Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
If someone at Kassel tells you that he wants to meet at the Affenfelsen (ape rock) you should move towards the city quarter Vorderer Westen. The Rudolphsplatz there has been redesigned as an urban living room. People meet outside, sit down in this public area to talk, bring their own drinks and later move on to bars and clubs. And this all with a nice view towards the Herkules monument.
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Ebbelwoi is a big thing at Frankfurt am Main. Wine made from apples is produced in consumed in this area at least since the year 1600. By that time, it was a cheap replacement for wine made from grapes and produced in the cellars of the simple people. Today it is a traditional drink from everyone and in the city, you’ll find numerous Apfelweinlokale, special bars serving this booze.
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Visiting the zoological garden of Bern is quite a surprise. It is not a giant zoo, but a good one: focused on local and European animals and aiming for providing them a suitable environment. They reduced the number of animals to give them more space. Dählhölzi is a place that you can visit with a good conscience.
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The Thunersee is a wonderful and large lake near the Alps. If you want to enjoy good views you should take a trip to Spiez, a community at its shore. It has a nice castle (Schloss Spiez), and you can have some food next to the water. In December and January, it is recommended to arrive early as the mountain Niesen throws a large triangle-shaped shadow on the city after 2 pm.
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The Niesen is a 2362 meters high mountain close to the Thunersee. It is a mountain that is easy to identify because of its special shape: the mountain looks like giant pyramid and creates a shadow in the form of a triangle. Amazing views await those that take the long and steep trip to its top. Since 1856 a restaurant can be found there, and people had to hike all the way – but in 1910 a funicular was opened, the Niesenbahn.
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I’ve never heard much about the city of Thun, Switzerland, so far. I just saw that trains from Germany run through it. But as I wanted to get closer to the Alps it looked like a perfect destination for a daytrip. Booking and using trains in Switzerland was so easy (thanks to the SBB smartphone app) that I did it several times during my short visit.
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To be honest, I just stumbled upon Schloss Burgdorf because of a silly thought: I had visited the Emmental – the valley of river Emme – to see how the famous Emmental cheese is made. But close to the cheese factory the river wasn’t visible and therefore on my way back I just jumped out of the train at a city called Burgdorf: to see the river forming the valley giving the cheese its name.
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Emmental cheese is well-known throughout the world. It is a medium-hard cheese with large holes in it which is called Emmentaler or Schweizer Käse in Germany. The name Emmentaler refers to the geographic origin of the cheese as it produced in the valley (‘Tal‘) of river Emme. The second name Schweizer Käse or Swiss cheese brought the cheese its place in everyday German language: if something isn’t solid it is called porous like Swiss cheese.
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A nice option to travel back in time is a trip to the medieval city of Murten. There, the typical structures of cities belonging to the house of Zähringen have been preserved. You can explore the small castle with good views on the lake Murtensee, you can walk through the historical Berntor gate and best of all: you can climb on top of the old city walls and walk around the city – with marvelous views on the roofs of this old town.
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After exploring Bern, you might be ready for a refreshing hike in its neighborhood. The first address for this is the local mountain, the Gurten. It is especially a good option as you can have a wonderful view on the city from up there and you can easily reach it by the funicular Gurtenbahn. The Gurten is 858 meters high and located in the neighboring community of Köniz.
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