The Passenger ⋆ Page 130 of 317 ⋆ Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.

November 9, 2019February 19, 2020

Münster St. Vitus

The city of Mönchengladbach, Germany, is still today sometimes called Vitusstadt (city of Vitus). It is said that Vitus was a Pagan child in Sicilia, Italy and was converted to Christianity. Already as a small child, he is said to have worked wonders as a miracle healer. His father and also the Roman emperor Diocletian tried to punish and kill him – but they all failed. Torture didn’t work, boiling oil couldn’t kill him, lions wouldn’t eat him. He became one of the fourteen holy helpers and relics from his remains were considered really powerful.

November 1, 2019January 21, 2024

Schlichte Hof

The Schlichte Hof is an ancient guesthouse from the year 1492 at Bielefeld, Germany. Within the half-timbered house you will find a hotel with few rooms and a good restaurant serving traditional dishes of Westphalia. But this place seems to be mostly known for family events and especially wedding parties. The former horse stable offers enough space on two levels for many guests.

October 30, 2019April 15, 2022

Notting Hill

It is an interesting phenomenon how a movie can shape the image of a complete city quarter and bring many tourists there. Well, Notting Hill would be anyhow worth a trip – but because of the 1999 movie with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant this city quarter of London, United Kingdom gets much attention. People search for blue doors, the ‘Travel Book Co.‘ bookshop (which is in fact The Notting Hill Book Shop) and private gardens with high fences.

October 30, 2019February 19, 2020

Pizza Pilgrims

I found a recommendation on the Internet that if you want to have a good pizza in London, United Kingdom, you should look out for Pizza Pilgrims. It is a pizza restaurant with many branches throughout London and they serve good Italian pizza – even a lot of vegetarian versions. And their speciality is a ring of pizza dough filled with Nutella and decorated with ice cream; that calls for a lot of sport afterwards. I searched for one of their locations nearby and what I didn’t know – I didn’t choose one of their restaurants but ended up in the Westfield shopping mall.

October 29, 2019December 4, 2019

The Sherlock Holmes

In between all those pubs in London, England there are some that stand out. One of them I like most is The Sherlock Holmes in Northumberland Street. You can find it between Trafalgar square and river Thames, next to the Charing Cross and Embankment stations. Downstairs you can enjoy a pint while watching some Sherlock Holmes movies. Upstairs it is a cosy restaurant and you can find a detailed reproduction of the study within Baker Street 221b.

October 29, 2019February 19, 2020

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

Who doesn’t remember the film Forrest Gump by Robert Zemeckis from the year 1994? Tom Hanks brilliantly played the US-citizen with a low IQ of just 75 telling the story of his life. Unfortunately, nobody knows that this story is based on the book by Winston Groom – but that is a different story. During the Vietnam war, Forrest Gump meets a guy called Benjamin Buford Blue (with the nickname Bubba) and he gives him the promise to become a shrimp fisher after the war. Of course, he keeps his promise and opens up the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Two years after the movie somebody decided to open up a restaurant with the same name styled in Forrest Gump style.

October 26, 2019January 26, 2020

Wacht am Rhein

There aren’t too many good places to sit at the shore of river Rhein at Leverkusen, Germany. A lot of the space along the river is cover by chemical factories. But if you make your way from Leverkusen-Mitte to the river, leave the shopping malls behind and pass through and endless number of residential homes you will find the Neuland-Park (a vast garden) and next to it a nice restaurant called ‘Wacht am Rhein‘ (Watch on the Rhine) – named after an ancient German song and anthem.

October 26, 2019December 3, 2019

BayArena

The BayArena at Leverkusen, Germany is a soccer stadium I saw multiple times – when passing by on motorway A1 directly next to it. As Leverkusen itself feels like a giant chemical plant with a city around it, I never had the desire to go there. Doing it nevertheless was a good decision as the stadium is really great in its design and services. It is home to the ‘Werkself‘, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, a club owned by this giant chemical plant (the Bayer AG). A club that never won the German championship but ended five times on the second place – and is therefore often called ‘Vizekusen‘.

October 26, 2019August 10, 2025

Museum Morsbroich

The Museum Morsbroich is a museum for contemporary art in Leverkusen, Germany. It is located within the baroque castle Schloss Morsbroich from the year 1389 – later belonging to the German Order. The castle is beautiful and around it, you can find an English landscape garden. The museum was founded in 1951 as the first German museum for contemporary art after World War II. I didn’t know what to expect when coming here, but it really was worth a visit. When I came there an exhibition of Belgian photographer Francis Alÿs was presented there.

October 26, 2019February 20, 2020

Japanese oasis

One of the most beautiful places in Leverkusen, Germany, is the Japanese garden. It dates back to the year 1912 and is part of the Chempark – the collection of companies producing chemical products in the city. Since 1950 it is publicly accessible and you can enjoy having the feeling of being in Japan. There are nice lakes, Japanese temples, red maple trees, koi carps, and different statues. It is simply a wonderful place to relax, discover and enjoy life.