Göttingen and Kassel are cities that are only 50 km apart and could form a nice region – if they wouldn’t have been part of different kingdoms in the past and now different federal states (Lower Saxony and Hesse). I firmly believe that they will be connected more in the future and first tendencies towards this can already be seen.
Continue reading “Kassel & Göttingen: a roundtrip by bike”Eulenturm
The owls’ tower (or ‘Eulenturm‘) is a viewing platform on the Hainberg mountain of Göttingen, Germany. It can serve as a good target destination for a walk through Göttingen and it is special as most of the inhabitants of the city have been pretty close to it but haven’t seen it. When you’re at the upper end of the Schillerwiesen (a large recreational area in the East of the city) you just need to cross a road, pass the Kleiner Reinsbrunnen well and climb up the hill between two valleys (the ‘Lange Nacht‘ and the ‘Molkengrund‘) and you’ll immediately see the short tower.
Continue reading “Eulenturm”Kerstlingeröder Feld
When I was living in Göttingen, Germany, I didn’t visit the forest belonging to the city – the Stadtwald – very often. It is a large forest in the East of the urban areas and it includes many nice places like the Bismarckturm or the Kehr with wild boars and deer. The reason not to go there was mostly that you have to climb steadily up the hill – but during the last decades the city grew steadily up the hill and the forest can now also easily be reached by bus.
Continue reading “Kerstlingeröder Feld”Elefantenklo
A strange building made of stone hidden behind high trees in the forest. A temple? A ruin? If you walk around the building on the Klausberg in Göttingen, Germany, you will spot a tiny inscription: ‘Gedenkstein für Otto von Bismarck‘, a memorial for the former imperial chancellor. It is officially called ‘Bismarckstein‘ but the locals have a different name for it: ‘Elefantenklo‘ (elephant loo). Bismarck was very famous by his time even though his role in history has a lot of dark sides – but the people were willing to donate for memorials to commemorate him.
Continue reading “Elefantenklo”Mintrop-Kugel
When you’re hiking on the Warteberg mountain in the east of Göttingen, Germany, you can come across an old earthquake observatory. It is the so-called Wiechert’sche Erdbebenwarte named after the former director Emil Wiechert. The university gave up the building in 2005 but now a private association cares about the legacy of the scientist, including different seismographs that still work. A highlight of this place is a four tons weighing giant: the Mintrop-Kugel.
Continue reading “Mintrop-Kugel”Kleiner Reinsbrunnen
Everybody in Göttingen, Germany, knows the Schillerwiesen – a long stretched park in the East of the city leading up the hill. Most people only know the lower section where people meet for picnics and barbecues, to do sports or play miniature golf. Some get a little bit higher and also see the Jérôme-Pavillion where you can also have your wedding ceremony. Not many people get further on to a more quiet part where you can see the Merkelstein (remembering the former mayor Georg Merkel) and the Kleiner Reinsbrunnen – a nice spring hidden in the forest.
Continue reading “Kleiner Reinsbrunnen”Café Hemer
It is a little bit aside and a little bit hidden: the Café Hemer in the southern part of Göttingen, near the Leinekanal. And this little bit of remoteness makes the coffee bar a wonderful place with great coffee, delicious cake and most often a free table if you decide to just get there spontaneously.
Continue reading “Café Hemer”Dransfelder Rampe
If you look at satellite data of the area west of Göttingen, Germany, you can see some unusual slopes of trees. It is the track of the former railway connecting Göttingen to Kassel (Hannöversche Südbahn). via Dransfeld and Hann. Münden – a route that was suboptimal because of the very high inclination in a section called Dransfelder Rampe (‘Dransfeld ramp’). It was nevertheless built because it was the only route from Göttingen to Hann. Münden without leaving the territory of the Kingdom of Hannover. The new route opened in 1876 switches between the German federal states Lower Saxony (formerly Kingdom of Hannover) and Hesse (formerly Kurfürstentum Hessen) several times.
Continue reading “Dransfelder Rampe”Sambesi
The Sambesi is a restaurant at Göttingen, Germany, named after the river running through central and Southern Africa. I have a little bit mixed feelings about this place as you can get nice African-style dishes here but it is often too loud and the restaurant has the atmosphere of a waiting hall at a railway station. Additionally, I never had the desire to eat ostrich, crocodile or zebra meat – which seems to be the unique selling proposition of this restaurant.
Continue reading “Sambesi”Kaiser-Wilhelm-Park
Every year there is a music festival at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Park (or KWP) at Göttingen, Germany. I never knew where this place is until I found it by accident close to the Bismarckturm in the southeast of the city. It was a restaurant built in 1895 as a destination for hikers. In 1900 the place was renamed to Bürgerpark (citizens park) and it was named like that until it was torn down in 1970.
Continue reading “Kaiser-Wilhelm-Park”