Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
What to do with an old jail close to the city center? A lot of cities (including my hometown Göttingen, Germany) have to solve this question as these facilities often get to small and are rebuilt outside of the city. Often monument conservation laws prevent to change too much of the building. In Kaiserslautern, Germany they found a good way without denying the former usage. Continue reading “One night at Alcatraz”
There aren‘t too many old buildings in the center of Kaiserslautern, Germany – but there is one very nice old house. This oldest half-timbered house was first mentioned in 1742 but a stone states the year 1509 as its creation year. From 1896 on it contains a wine bar called „Spinnrädl“ (meaning spinning wheel in the local dialect) which is today a famous restaurant. Continue reading “The Spinnrädl”
We stumbled open the Café Extrablatt in Kaiserslautern, Germany in search for a place to sit down and have a coffee. Somehow I had the feeling of having been there already – and then a understood that this is a bar with a franchise system. Okay, so it isn’t unique – but it is a cosy place with a nice interior design in US-American style and therefore fitting well to the city influenced by the nearby Ramstein Air Base, the European headquarter of the US forces. Continue reading “Café Extrablatt”
The Stiftskirche in the center of Kaiserslautern, Germany was once a catholic church named St. Martin and St. Maria. Today it is a protestant church inviting everyone for a quite moment. On the site once a cloister (“Stift“) was created by monks that emperor Friedrich Barbarossa had invited to settle in the city in the year 1176 CE. The church was built from the year 1250 on. Continue reading “Stiftskirche”
The Kaiserpfalz in Kaiserslautern, Germany is the ruin of the medieval royal palace of the Holy Roman Emporer Friedrich Barbarossa („red beard“) built in the 12th century CE. The so called Barbarossaburg is located close to the city center of Kaiserslautern. It was damaged in 1635 and 1688 and was finally destroyed by the French army in 1703. Continue reading “Kaiserpfalz”
The Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern is an art museum opened in 1880 in Kaiserslautern, Germany. It collects paintings and statues from the 19th to the 21st century CE and is located close to the city center and the new townhall skyscraper. When we were there the had a nice exhibition about privacy and big data. Continue reading “Pfalzgalerie”
From Germany Japan is quite far away but sometimes it is pretty near: thanks to the big Japanese communities especially at Düsseldorf and Frankfurt we are able to enjoy original Japanese dishes and sometimes walk through nice Japanese gardens. The biggest Japanese garden in Germany is at a rather unexpected location – in Kaiserslautern. Continue reading “Biggest Japanese garden”
Children love trains and it is therefore no secret hint that the railway museum of Deutsche Bahn in Nürnberg, Germany is a good place to visit. Additional exhibitions of the museum can be found in Koblenz and Halle (Saale). The museum was opened in 1899 and is also known as the Verkehrsmuseum Nürnberg. The building also includes the Museum für Kommunikation (museum of communication). Continue reading “Railway museum”
We wanted to spend some days in and around München, Germany. It was the time of the last days of the Oktoberfest and getting a hotel room was expensive. The biggest problem was to find a family room in a hotel where you have a separate room for our six year old companion. As this failed we decided to rent an away home and found one at the southern end of the Starnberger See in a small village called Seeshaupt. It included access to the lake, a great garden and a boat – which sounded like a very good option. Continue reading “House at the lake”
The TINTO is a nice tapas and wine bar in Nürnberg, Germany. It is located next to the railway museum of Deutsche Bahn and it also has an entrance from there. While you would drink some nice wine and snack some tapas in the evening they are well prepared for families with kids on the rest of the day. Continue reading “Tinto”