Germany Archives ⋆ Page 43 of 117 ⋆ The Passenger

August 31, 2019September 29, 2019

Parkeisenbahn

In the Eastern Bloc there was an interesting tradition: narrow-gauge railways were built for the amusement of children. They were operated by the youth organizations of the local communist parties following the procedures and standards of normal railways. In the GDR they were all located within parks and typically had round courses. They were called ‘Pioniereisenbahn‘ – as the mass organisation for children in the GDR was the ‘Pionierorganisation Ernst Thälmann‘ (a copy of the Soviet ‘Komsomol‘). In 1990 the railways were renamed to ‘Parkeisenbahn‘ to remove the political touch.

August 31, 2019September 29, 2019

Flora and fauna

A good area to relax can be found in the north of Chemnitz, Germany. There you can have a walk in the vast Küchwald park (and ride a narrow-gauge steam-engine train) and you’ll also find a nice botanical garden. It was already created in 1898 and contains numerous middle-European plants, a tropical greenhouse with crop plants, a collection of succulents and much more animals than you would expect at such a place.

August 31, 2019September 29, 2019

Kunstsammlungen

The Erzgebirge (ore mountains) made Saxony a rich country. Most of the richness went to Dresden, Germany – but a little bit of it remained nearby at Chemnitz. This includes some fantastic ancient buildings but also some collections of art. The Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz (art collections) can be found in the main building at the Theaterplatz in the center of the city. Additionally three other museums belong to it: the museum for modern art (Museum Gunzenhauser), the Schloßbergmuseum and the Henry van de Velde museum.

August 31, 2019September 29, 2019

Industriemuseum

The city of Chemnitz, Germany has a long industrial history: In the 18th century the production of textiles became important and due to the usage of hydropower the spinning works became efficient. During the 19th century machine construction was in focus (including steam engines and steam railway engines). Chemnitz was one of the most important industrial cities in Germany by that time and sometimes named the ‘Manchester of Saxony‘. And the 20th century was the time of car manufacturing – included all the neighboring industries ja need to build a complex car.

August 31, 2019September 29, 2019

Roter Turm

You wouldn’t guess it while visiting Chemnitz, Germany, but the Roter Turm (red tower) is considered the town’s landmark. It is a tower standing close to the city center which was built as a bergfried in the 12th century. Later it was included into the city fortifications and used as a prison. August Bebel (one of the founders of the Social Democratic Party in Germany) was one of the well-known ‘guests’ there, but that’s not the reason for the name: the material used to build it (tuff) has a red colour by nature. The fame of this building roots in the fact that it is older than Chemnitz and older than the city of Dresden.

August 31, 2019September 29, 2019

Kalle

Karl Marx never went to Chemnitz, Germany. But nevertheless the city was named Karl-Marx-Stadt between 1953 and 1990 to honour him. That is also the reason why you can find a massive, 7 meters high representation of his head close to the city center. It weighs 40 tons and was created by Soviet sculptor Lew Kerbel. In the background attached to a building you can read the words ‘Working men of all countries, unite!‘ from the communist manifesto (written by Marx and Engels) in four languages. Locals call the memorial ‘do Nischel‘ – ‘Nischel‘ just means ‘head‘ in the middle high German language.

August 15, 2019August 22, 2019

Eiscafé Renata

People coming to Hann. Münden, Germany often search for good ice cream in the city center and of course there are some good options in the pedestrian zone. But the expert knows that you get the best ice cream somewhere else: in Neumünden, at the Eiscafé Renata. It is no shiny new ice cream parlor with freaky variations, the location is not the best and inside the time seems to have stopped long ago.

August 10, 2019April 19, 2022

Away game at home

Atlas Delmenhorst vs. Werder Bremen, Weserstadion, Bremen

I‘m in love with the first round of the DFB cup every year. The small clubs – sometimes even amateurs – against the big clubs. Teams that hope to get the FC Bayern or Borussia Dortmund as opponents to have the match of their lifetimes and fill their bank accounts – even if it means to loose with many goals against. But it is also about infrastructure, about playing in small stadiums where everything is a little bit improvised and where the big stars have to use rather shabby changing rooms without hot water.

August 10, 2019August 12, 2019

Schlachte

If you want to sit outside at the river Weser within Bremen, Germany and have a good drink there is one main party zone that will be recommended to you: the Schlachte. You will find numerous bars there with outdoor seats and great views on the water and the ships anchoring there (some of them are bars and restaurants, too). The name has nothing to do with slaughter (‘Schlachtung‘, ‘Schlacht‘, ‘Schlachten‘) – it refers to ‘slagte‘, the process of placing wooden piles to stabilize the shore.

August 10, 2019August 13, 2019

Schnoor

One of the places tourists visit most often at Bremen, Germany is the Schnoorviertel, located near the central market place and river Weser. It is a quarter full of narrow streets and tiny houses where in past days the fishermen were living. The streets there are named after the products that were created in them and the street name Schnoor refers to the production of rope (‘Schnur‘ in German).