Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
A massive art museum made of the concrete and glass, located in the Immanuel-Kant-Park close to the main railway station of Duisburg – that could be the shortest description of the Lehmbruck-Museum. It is named after and dedicated to the sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck born in 1881 at Meiderich near Duisburg. His works were mostly focused on the human body and that is what you get to see most at the Lehmbruck-Museum: faces and bodies.
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One could say the Hintersteiner See is just a lake in the mountains used to generate electric power, but that would really underestimate this natural beauty located at height of 882 meters above the Adriatic Sea (that’s the way how they measure elevation in Austria). Once created by a glacier this lake near Scheffau am Wilden Kaiser offers a nice bathing area and a round course leading you through the mountains with nice views on the lake.
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In the Southeast of Germany you can find the Chiemsee, the largest lake of Bavaria and after the Lake Constance and the Müritz the third-largest one of Germany – therefore it is also called Bayerisches Meer (Bavarian Sea). It is named after the settlement of Chieming close to the lake and was originally created by a glacier 10,000 years ago. Within the lake you can find four islands (Herreninsel, Fraueninsel, Krautinsel, Schalch) of very different sizes.
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The Tour Eiffel is the highest building at Paris, the second highest one – clearly visible on the skyline of the city – is the Tour Montparnasse next to the Gare Montparnasse at the 15eme arrondissement. It was inaugurated in 1973 and is 210 meters high, 120 meters smaller than Eiffels iconic building. But nevertheless it is still today controversial, as only these two buildings stand out in this part of the city. The Tour Montparnasse was designed in the International Style and has 59 floors.
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Northwest of Paris you can find a famous river island within the Seine, the Île de la Grande Jatte. It partially belongs to Levallois-Perret and to Neuilly-sur-Seine and is today a nice residential area reachable via different bridges – but in earlier days it looked completely different. In 1818 the Duke of Orléans bought the island as a new home, created a park and his family was also the sponsor of the Temple de l’amour which you can find today at the southern end of the island. By that time the island was only accessible by boat and different painters went there to create artworks well-known today.
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The region around Lake Constance is one which offers a lot for tourists and especially for the cold and rainy days that happen throughout the year multiple spas have been created along the shore of the lake. The one closest to Konstanz is the Bodensee-Therme, an indoor and outdoor pool as well as a sauna three kilometers afar from the city center. In summer times you can also jump into the lake for relaxation. The Bodensee-Therme is beautifully illuminated at night and the best feature is the nice view on the lake from the outside pool.
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If you mention the city of Konstanz to me the first thing that pops up in my head is the image of Imperia, the female statue standing at the harbor entrance of Konstanz. The funny thing is: it is a modern statue created by Peter Lenk and inaugurated in 1993. The 18 tones heavy statue is rotating continuously and already has become an icon if the city – and that is special because of what it is showing: a prostitute holding a naked pope and a naked king in her hands.
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Once you reach the Pfahlbaumuseum at Unteruhldingen you will be astonished: within the Lake Constance and at its shore there are more than twenty different houses standing on wooden poles. You can walk on elevated paths and platforms around them, get inside and experience how life in this region was more than 6,000 years ago. Of course these buildings are all reconstructions, but they’re based on archaelogical work. The water preserved the timber, the construction dates can be read from the wood and the findings from the ground of the lake are on display at the museum.
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The Rhein is 1232 kilometers long river collecting its waters in Switzerland, running through nine European countries, crossing two lakes (Lake Constance & Tomasee) and reaching the North Sea at the Netherlands. As one of the two main border rivers it is mostly known as a wide stream which is also used for shipping goods and people. No one would expect a waterfall within the Rhein – but there is one: at Schaffhausen in Switzerland. The Rheinfall is 150 meters wide and 23 meters deep. Next to it you can find the Schloss Laufen and the Schlössli Wörth, two nice little castles.
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Liechtenstein is a very special country surrounded by Switzerland and Austria: the sixth smallest country in the world, under 40,000 inhabitants, a constitutional monarchy with a 25-person parliament and a conservative ruler with a veto-right living in a castle high above the capital village Vaduz (5,000 inhabitants). The people speak German, the country is part of UNO and the European Economic Area but not the European Union. You can pay with the Swiss franc, the country is in a customs union with Switzerland and doesn’t have an army. Beloved are Ribel, Käsknöpfle and local wine – and since 1984 even women are able to vote (but it was a close decision).
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