Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
Normally you will find zoological gardens only in or around bigger cities. Bad Pyrmont is fortunately an exemption from that rule – it has its own privately operated Tiergarten. And it feels like they’ve brought together only the cutest of cute animals: Valais Blacknose sheep, coatis, alpacas, capybaras, otters, donkeys, porcupines, meerkats and many more.
Continue reading “Cuteness everywhere”
If you like to taste different flavors of water, then Bad Pyrmont might be the right destination for you! For health treatments seven springs can be found throughout the city: the Hylliger Born, Helenenquelle, Friedrichquelle, Wolfgangquelle, Hufelandquelle and the Trampel’sche Quelle. They give water that contains calcium, magnesium, carbonate, sulphate and sodium. It’s a tradition to drink these waters to improve your health. In addition, there is also the Salinenquelle which can only be used to swim in its waters and a carbon dioxid gas spring that is also used to cure illnesses.
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When you get old in Germany or suffer a serious illness then you will most probably have a Kur – a treatment at a health spa payed by your health insurance company. This includes different treatments, courses and sometimes drinking water from healthy springs. For that you’re travelling to a Kurort, a spa town that you can most often recognize in Germany by the town name having a ‘Bad‘ at the beginning. You will have nice walks in a special garden, the Kurpark, where you can relax and often listen to classic music. This is financed by a special tax, the Kurtaxe that everyone has to pay if he visits such a place. And sometimes you also get a Kurschatten (literally a ‘treatment shadow’) a person of the opposite sex that you’re spending most time with. Weird Germany.
Continue reading “Most northern palm garden in Europe”
Hidden in the forest of the Klauskopf mountain you can find a watchtower made of stone, the Klauskopfturm or Rieder Turm. It belongs to the village Riede which is part of Bad Emstal, Germany. The tower was built in 1857 and is 17 meters high.
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The Niedensteiner Kopf is a 475 meters high mountain close to the small city of Niedenstein, Germany. It is a good strategic point and therefore there was also a fortress built in the year 1160 CE which was used for more than 400 years – some remains can still be seen today. In 1931 a watchtower was created on top of the mountain: the Hessenturm. It changed over time but it is still there and attracts hikers and families on excursions.
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Göttingen didn’t have many museums and art exhibition halls in the past. That started to change in 2008 when publisher Gerhard Steidl and mayor Wolfgang Meyer presented the idea of the Kunstquartier (art quarter, KuQua) with an art exhibition place at its heart: the Kunsthaus. In 2021 this place for exhibiting works on paper, photography and new media was finally opened and now attracts national and international visitors.
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Travelling on a river by canoe is great fun. But it needs a lot of preparation: you need a boat, suitable equipment, a good point to start and most of all: someone who picks you up at your destination. Canoeing on the Diemel river is in contrast easy and well organized. You’ll get a canoe, a waterproof barrel, life jackets, paddles, and the phone number of someone to pick you up later.
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The Wasserschloss Wülmersen is a wonderful place and a good destination for an excursion in the middle between Trendelburg and Bad Karlshafen. The name is a little bit misleading as it is not really a castle – it is a farm that dates back to the 12th century CE. In the past it was partially surrounded by a moat, therefore it received the name water castle or Wasserschloss.
Continue reading “Ostriches, cow tongues & rhubarb cake”
I really love the sandstone formations hidden in the forests of Northern Hesse and Lower Saxony. You can explore caves, climb on top of them, touch the moss surrounding them or just enjoy the cooler temperatures close to these rocks on hot days. One of these places is the Hollenkammer, a cave close to Volkmarsen, Germany.
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If you’re travelling towards the Ofenberg mountain at Wolfhagen, Germany, and don’t know your target yet you might get a little bit afraid. The first thing you will see is the steep and high Isthaberg mountain and you might think: ‘That’s not what I’ve agreed to‘. But don’t worry: the Ofenberg is also steep but not as horrible as this vast mountain.
Continue reading “101 steps to heaven”