian president Wladimir Putin.
In the moment the lake has a problem with Elodea. This aquatic plant is proliferating in the lake. It's a problem for the shipping company "Weiße Flotte".
Over the lake is the normal approach for the airport in Düsseldorf if the planes land for the runway 23L or 23R.
Essen has a lot of sport clubs. In the soccer there are RW Essen, ETB SW Essen, FC Kray 09/31, Spvg Schonnebeck for men and women the SG Essen-Schönebeck. In contrast to men they play in the first division and in this season they are successful except in the cup because they lost with 2:3 by 1. FFC Frankfurt. In other sports there are TUSEM Essen (handball), ETB Wohnbau Baskets (basketball), ESC Moskitos Essen (icehockey) and Human Essen (volleyball)
For public there are a lot of indoor and outdoor swimming pools. The most popular indoor swimming pool is located in the quarter "Rüttenscheid" that has a 50 meter lane where the public can swim in special times, too. Otherwise it is used for competitions or training of the swim clubs. The administration has the town Essen and some sports clubs. For example the outdoor pool in Essen-Dellwig runs with Ruwa Dellwig 1926 e.V. Since 01.01.2017 there is an increase in price in all indoor pool from 3 Euros to 4 Euro for adults.
