Obernkirchen, Schaumburg, 20-22.4.2016 + Flensburg

Still staying in Germany, I travelled from a big city to a beautiful small town to spend some days at my relatives.

The train left from Berlin main Station at 12.49, changed in Hannover to a local train, arriving in Stadthagen at around 3 hours later. This time I could rely on the German trains :) 

My relatives picked me up from the train station and we drove to this small town Obrrnkirchen in the district Schaumburg in Lower Saxony, Niedersachsen. It lies between Stadthagen and Bückeburg.

This town has only 9000 inhabitants and is surrounded by fields, forests and open grass land. There are lots of horse farms (u.l) and just a few steps from where they live is a forest, where you can have a walk, ride with horses or go out for a run (down). The weather was better than perfect! At the edge of the forest, looking at the horizon, you can clearly see the border between 2 different terrains: in the North flat all the way to the Sea, in the South more hilly terrain, starting with the Weser Uplands and continuing to higher mountains and finally to the Alps. This small town lies actually in the shadows of this hilll range in the Weser Uplands. (u.r and the next 2 pictures).

On the left you can see the hills, on the right just flat terrain.

In the evening after a lovely dinner we went for a walk in the town. They have their own monastery, 2 churches, golf areas and swimming pool. These pictures are from the Church square and the market square, not that big as in other cities I have been visiting, but cosy and nice. Around the square were sculptures placed (u.l).

22.4 Thursday

There is a railway through this town, but it is only used once in four weeks for a museum train.

The weather continued to be wonderful and I went for a morning run in the nearby forest.

In the early afternoon we drove to Bückeburg, a city with about 19000 inhabitants. Here in the famous castle of Bückeburg, lives the monarch, Fürst, for Schaumburg-Lippe. There is a nice Schlossgarten, palace garden, surrounding the palace. It is situated on an island, surrounded by water (up, d.l). In the park you can also find the Mausoleum (d.r). Here are all the monarchs of the area buried. In the old days they buried here the hearts from the monarchs and the bodies were buried somewhere else. Nowadays they can choose if they want to be buried in the big mausoleum out not. In the yard you can find for example the graves of the former monarch family.

The palace of Bückeburg (up), beautiful palace garden with its flowers, greens and trees (d.l) and the entrance gate to the palace at the market square (d.r).

The market square in Bückeburg (u.l) with its town hall, Rathaus, (u.r) and the main street with cafées,
shops and restaurants (down).


It was nice to take break from the big cities and spend some days on the country side, just enjoying the nature, spending time with my relatives, enjoying good food and just have some time for your self. Even though big cities have their benefits, this calmness and close by nature found here in this lovely town is just amazing!



On Friday, 22.4, I enjoyed the nature and in the afternoon we drove to Bückeburg, where there were a market at the market square. Walking around there and then going to the train station, heading to my next short stop: Flensburg.

Just passing by Flensburg in order to travel to Denmark, Kopenhagen, on Saturday morning.

The evening I spent together with Thies, a friend of Kai and lives in Flensburg. He showed me the city with its main shopping street, the church Kirche St. Nicolai and the nice historical harbour. Somehow it reminded me of Helsinki! Until now I have been visiting cities at rivers ot at the Mediterranean, this was my first city at the sea. Flensburg is a small but beautiful city with a lovely harbour! We enjoyed a beer at the harbour, enjoyed the weather and then had self-made pizza for dinner! Even though I was just passing by Flensburg and made a short stop here, I enjoyed my time here and really like this place!

Berlin, 18-20.4.2016

18.4 Monday
Spending the last hours in Hamburg before taking the train to Berlin! This was a spontaneous choice. I met Kai in Bratislava and he was living in Berlin, and now not even a week from that, I am heading to Berlin to live at his place and spend some nice days in Berlin!

The train was really fast and in two hours I was already in Berlin!

(up): at Hamburg-Altona train station, on my way to enter the train. In the beginning I was alone in the train (d.l). Getting of at Berlin train station around four in the afternoon (d.r). The station was really big, had trains going underground, S-Bahn going higher up...

I was already once in Berlin so I wanted to see some other parts of the city this time, Berlin for young people, the more "living" part of the, for me, big city. Kai was a perfect "guide" during the two days, show me Berlin to me. We started with enjoying beers at the river Spree (up), having a nice view towards the museum island and the Berliner Dom (next picture). Nice start for my Berlin visit! Something special for Berlin is the Ampelmann. These little traffic men are showed on the pedestrian signals in the former East Germany. After the Berlin wall fell in 1989, these symbols became popular as souvenir items and they can be seen in tourist shops (down). I have actually seen in other cities as well, where they use these symbols in the pedestrian signals, such as in Bremen you can find one crossing with them.

We passed by the Dom and walked through the famous street Unter den Linden until the Brandenburg gate, Brandenburger tor (d.r). This triumph arc was build in the late 18th century and is today one of the most famous landmarks of Germany. In the evening it looked beautiful!

By visiting Berlin I can also continue my "history part" of the trip. In Berlin there is a 19 000 m2 huge area designated for the Holocaust memorial, the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe. It consists of 2711 concrete blocks, which are arranged in special patterns on the field (up). When seeing the from abroad it looks small, but when getting in you can easily get lost in it, finding your way through the blocks and following the sloping field. Some of the blocks are much taller than you, some of them shorter. The feeling you get is confusing, it all seems so organized, in rows and that everything is under control, but while you get in you just go deeper and deeper and you feel like lost, not maybe understanding what is happening but finding your way out of it seems to be impossible... This is just my own interpretation of the memorial, that actually looks like a cemetery. The different sizes of the blocks represents, in my opinion, the range of age of the people, who were affected of the Holocaust, children, adults, old people... It  really worth seeing! Underground there is also a museum or information place. (d.l): on the streets, in front of the houses, you can find these small tablets with names of Jews and other people, week used to live in those houses but became victims of the Holocaust. (d.r): around in the city you can see signs of where the former Berlin wall went, signs as the wall park, Mauerpark, and tiles in a line. This photo ID close to the train station, opposite of the government quarter.

 19.4 Tuesday

The weather was nice, a bit windy but otherwise sunny and perfect for a morning run around the Spree. It was a really beautiful route!

In the afternoon I met Kai at Hackescher Markt (up), station close to a nice place at the river, where you have the nice view and can sit for a while enjoying the time. Today I got to see two different neighborhoods in Berlin. We visited the Market Hall, Markthalle Neun, which was really nice and with lots of nice things to buy. Thursdays they also have here a "Streetfood Thursday" (down).

Kreutzberg, the second of the two neighborhoods we visited, is a really nice part of Berlin, where you can find the most expensive houses to live in, but on the other hand you constantly see mothers with their baby carriages. But I really like this place, colorful houses, cafes, restaurants, river... We had dinner at a really good pizzeria close by the water at Maybachufer.

It was nice to see this part of Berlin!

20.4 Wednesday

(d.r): Berlin by night, you can see the TV tower. Before taking the train I took a walk close by the train station, walking along the river Spree to the other side, seeing the Reichtag building at the governmental quarter, close by the big park Tiergarten. From here you could also see the pillar Siegessäule (d.l).

(u.l): in front of the Reichtag building (down) is the square Platz der republic. (u.r): Berlin main train station.

I really enjoyed my time in Berlin!
My favorites in Berlin: sitting at the river, walking in the city, Brandenburg gate, neighbourhoods.

Bratislava, 11-13.4.2016, Hamburg 13-18.4

11.4 Monday
It was time to change country, from Czech republic to Slovakia. This was also a spontaneous decision, but that is the best part of traveling by Interrail ticket, you don't need to plan before that much, just jump into a train and you will end up somewhere. In Bratislava I slept in a really nice hostel very close to the train station, which was really good!

I took a direct train early in the morning to Bratislava, capital of Slovakia. Spending here a few nights before going back "home" to Hamburg.

The hostel was not that close to the river Danube, but in a walking distance. I visited some parks on my way, then passed by the Grassalkovich palace (picture).

I decided to go around in the old town and just make a quick sightseeing in the town. On the left you can see the St. Michael's gate, which actually is the one of the oldest buildings in town and the only one preserved of medieval fortifications. Close to the gate is the statue of St. Michael and the dragon (d.r). This statue was placed after the reconstructions of the gate in 1758, but the gate originates from the year 1300. During the old medieval times this gate was one of the four entrances you cloud use to get through the surrounding walls.

Under the gate there is a big compass that shows the directions to different cities from this spot. Among the cities I also found Helsinki, 1430 km!

One must visit in Bratislava is the castle, that is the main castle in the city. It stands on an isolated hill of the little Carpathians, directly at the Danube river. From here you have lovely views over the city, towards Danube, the town, the parks... You can also see all the way to Austria and partly to Hungary! (d.l): one of the four entrance gates, Sigismund gate, located in the southeast, build in 15th century.

Climbing up to the castle

The amazing view towards Danube. In the bride Most SNP you can see an UFO resembling building, that serves as a really expensive restaurant today. I heard you also need to pay in order to just take the elevator up in order to enjoy the view. From here it works as well!

Here you can see part of the surrounding wall that protected the old town. I had dinner in a really good restaurant and then walked to the river. The sunset was really nice and enjoyed sitting there and just doing nothing special. Even though Bratislava is really small compared to the other cities I have been visiting

This hostel I slept at was not only a place to sleep, it also had an own bar in the cellar and you got an welcome drink (up). After a long day I decided to spend the evening sitting in the bar.

12.4 Tuesday
Today was a really long and active day. Went for swimming in the morning, then hurried to the center in order to take the bus 28 from the Most SNP station to the Devin castle, which I was strongly recommended at the reception of my hostel.

After half an hour bus tour I arrived at Devin (down, u.l). On the hill you can see the castle Devin, Hrad Devin. In this area you can find a lot of endangered species as well as ruins from Roman buildings found from the 3th century (u.r). This reminded me of the castle in Lisbon as well as in Sintra, were these similar ruins were to be found. 

The castle is situated on the perfect location, in Slovakia but at the frontier between it and Austria, as well as at the border of the rivers Danube and Morava, from where they had a perfect view over the river. This was an ideal place for building a fort, from where they could control the trade route aloge the river Danube. Here has been settlement since the Neolithic times and forts were build during the Bronze and Iron Age, later occupied from the Celts and Romans. Before entering the castle you can visit an exhibition where you can learn more about its history. 

Here, at the foot of the hill, you can see how the two rivers confluence into each other. Up on the castle I met a German guy, Kai, from Berlin and we sat here enjoying our fruit wine. At this place, prior to 1989, ran the Iron Curtain, that was raised between the West and the East Bloc.

The southern fortification of the castle area (up) and the Gothic portal (d.l) in the rocky cliff. Unfortunately this fort was under constructions and it was not possible to enter the fort. This portal was a surprising discovery under the castle: 11.5 m long tunnel cave under the fort, ending into a Gothic portal. There is also a 55m deep well in this castle area.

The view from the castle. You could spend your whole day here, going hiking in these mountains and walking around in the town. I stayed here for only two hours. 

Arriving at four in the afternoon to the center in Bratislava, I decided to enjoy the lovely weather and the coming sunset in Vienna, my favorite city! So I walked to the train station, took the next train to Vienna, only one hour trip, and then with the subway to the center of the city. It could not have been a better way to spend the last evening before going to Hamburg tomorrow!

Vienna is really close to Bratislava, former Pressburg. 

When arriving at the Wien Hauptbahnhof around six in the evening (d.r), I wanted to walk through the city park, Stadtpark. Vienna is familiar to me from before, so it was easy to walk around there. There were lots of people sitting on the grass, enjoying the sun, it was just lovely! In Stadtpark there is also for example the statue of Strauss (d.l).

I walked around inside the "ring", passing by the church Stephansdom and walking then towards Hofburg.

It was really beautiful in Vienna! The sunset at the palace was just lovely! Before going back to the train, I had time for taking a break in a nice book cafe, close to the museum area, opposite to Hofburg.

I stayed in Vienna just for the evening, then found my way back to the train, being back in Bratislava around 9.30 p.m. Even though the short time, I discovered some new places, such as Wien museum and the Karlskirche at the Karlsplatz (down), the colorful fountain Hochstrahlbrunnen at the Schwarzenbergplats (u.l), as well as the Belvedere-park and its palace. 

In the evening I wanted to get to know the nightlife in Bratislava, but when arriving there around 11 in the evening, it was pretty dead. Maybe because of the weekday? However, we had a nice evening together.

My favorites in Bratislava: the castle, Devin castle (really worth a visit!), walk at the Danube, old town and evening trip to Vienna!

13.4 Wednesday

As you can see in the map, I had a long train trip ahead of me, 11.5 hours in the train. But it was not at all bad! The route was really nice, passing by Czech Republic (Breclav, Prague) and then going through eastern part of Germany, passing by Dresden, Berlin and finally arriving to Hamburg-Altona.

I sat in a cabinet with six chairs, so during my trip new people came and went, talked with them, also met a nice  couple on their way from Prague to Dresden, and they were kind to tell me about their home town and about this beautiful sandstone mountains at the Elbe, also called Saxon Switzerland Sàchsische Schweiz) and Bohemian Switzerland. This mountain range and the area lies at the border between southeastern Germany and Czech republic, with the river Elbe breaking through the mountains and running in this narrow valley.

I was really fascinated about the geography of this area! These Elbe sandstone and other rocks in this region were once a former sea, deposited and accumulated on the bottom of the sea millions of years ago, Cretaceous sea. After marine regression, retreat of the water in the sea, the surface was influenced by weathering and erosion, mainly shaped by the river. Later the movements of the tectonic plates resulted in uplifts of the sandstone plates and through history they were also affected by volcanism, when magma forced its way through the sandstone, resulting in basaltic hills seen today. The rock surface has then through times changed through weathering, erosion, frost, making caves, pilars and different rock faces. The karstification, erosion of the landscape in a way of leaving the weathering-resistant rocks, is the main formation method for the formation of the rocky landscape of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. On the picture you can see these crags, relicts left from erosion processes. Today parts of this area are under protection and are used for hiking, climbing, rehabilitation and cure facilities, for example in Bad Schandau there are a health resort and swimming baths. One poplar tourist destination is the Bastei bridge, going through the cliffs. Also hotels are build up on top of these cliffs.

Passing by Berlin and finally reaching Hamburg in the evening! Went for a run at the harbour and I felt like being home! <3

 14-18.4 Thursday-Monday

During my stay in Hamburg I met many of my friends from Hamburg, from my Erasmus time and my relatives. I really loved it and I was so happy to be in Hamburg and to meet all the lovely and amazing people again! I really missed it all! And the weather was also good! Not raining, but sunny and warm! Went for parties, walks at the harbor (d.l), coffee with friends, sports at Unisport, visiting the University, waking in the city centre (town Hall upper photo)... Enjoying the sun and sitting outside in a cafe close to the Alster having cake and tee with a friend (d.r). Just lovely!

(U.l): university visit. (U.r): Elbphilharmonie in Hafen city. (Down): at the Alster.

Alster


So I really enjoyed the time in Hamburg! Two weeks of traveling around in Germany and in countries close by before coming for the last time back to Hamburg in the end of April and then taking the ferry back to Helsinki, final destination.