Places visited in Germany
Our Germany trip was for 5 days – Eastern part of Germany. We stayed in Leipzig throughout our stay. Why Leipzig of all the places? We chose it because my friend Salil lives there. It was a 9 hrs journey by train, from Aarhus (Denmark) to Leipzig (Germany) via Hamburg. When in Hamburg we noticed that things were cheaper than in Denmark or France! The journey of about 475 km from Hamburg to Leipzig took only about 3 hrs in the superfast InterCityExpress! We liked the Leipzig railway station very much, with its 3 storied shopping centre.
We traveled to all the places with my friend Salil & family.
On 25th March we planned to visit Waldheim. We purchased the weekend end group ticket in Leipzig (for just 30€, five people can travel all over Germany for 24 hrs). We had planned to go to a castle there, but after reaching there, we realized that it is not easy to reach the castle without a car. So we decided to walk around in the town. The town is small and beautiful but since it was raining, we did not enjoy our walk. We had decided to walk for an hour and then return to the railway station to take a train to Dresden at 12.30 p.m. Unfortunately, we missed the train by 2 min. Rather, we didn’t try hard, as the next train was at 12.50 p.m. But the group ticket was not valid on that train. We then checked the time table and decided to take the 1.30 p.m. train and have lunch in the meanwhile on the station. We didn’t find the station very good or the surroundings. We were the only people on the station for hours. By the time we finished our lunch, it was 1.30 p.m. But the train did not arrive!! We were surprised. How can this happen in Germany? We kept wondering about the delay for about 15 min and decided to check the time table again. We realized that we had missed a small instruction below the 1.30 train timing. And it said that this train did not run on weekends! We were quite disappointed but did not have any other option but to wait for the next train at 2.30 p.m. Then we thought of walking into the town for some coffee, but unfortunately all the coffee restaurants and shops were closed. It was as if everything was closed in Waldheim on Saturday. We wasted 2 hours just on the Waldheim railway station. And now we refer to Waldheim whenever we want to tease one another J
In the afternoon, we went to Dresden. It is the capital city of the German Federal State of Saxony and situated in a valley on the River Elbe. Many of the city's greatest monuments were restored in the decades following the World War II, because this city was carpet bombed during the war. We purchased the one day ticket. This card covers travelling within the city and also entry in some museums. We first went to the Blaues Wonder (Blue Wonder) historic bridge - considered a "wonder" of 19th century engineering. This is the only bridge; the Nazis did not destroy on the eve of the Soviet invasion at the end of the WW II. Further we went to the Kornerplatz, from where we took the Standseilbahn Dresden — the funicular cable railway in Dresden. From top, one can get beautiful overview of Dresden and the river Elbe. After returning down, we went to the city centre. Here we visited the Zwinger baroque buildings which enclose a picturesque garden courtyard. This magnificent palace was built by Friedrich August I, Prince Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. This palace narrowly escaped the 1945 bombings. To the north of the Zwinger is the Semper Opera House. We did not go inside but just took pictures of the opera house. Then we walked towards the Bruhl’s Terrace, passing the Royal Castle, Katholische Hofkirche. These buildings should be seen in the daylight to see their beautiful architecture. The Frauenkirche – the protestant church being still under renovation, could not be seen properly. Bruhl’s Terrace, also nicknamed as the "The Balcony of Europe", is a terrace overlooking the Elbe river, as one can get a beautiful view of the city from the terrace. From this point, we crossed the Elbe river and reached the new part of the city – Neustadt. Then we returned to Leipzig, which is one hour journey by train from Dresden. We found the city quite beautiful and liked it. It was a sort of consolation after the Waldheim disappointment.
On the
second day, we travelled to Berlin; again on the weekend end group
ticket. This ticket includes travelling to Berlin as well as traveling in Berlin
by some buses covering the sight seeing places. Berlin is the capital city and
the largest city of Germany. It was divided into West Berlin and East Berlin
from 1949 – 1990.
We started with the Zoologischer Garten – the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial
Church. The church was bombed out in World War II and its ruins have
been preserved in their damaged state. Instead a new tower of the church is
built right next to it, but it looks quite modern. We then took a bus to go to
the Berlin Victory Column, a monument to Prussia's victories, and
then to the German parliament building also known as the
Reichstag building. The roof of the parliament building is crowned by a
large glass cupola (glass dome) and is open to the public. It
gives an impressive over view of the city. There is a lift from the ground floor
to the terrace of the building. And then one can walk around up to the top in
the glass dome. The entry in this building is free. From the Parlaiment
building, we went to the Bradenburg Gate, which is at 7-8 minutes
walking distance. This is the most famous landmark of the city. This gate had
become the symbol of the Cold War, East – West division. Later we went to the
Holocaust Memorial of the Jews, close to the Bradenburg Gate. We
further walked down to the eastern part of the city. Here we visited the
Charlie Checkpoint and the remains of the Berlin Wall. A
very small part of the wall has been preserved after it’s demolition and
reunification of east and west Germany. From there, we walked to the
Potsdamer Platz – the new commercial centre of united Berlin. After
reunification, this place has been entirely built from scratch after 1995. One
can see the beautiful architectural designs of the buildings here. We then took
a bus to visit the Berlin Dome – protestant cathedral with
multiple domes. And lastly we went to the Berlin TV Tower. Due to
shortage of time, we did not go up in the tower. The tower is 368m tall and
there is an elevator to go almost right up to the top.
The third and fourth day, we visited Leipzig. This city is also very important historically. We started with the Augustus Platz. It gained its notable significance above all during the demonstrations of the Peaceful Revolution of 1989. Augustusplatz is the biggest city square in Germany, which has an Opera house, the Gewandhaus and fountain, City-High-Rise-Building (the tallest building in the city) and some more attractive buildings. The neo-Baroque Mende Fountain (18m high), built in the square dates back to the 19th century. From here, we took the tram to the Battle of the Nations monument. There is a large pond right in front of the monument. It was still frozen though the temperature from past 3-4 days was between 9 to 15 degree Celsius. The Battle of the Nations monument, which is situated to the south of the city centre, is one of the most famous historical monuments. As a memorial for peace it reminds of the battle fought against the Napoleon troops by the allied armies. It was inaugurated on 18th October 1913 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig.
We liked the monument very much. As it was closed in the afternoon we could not go inside, so we went there again the next morning. We were surprised to see the comments on the monument, by some celebrities, who had visited it. The comments were negative and biased just because Hitler used it as an inspiration for German nationalism and pride.The viewing platform of the monument at a height of more than 90 m provides a superb view over Leipzig's city centre and the surroundings. There is a lift from the 1st level to the 2nd level and then there is a narrow staircase to go up to the 3rd level and the 4th level. And it is very windy up on the terrace on the 4th level. From the monument, we again took a tram and went to the St Alexei's Russian Memorial Church. It was built in 1913 for the 100 year anniversary of the Battle of Nations, in which Russian troops and their European allies had fought against Napoleon's army. As some renovation work was on, we could not see the church from inside. Then we walked to the Deutsche Boucherie (a library), which is right opposite to the church. This library building has no windows and is used for storing books.
From
here, we took another tram and went to a lake. This lake had got completely
frozen in February, when the temperature in Leipzig had gone down to -16 degrees
C.
On the fourth day, we walked in the Central railway station of Leipzig.
At present with its 26 platforms, Leipzig's Central Station is the largest
passenger terminal station in Europe. It has one of the most modern shopping and
service centers in Germany. There are about 140 shops, the majority of which
remain open until 10 p.m. By the end of 2006, the Berlin railway station will be
the largest passenger station in Europe, which is now under construction. The
Leipzig station was decorated beautifully for the Easter, approaching in mid of
April. We also did some shopping there as we found Germany quite cheaper than
France or Denmark
J
The last day, we visited some places nearby the city centre of Leipzig. Firstly, the Nikolai Church. In 1989, after prayers for peace at the Nikolai Church (established in 1983 as part of the peace-movement), the Monday demonstrations started as the most prominent mass protest against the East German regime. The city became known as the Stadt der Helden (City of Heroes) for its leading role in the democratic East German revolution that eventually led to German reunification. It is the oldest church in the city, built in the year 1150. Then we walked to the St Thomas church. St Thomas's Church, built in 1212, dominates Thomaskirchhof square, which has been restored to its former beauty. It is known as the home of the St Thomas's Boys Choir and its renowned choir master, Johann Sebastian Bach, whose grave is to be found in the choir room. There is also a statue of the famous German music composer, Bach, outside the church.
Then we walked to the old City Hall, the New City Hall and the former Supreme Court of the Empire (now the German Supreme Court). The Supreme Court building is very impressive.
Overall, we liked Germany quite a lot. The only annoying thing was the construction work going on at several places in Dresden, Berlin, Leipzig and every other city of Germany where the World Cup football matches are going to be held.
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