Hamburg

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Hamburg

Almost as quickly as it began, my time in Europe was coming to an end. My time in France was done and I had only a few days left in Germany. I did however have one weekend left and I had booked in a to visit a good friend whom I had met in Paris who now lived in Hamburg. Other than a recent trip to Berlin, I had not spent much time in the North of Germany. Moreover, there is not much (German) cultural overlap between Berlin and Hamburg, but I had heard many good things about the city. It often appears on list of "liveable" cities, basically meaning that they are excellent destinations for highly-paid expats usually at the cost of the local population, but that would not stop me from going and visiting my friend the expat and having a great time.

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Swabia: Augsburg and Neuschwanstein

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Swabia: Augsburg and Neuschwanstein

One of the most visited attractions in Germany and by extension, Europe, is the fairy tale-esque castle of Neuschwanstein. It is nestled in the Bavarian Alps in the south of Germany and sees scores of tourists flocking to the area to visit the thoroughly modern castle. The castle was built in the mid-19th century when castles had essentially lost their military value but were symbols of wealth and power. Ludwig II, the then king of Bavaria, commissioned the construction of the castle as his personal residence and was inspired (in part) by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's restoration of le Château de Pierrefonds. In any case, with my time in Germany coming to an end, this was one big-ticket item that I was keen to see. It would turn out to be quite a mission for just a weekend trip, but ultimately a worthwhile mission.

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Berlin

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Berlin

Integrating the time that I had spent in Germany, it was somewhat of a black spot on my record that I had not been to Berlin. I would say that it is not all that surprising, given my interests are in the outdoors and not generally in cities, but Berlin is cool. So cool in fact, that all the Bohemian people that I knew - and going to a fancy private school meant I knew plenty of them with much disposable income - had lived there at one point or another and said how it was the "most ah-mazing place". Floating my boat is more the city's importance as the a capital, especially during the Kingdom of Prussia. But perhaps the most persuasive element was that leaving Germany without ever having visited the capital, especially as most other people that visit Germany make Berlin stop number one, would be setting myself up for many fruitless conversations in the future. So with no expectations, I would head north for the weekend and hang out with the cool kids.

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Nordrhein-Westfalen: Aachen, Düsseldorf and Köln

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Nordrhein-Westfalen: Aachen, Düsseldorf and Köln

I had some friends I wanted to visit in Köln, but as I had been there previously, I wanted to profit from being in the area and see something new. The nearby town of Aachen had always held great interest for me, so I formulated a plan to spend the Saturday there and then make my way to Köln on Sunday.

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The Romantic Rhine

/ Rhine Gorge, Germany/
The Romantic Rhine

A place that I had never explicitly planned to visit was the Romantic Rhine, that is, the middle Rhine, which is defined as the region between Bingen and Bonn. The upper half of the section is particularly famous, known as the Rhine Gorge, a 71 kilometre long gorge formed by the constant glacial waters carving their way from high in the Alps into Lake Constance and escaping into the North Sea. The average elevation of the gorge is roughly 100 metres, making for some spectacular scenery. Adding to this are the 40-odd medieval castles built along this stretch, yielding an average separation of only one and a half kilometres between castles. The Rhine Gorge is a UNESCO world heritage site which has meant that the cities that line the gorge are kept pristine; however it has also meant that no bridges have been allowed to be built across the river, leading to practical difficulties. In any case, this area is everything that I think of when I think of Germany, I just did not know it before I went.

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