The Great Synagogue of Budapest, Hungary has been built from 1854 on by an architect from Vienna. It is located in Pest close to the city center, not far away from Erzsébet tér. It has been built in Moorish style and looks a bit like the Alhambra in Granada, Spain.
Continue reading “Dohány Street Synagogue”The Heroes’ Square
An important place in the centre of Budapest, Hungary, where you can learn one thing very good: how little you know about Hungarian history. Béla IV? Coloman? Ladislaus I? Imre Thököly? Lajos Kossuth? István Bocskay? Does this ring a bell? No? Don’t worry – somehow the stories of Eastern Europe have been hidden behind the Iron Curtain.
Continue reading “The Heroes’ Square”Japanese fastfood
If you’ve ever been to Japan, you will know the deep desire of having something from there back at home. Even if it is only food. And that doesn’t necessarily mean sushi, which is kind of street food in Asia. Luckily we’ve got Düsseldorf – a home base for many Japanese in Germany. Next to some very good restaurants there is one shop that always provides me delicious travel supplies: Waraku in Düsseldorfs Immermannstraße, not far away from the main railway station.
Continue reading “Japanese fastfood”Walking over to Poland
The first question is always: why does one stay in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany? Not the Frankfurt in the heart of Germany, the one with lots of skyscrapers of banks and Äppelwoi, but the one close to the border to Poland. At first it has to be said that even Frankfurt (Oder) has some nice city quarters and a good university – but for me it was only a good stop because on the next day I had to travel early to Bremen for a soccer match.
Visiting the wizards
When you were a child, did you read the book “Krabat” of Otfried Preußler? The one in which a child becomes apprentice in a mill not knowing that the black arts are teached there? Not expecting that in the end every year one of the young residents has to die to keep the master alive? And where only true love could save you from death? If yes, then the name Schwarzkollm (Čorny Chołmc) does ring a bell to you.
Continue reading “Visiting the wizards”Pickles, canoeing & mosquitos
The Spreewald in Germany is a very special place. One you normally only visit to get a canoe to travel on the long and branched river network. Or to cross the area by bike. But some people even come here for a specialty that was once imported from the Netherlands: sour pickles.
Continue reading “Pickles, canoeing & mosquitos”The best first half of my entire life (so far)
The Allianz-Arena is the most important soccer stadium in Munich, Germany. In fact it is a gigantic temple for soccer and home to the two major clubs in München; the TSV 1860 München and the FC Bayern München. 75.000 supporters can find a place here and watch matches with an absolutely gorgeous view.
Continue reading “The best first half of my entire life (so far)”
Planes, helicopters & airships
A good activity for a rainy day is to visit one or two museums in Friedrichshafen, Germany. What one doesn’t expect if he’s not well prepared is that the region has a strong connection to aviation. Important airships have been built here at the shore of Lake Constance and can be seen at the Zeppelin museum.
Train to the shore
There are not many train stations that are directly located at the shore. One of these dead-end stations is the terminus of Lindau, Germany. It is very impractical but of historical value. If you leave a train here you only have to walk approximately 100 meters to get to the harbour of Lindau and have a wonderful view on Lake Constance.
bo|ra
The “bo|ra” is a great spa close to the Lake Constance in Radolfzell, Germany. It’s a complex consisting of a hotel, a sauna and a beach area. Its name is a combination of the first letters of “Bodensee” (the German name of Lake Constance) and “Radolfzell“, the city the spa is located in. I came here because I really love Japanese spas and here they’ve built a quite traditional Onsen (hot spring).