August Break: Bad Timing In Wuppertal

On August 1, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn International Travel - Inside Germany38 Comments

We started a fairly large project at work recently which has been eating a lot of my time. It’s a fairly complicated thing, and I’m the lead kitten wrangler for the whole shebang. For the last several weeks, I’ve been spending a lot of time working from home, and even doing conference calls from midnight to two or three in the morning a few nights a week. This schedule is likely to keep up until late September or October.

When I read Mandi’s post about taking an August Break this morning, the idea settled into the back of my head and wouldn’t shake loose. With the work stuff invading my time outside of the office, I’ve been a little concerned about my ability to keep up my usual two-post-a-week pace with worthwhile new material.

Enter Susannah Conway’s August Break 2013. I don’t usually do this sort of blogging community thing, but this one actually solves a problem for me. It actually solves several problems. Here’s Susannah’s explanation of AB13:

Each day, for the whole of August, take a photo and share it on your blog. You can add words if you want — or not. You can use any camera. You could share a series of photos, or miss a day out, or just post on weekends. There are no real rules, basically. This is all about being present and enjoying taking photos just for the hell of it. And perhaps reinvigorating your love for blogging, and/or taking a break from writing.

I can do 31 smaller photo posts much more easily than I can do nine full length posts in the month of August. As my friends are well aware, I take pictures of just about everything, constantly. I have tons of pictures that I thought were neat, or that I thought might be good for some future post that are just sort of languishing. This gives me a chance to show off some of those.

While I’m going through the month of August, I might have time to work on some longer post ideas that I’ve been back-burning for a long time. This would give me a head start on September’s blogging. Besides, a little variety might be a good thing for my creativity in the long term. I’ll start off the August Break photos with three pictures from Wuppertal, and a brief explanation of the photos.

The Wuppertaler Schwebebahn is the world’s oldest suspended train system, with public routes open as far back as 1901. It covers a route a little more than 13 kilomters (just over 8 miles), mostly along the river Wupper. (Of course I have to pause for a moment to reflect that Wupper is a fabulous name for a river. It’s awfully fun to say. Wupper! Wupper! Wupper!)

The Schwebebahn is an important part of Wuppertal’s public transit system, with regular routes every day. Since it’s a train suspended on arched rails over part of a city, I had to see it in operation. I was in nearby Essen with a friend for Star Wars Celebration Europe (more on that in another post), and we made a 46-minute S-Bahn ride to Wuppertal for the express purpose of photographing and riding on the Schwebebahn. I may have mentioned this before, but I love trains. Even weird hanging ones. Or maybe especially weird hanging ones.

If only we’d been there three days earlier.

The Schwebebahn was shut down for maintenance and improvements on the lines. From three days before we got there until about two weeks into August. There are handy shuttle buses that run the length of the Schwebebahn tracks to take up the slack during the maintenance. You can find them by looking for the signs with the adorable elephant in a construction hat.

The line is really very impressive. This is a section that runs along the river right near the Zoological Gardens.

We did finally manage to find one Schwebebahn car, hanging motionless at the Vohwinkel station. ::sigh::

Have you ever been on the Wuppertaler Schwebebahn?

The Untersberg

On July 29, 2013January 26, 2020 By StevenIn International Travel - Europe5 Comments

Sixteen kilometers (ten miles) south of Salzburg is a mountain called the Untersberg. From the city center, bus line 25 will take you all the way to the cable car station at the base of the mountain.

The cable car that runs up the Untersberg is called the Untersbergbahn. Naturally.

Some examples of the cables in use for cable cars.

Today’s weather on the Untersberg. From top to bottom, it’s “sun, bright, cloudy/overcast, rain, fog, snowfall, light wind, strong wind.” I should have known before I went up that nebel meant fog…

The height of things. The cable car covers 2.5 Kilometers across ground, and brings you to a station at 1,776 meters up the mountain.

This is what the cables look like from the station at the base.

Because of the fog, it looked like it was just sort of going up into nothingness.

The mountain looked fascinating from the cable car- at least the bits I could see before we ducked into the fog and cloud cover.

…and this was the view from the top.

Seriously, there could have been an alien civilization just past that low rise, and I would never have seen it. I did catch this picture just as the snowball thrown by man-in-red hit man-in-grey. Snowballs in late May when it’s raining on the ground are kind of comical, but that’s mountains for you.

I’m sure on a clear day, this is a beautiful place to have a drink. The bus stop sign (the H in the circle) cracks me up.

And finally, the view back down the mountain, looking out from where the cable car leaves the station at the top. This builds confidence, wouldn’t you say?

Have you ever been up to the top of a mountain? How was the view?

Killing Time In Frankfurt: The Palmengarten

On July 25, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn International Travel - Inside Germany5 Comments

The day before I went to Hamburg, I was in Frankfurt for a different concert. (Most of my trips start with a concert. Music is what motivates me.) On that trip, I got to meet up with fellow blogger Charlotte. Charlotte is a Brit who lives in Frankfurt, and it was fun hanging out with her for a little while before that night’s concert.

The next day, I had time to kill before my train to Hamburg, so I asked my friend Jenny, who used to live in the area. She suggested the Palmengarten, so I took a look. At 22 hectares, the Palmengarten is the largest botanical garden in Germany.

There are many, many types of plants. There are indoor sections of the botanical gardens, with greenhouse sections where they grow plants that wouldn’t fare as well outside.

It has a small waterfall. There’s a walkway that goes behind the waterfall, so you can look out from the other side of this.

There are pedal boats if you’re into that sort of thing.

There’s a very nice fountain there. I sat by this for quite a while, just enjoying the day. I like fountains.

The walkway over the water here was very Indiana Jones. There are large fish and happy ducks sharing the waterways.

Ok, I was wrong earlier. This path over the water is very Indiana Jones. It’s more than a little disconcerting until you notice that the stones aren’t just on the surface, they go all the way to the bottom. Very cool looking.

I went out of my way to find this when I learned it was in the Palmengarten- an Easter Island head! Apparently there are actually Moai all over Germany, and I’m only just now learning about this. There’s another one in Stuttgart, another city I have yet to visit.

Have you ever been to the Palmengarten? Do you have a favorite botanical garden? Is there a Moai near you?

Hamburg

On July 22, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn International Travel - Inside Germany10 Comments

Back in June, I went to Hamburg for a concert. I decided to be adventurous, and get a hotel on the Reeperbahn. The Reeperbahn, sometimes referred to as “The Sinful Mile,” is Hamburg’s red light district. It’s also jam packed with bars, clubs, restaurants, and touristy things. It’s sort of like a distillation of Las Vegas, but with legal prostitution. All of my Reeperbahn pics are from the daytime, because I didn’t want to be that guy taking pictures there at night. And there’s a good chance I would have gotten my camera smashed if I had.

I chose my hotel based on ratings and reviews on TripAdvisor, and I wound up with the Pyjama Park Hotel und Hostel. It was affordable, and it was pretty decent considering the location. My only caveat: Don’t choose this hotel if you can’t sleep with a little bit of street noise. People who live in New York City will be fine here.

This picture is not the hotel, it’s just a place on the Reeperban that drew my attention enough to snap a picture. I think it’s a bar. They must really like their pigs.

After I dropped my bags off at the hotel, fellow blogger Scott met me there and we set out for lunch. On the walk between the hotel and the closest U-Bahn station, we passed this building. I immediately made the “Go home, building, you’re drunk!” joke because it’s all tilty.

For lunch, we went down to the Port of Hamburg. The harbor is the largest port in Germany, and the third busiest port in Europe, after Rotterdam and Antwerp. (Note to self: I need to get to Rotterdam next year. I really want to see it.) In addition to being a massively busy shipping port, it’s also a nice place to go for lunch. The Landungsbrücken area is kind of touristy, but full of restaurants. The boat on the left in this picture is in front of a nice restaurant. Naturally, I had the fish.

Many of the boats that stop here, like the two level blue boat above, and the two level red and blue one below, are ferries that you can ride between established docks in much the same way that you would use a bus inside the heart of a city. Based on the recommendation of the Internets, I took the number 62 Ferry from there to Finkenwerder and back. The journey takes about an hour and a half to get there and back, but it’s a very affordable way to get a nice mini-tour of the Elbe river in this area.

These crane things were busily moving containers around. It was neat to watch.

I was a little taken aback to find the Louisiana Star paddle-boat in Hamburg, Germany.

Directly across the harbor from Landungsbrücken is the auditorium where they show Der König Der Löwen (The Lion King.) Some of the ferry boats advertised this. Note to self: I’ve gotta see this musical! I’ve managed so far to miss it every time I’m anywhere near it.

Before the concert that evening, I went to another nice area in Hamburg to meet Sarah after she got out of work. We walked over to a Balzac Coffee and caught up for a bit. I’d just like to say for the record that Balzac Coffee is kind of awesome. I’ve been in Balzac shops several times before, and I wish we had them in Regensburg.

The concert was in an open area auditorium called the Freilichtbühne on one side of the city’s amazing Stadtpark. I got to see the entire Stadtpark, because Scott gave me bad advice on which public transportation stop to use to get there, and I wound up on the opposite side of the park. This is ok, though, because it was a nice walk through the park and I got there in plenty of time to catch the main act, Lindsey Stirling.

The following morning, I did a small amount of touristing on my way back to the train station to head back to Regensburg. On the walk back out of the Reeperbahn, I spotted this place where you can get cheap sex right next to a place where you can get a cheap hamburger. (Ok, in reality I had spotted it the night before, because I grabbed some chicken nuggets after the concert. Despite being on the Reeperbahn, this is the quietest McDonald’s I’ve ever been inside. Amazing!)

Walking into the city center before leaving town, I found this pillar in the courtyard in front of the Rathaus, in front of the canal. I haven’t been able to find any information on what this is called, but it was neat looking.

Finally, there’s Hamburg’s iconic Rathaus, the Hamburg town hall. I didn’t go inside, but I’ve found that for many cities, the Rathaus is just as interesting inside as it is outside. This pretty much wrapped up my short hop into Hamburg. I arrived on Tuesday morning and left on Wednesday morning, for a total time in the city of less than 24 hours. I’ll have to go back sometime- I quite liked Hamburg.

Have you ever been to Hamburg? Have you partied on the Reeperbahn or taken a ferry on the Elbe? What’s your favorite harbor?

London Again

On July 18, 2013January 26, 2020 By StevenIn International Travel - The United Kingdom9 Comments

In keeping with my tradition of going to London every July, I went there last weekend. This was a short trip- I flew in on Friday night and out on Sunday evening. However, I ran into some issues with Heathrow.

It seems that a 787 DreamLiner from an Ethiopian carrier caught fire, and the airport had to close for a few hours while this was being dealt with. The delays snowballed from there, and my evening went like this:

My 9pm flight got into Heathrow an hour and ten minutes late. I’m lucky it wasn’t cancelled entirely.
We waited twenty minutes for Heathrow staff to find someone to drive the jet bridge out to the plane.
We waited another twenty minutes for the little people mover that takes you from the gate to the arrivals area.
Lots and lots of people had no luggage, or had to go back throughout the weekend to try to get their luggage back. I’m grateful I’ve taken to flying without checking a bag for short trips.
We got to the main arrivals area of the terminal after the last Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station had already left. Luckily, they added two additional trains when they saw the delays stacking up. One departed at 12:45, and one at 1:30. I waited another 50 minutes for the 12:45 train.
If you’re doing the math from the bolded text above, you’ll spot that we got to Paddington after 1am, which means the London Underground was shut down for the night. The picture below was the line at the taxi stand at Paddington. I considered walking to my hotel, but that would have involved cutting through Hyde Park at night, and I wasn’t feeling up to that particular challenge.
After my first experience with a legendary London Black Cab, I reached my hotel and made it into bed by around three in the morning. My weekend was off to a rollicking start.

Saturday morning, I went to The Shard. The newly constructed tallest building in the European Union was not open to the public yet when I was in London last July, and I couldn’t resist a climb to the top. Tall stuff!

The lobby has an entire wall covered in quotes about London; this was my favorite one:

The climb was actually one elevator to the 33rd floor, then another elevator to the 68th floor. From there, a short stair takes you to the first observation level at the 69th floor, and another set of stairs takes you to the open observation on level 72. There’s more above that, but only for private functions.

The elevators inside the Shard have video screens in their ceilings. This is a picture of an elevator ceiling:

Stairs to 72:

This is the mostly-open observation level at the top.

…and three pictures of the View from the Shard, which is coincidentally the name of the tourist attraction portion of the building. The first picture includes the London Eye, Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament.

The second picture includes St. Paul’s Cathedral.

The third includes the Tower Bridge and part of the Thames River.

After I left the Shard, I went on the Tube to meet a friend for lunch. My weekend of rough travel continued, as parts of the Tube were shut down for maintenance work and I had to go in a very roundabout way.

I made it, eventually, to the British Library to meet Neo for Lunch. That’s not code for anything, it’s just where we met before grabbing a bite to eat. Hanging out with friends is always a delight, and I love lunching with people.

After lunch, I made my way to the DLR trains from Tower Bridge to go over to Greenwich. When I was there last July, I couldn’t reach the Royal Observatory because of the Olympic Games, and I really wanted to check that out. On a nice warm day like this, so did a lot of other people- the lawns of Greenwich Park were littered with sunbathers and picnickers. The Observatory is waaaay up that hill to the right It was a nice walk.

The Royal Observatory is great for people who like to geek out about time, clocks, telescopes, astronomy, and so forth. There are a lot of nifty clocks about, like this one.

The museum section also had a lot of amazing telescopes and spyglasses and so forth. I took a lot of pictures, but I’m not going to put all of them up here. Instead, I chose this spyglass to represent the coolest of the cool: It’s a walking stick/sword/spyglass. So cool!

Of course the reason that most tourists go to the Royal Observatory is to stand on the Prime Meridian, with one foot in the East and one in the West. There is also a monster laser in the Observatory that they light up at night- a bright green laser beam shows the path of the Prime Meridian for roughly fifteen miles on a clear dark night. I’d like to see that some time.

The line to stand on the Meridian was quite long, but only for the picturesque part with the extra markings and a staff member nearby. Right on the other side of that huge line of people, it was still the Prime Meridian, so I just did my thing off to one side:

After I was done at the Observatory, I doubled back to the hotel to change clothes for the evening. When I got out of the Tube at Earl’s Court, I found this right outside the station. The “Bad Wolf” and Clara Oswald notes were already scrawled into the dust; I didn’t put them there.

Finally, Saturday evening had arrived, and this is what brought me to London for this trip: BBC Prom #2. The 50th Anniversary Doctor Who Prom.

For those who are unfamiliar with the BBC Proms, a Prom (or Promenade Concert) is part of a yearly series of summer concerts. Most are held in the Royal Albert Hall, and there are dozens of different shows. There’s an entire culture built up around going to the Proms, and some fans like to go Promming: That is, they wait in the morning for the final tickets to be released, pay five pounds for a ticket, and then stand in the center section of the Royal Albert Hall for the entirety of the show. In the 2013 season, there are 74 separate Proms. The Doctor Who events were Prom #2 (Saturday evening) and Prom #3 (Sunday afternoon.)

Doctor Who At The Proms has occurred twice before, in 2008 and 2010 respectively. I had been waiting for it to come up again since I got to Germany, and I wouldn’t have missed this for the world. The Proms were recorded live, and will be aired on the BBC during the 50th Anniversary celebrations later this year.

In any case, here’s the Royal Albert Hall.

The walk between my hotel and the Royal Albert Hall went up a long street filled with various embassies. At one point, I saw some guys taking a picture of a doorway, and I got a little curious. This is what they were taking a picture of- cue Yakety Sax!

But I digress… this is what the Royal Albert Hall looked like from my seat.

You can see that the stage is large enough to hold the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Ben Foster. There were racks of seats behind the orchestra for the London Philharmonic Choir. I cannot begin to describe how amazing they sounded together live. The acoustics in the Royal Albert are absolutely brilliant.

Matt Smith, the 11th (and current) Doctor appeared at this event, along with Jenna Coleman, the Doctor’s current companion. Some of the introductions were handled by Madame Vastra and Strax, in character, along with lots of other people from the show. The music was mostly from the current era of the show (2005 to the present), but some pieces of music performed were from the “Classic” Doctor Who, which is what they now call all of the Doctor Who between 1963 and 1996. Plus, since this is a Doctor Who Prom, there were Silurians, Silence, Ice Warriors, Whisper Men, Cybermen, and a few others. Here’s a Weeping Angel:

Here’s a Judoon:

…and here’s the conductor being harassed by a pair of Daleks.

The Proms were amazing, and if I lived in London, I would go to a lot more of them. Some of the other Proms this year sounded really nifty. After the show, I headed back to the hotel and had a nice room service sandwich to wind down. On Sunday morning, I met Neo again, this time at Hyde Park, because there was a giant horse head statue I wanted to check out. I had seen it from the window of the taxi two evenings before. In the darkness, it looked like a giant glowing horse head, and I was pleased to find that it wasn’t that difficult to find in the daylight either. This 35 foot tall horse head statue was sculpted by Nic Fiddian-Green, and it’s been there since around 2009.

Another set of statues, a wander past the Speaker’s Corner of the park, a quick lunch, and then it was already time to head back to Paddington for my trip out of London. On the walk to Paddington station, we passed a hospital, and there were a bunch of photographers and television crews setting up. I didn’t know until we’d walked past it what it was all about… there were ranks of ladders for photographers to stand on…

…and just past the already set up tv crews, there were squares of tape which dictated where other camera crews from different media outlets could set up.

We had stumbled onto the journalist area for the media crews covering the birth of Kate Middleton’s royal baby at St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. I didn’t even know this was going on, but there it is.

Tell me your favorite thing to do in London. Have you ever been to a BBC Prom? Have you ever accidentally stumbled across a major media event? Have you ever stood on the Prime Meridian?

Whimsy. Tacos. The DMV.

Category: Travel Posts