Germany Archives ⋆ Page 20 of 117 ⋆ The Passenger

August 17, 2022December 7, 2022

Museum für Komische Kunst

Need something to laugh? The Caricatura – Museum für Komische Kunst at Frankfurt am Main is a museum for comical art and exhibiting mainly cartoons with the intention to make the viewers laughing out loud. This special museum exists since 2008 and it is well-located in this city which has a long satiric history. The ground floor is used for changing exhibitions and while I was there cartoons by Klaus Stuttmann where shown, leading continuously back through time and German history and politics.

August 15, 2022December 7, 2022

Filmladen

The Filmladen (lit. ‘movie shop‘) is an arthouse cinema at the city quarter Vorderer Westen of Kassel, Germany. It was opened in 1981 and created by a student movie initiative. The resulting non-profit organization Verein Filmladen Kassel e. V. is still today operating this rather non-commercial cinema; and that’s amazing as the cinema shows all the films that you would never see in a multiplex cinema but are really worth being screened.

August 12, 2022December 7, 2022

Wehlheider Kirmes

When I moved to Kassel, Germany, I was offered a flat at a city quarter called Wehlheiden. It was advertised with the words ‘During the Wehlheider Kirmes you’re at the center of action‘. Fortunately, a local friend told me that you don’t want to live in the center of this event and decided to move to the Vorderer Westen instead (mostly because of the brothel next door). But this shouldn’t be too negative as the Wehlheider Kirmes is really beloved by the Kasseler, Kasselaner and Kasseläner.

July 31, 2022December 10, 2022

Ederseebahn

I always enjoy riding my bike on old converted railway tracks: the inclination is limited, the infrastructure is often good, many tunnels and bridges are found on the way and you can typically discover remains of past railway times. One of these converted tracks can be found close to the Edersee in Northern Hesse: Between 1884 and 1917 a railway track was opened linking Wabern (Hesse) and Brilon-Wald (North Rhine-Westphalia). While the routes from Wabern to Bad Wildungen and from Korbach to Brilon-Wald are still in operation and served every two hours, the middle section from Korbach to Wega is out of service.

July 30, 2022November 30, 2022

Zissel

The inhabitants of Kassel like to party and after 2.5 years of pandemic limitations it was time again for the biggest party, the Zissel. It is unclear were this name comes from but the best guess is that it originates in the Low German language where it means something like to spend money for having fun. The Zissel is celebrated since 1926 and always happens on the first weekend of August from Friday to Monday. It starts with attaching the Zisselhäring (a large herring) to the Rondell on Friday and ends with removing and releasing the herring to the water on Monday evening.

July 20, 2022November 30, 2022

Bahnhofslichtspiele

The railway station of Kassel is a place that many people pass by, but it is also the Kulturbahnhof; a location to spend time at with bars, the Caricatura and also a cinema. When you pass through the main hall of the railway station you’ll see the entrance to the BALi, which is the abbreviation for Bahnhofslichtspiele. I came here for a show of three editors-in-chief of the famous German satirical newspaper Titanic: Oliver Maria Schmitt, Thomas Gsella and Martin Sonneborn.

July 6, 2022November 20, 2022

Alles von der Kunstfreiheit gedeckt

Since 1986 the Kulturzelt is a tradition at Kassel. Every year in summer well-known and lesser known artists fill a large tent close to the orangery with music. And the area next to river Fulda gives you the chance to spend a nice evening outside with friends and a good drink. This year I came here to see a solo performance of Daniel Pongratz, also known as Danger Dan, the singer of the left-wing hip-hop band Antilopen Gang.

July 5, 2022November 20, 2022

Chili Peppers

There are many good bands that contributed to the soundtrack of my life. One of them are the Red Hot Chili Peppers from Los Angeles and one day I had to simply see them live on stage. This year they were playing on my birthday at the Müngersdorfer Stadion of Köln, Germany. And as I tend to travel on birthdays to avoid the classic celebrations I couldn’t resist partying with the RHCP.

July 5, 2022November 20, 2022

Savoy

When you’re travelling by train to Köln you might want to have a good hotel close to the railway station. I was struggling with that different times until I checked-in at the Savoy. It is located on the rear side of the main station and you need to exit towards the Breslauer Platz. From there it is only a short walk to the hotel entrance which makes life really easy.

July 5, 2022November 28, 2022

Rhein-Seilbahn

There is a simple rule that is most often true: wherever a federal horticultural show is held in Germany, you’ll later find a funicular. Such a Bundesgartenschau is not only an event for tourists, it is also always used to change the area it is organized at, to reactivate fallow land that is most often hard to reach. And therefore very often funiculars are built to make the area better accessible for visitors of the Bundesgartenschau. And people love it.