On my travels through Germany I often see signs to museums and places of interest that I would like to visit, but due to time constraints do not actually get round to straight away.

One day rather than driving by I would like to go back and visit these places.

Here are 5 of the more unusual ones that spring to mind:

The Unimog Museum

A musuem about a particular type of 4-wheel-drive vehicle that is known for its off-road qualities.  I first saw one of these vehicles on a camp site near Koblenz and saw the museum from a traffic jam whilst travelling through the black forest.

www.unimog-museum.com

The Bauspar-Museum

A museum about saving money to buy or build a home.  I see the sign to it at least once a year, but I never seem to be there on a Sunday or public holiday when it is open.  It is located in Wüstenrot, home to one of Germany’s largest mortgage lenders. Read the rest of this entry »

This weekend sees a return of the Blockupy demonstrators to Frankfurt and as a result there will be changes to public transport services in the city centre.

From Thursday, 30th May 2am until Sunday, 2nd June, at 4am, the U-Bahn station “Willy-Brandt-Platz” will be closed.  The lines U1 to U5 and U8 will travel through without stopping.  The U5 will be running later into the night to ease changes at other stops.

Trams will not be running through the Altstadt.  Lines 11 and 12 will not run between Börneplatz and Hauptbahnhof.  The Ebbelwei-Expreß will not be running on Fronleichnam or on Saturday, and on Sunday will travel in both directions via Sachsenhausen. Read the rest of this entry »

They call it the “Wahrzeichen der Stadt” – the town’s landmark, and photos of it can usually be found on many of the postcards from Bergen auf Rügen.  And yet, the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Tower is not really near to the centre of the town and, in tower terms, is not really that tall.  So what is all the fuss about?

To understand the tower, it is an advantage to know who exactly Ernst Moritz Arndt was and why it was built in the first place.

He was a poet and a thinker, born in 1769 on Rügen at a time when the island belonged to Sweden.  His works reflect the beauty that he saw in the island, but he known in particular for criticising Napoleon’s occupation of Germany and fleeing into exile as a result. Read the rest of this entry »