The train stations of Germany are hubs for innovative, environmentally conscious transportation.
This trip was long overdue. Last year’s planned vacation to Germany was postponed due to the strike at Capilano University in North Vancouver where I’m employed as a Systems Analyst. It was just two summers ago that I travelled to Paris and so Germany was going to be fun this summer.
The Deutsche Bahn, abbreviated as DB or DB AG is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in Berlin, it is the largest railway company (revenues) in the world. It was recognized in four categories in the 2022 Railway Technology Excellence Awards.
For 15 days, Weitzmühlen, a very small Lower Saxony village in the Verden district and part of the municipality of Kirchlinteln was home. Verden with a population of approximately 27,000 people is only 7 km away. And so when I tell friends that my wife is from Verden, I’m lying.
Other than having booked in advanced a 3-hour tour of Beck’s Brewery in Bremen where we lived from 2011 to 2012, my wife and I had no planned itinerary. I did tell my wife that I wanted to visit Hamburg during our vacation as I had never been there and it was so close to Verden. We arrived in Deutschland on Monday, July 8th around 5:40 pm.
Thursday, July 11, 2024
Verden (Aller) station
After breakfast (Frühstück), meine Frau and I were off to Oldenburg (1 hr 12 min away) to spend the day with her sister.
While waiting for our passenger train, a long freight train loaded with brand-new cars went by with a speed probably between 140 km/h and 160 km/h. I did miss a few wagons. That’s how automobiles are moved in Germany.
Oldenburg (Oldb) Hbf
Most of our day would be spent at the Oldenburg Palace (Schloss Oldenburg), a castle that now houses part of the State Museum for Art and Cultural History. The first castle on the site was built around 1100 and became the ancestral home of the House of Oldenburg. The present building served as residence to the counts (1667–1785), dukes (1785–1815) and grand dukes (1815–1918) of Oldenburg.
On our way to the museum, we walked by the Graf Anton Günther Hotel, a historic building dating from 1682. In the 17th century Oldenburg was a wealthy town in a time of war and turmoil and its population and power grew considerably. In 1667, the town was struck by a disastrous plague epidemic and, shortly after, a fire destroyed Oldenburg. After the great fire, the building was constructed in 1682 as a merchant’s house on Lange Street (Lange Straße).
For 135 years it belonged to the Grovermann family. In 1828, it was bought by Hinrich Lebrecht Kirchhoff. In 1838, the tobacco manufacturer Johann Karl Propping acquired the property. Propping built a tobacco factory designed by the architect Klingenberg. The building changed hands several times in the 1890s until it was bought by Hoyer brewery. The building became a restaurant and hotel in 1894 and was named “Graf Anton Günther”. Professor August Oetken created the large exterior fresco of Count Anton Günther on his horse, Kranich.
Count Anton Günther is depicted riding a horse on the facade, which was redesigned in the neo-Renaissance style in 1894.
From Bergstrasse to the Oldenburg Castle, it’s a quick 6-minute walk.
State Museum for Art and Cultural History
The Boy Scouts, a youth organization, was invented in England in 1909 and quickly spread to Germany. The Boy Scouts’ motto is still “Be Prepared.” This display is a reminder of someone in North America with the initials of Deutsches Jungvolk that should never be in power again.
It was 1937, and the Boy Scouts were one of many youth organizations on the Nazis’ verboten (forbidden) list. Every non-Jewish boy in Germany was required to be part of the Hitler Youth, the Nazis’ youth arm, instead. By 1939, over 90 percent of German children were part of the Hitler Youth organization.
(a) Why is the bust on its side?
After Oldenburg was handed over to British troops on May 3, 1945, the symbols of National Socialism were removed from the public cityscape.
The bust of Hitler by the sculptor Hans Retzbach was probably placed in the entrance area of an official building and was probably knocked off with a sledgehammer – the heavily dented forehead and the damage to the nose indicate this. The presentation of the bust on its side position refers to how it was discovered and is at the same time a symbol of the end of the National Socialist regime.
(b) The Deutscher Kleinempfänger) DKE 38 radio was manufactured in 1938 in Germany.
The name means “German small radio.” The DKE in the model designation stands for the words Deutscher Kleinempfänger and the 38 signifies the year of manufacture.
(c) Refugee Horse-drawn carriage with household goods on the refugee route to the west. / Arrival of refugee children at a train station in Oldenburg. / Refugee ID Card (dated June 28, 1949)
(d) The economic and currency reform of 1948: the basis for stable money.
On June 5, 1947, in a speech he delivered at Harvard University, United States Secretary of State George C. Marshall announced a financial aid programme for Europe. Known as the Marshall Plan, its aim was to help the war-torn continent get back on its feet.
The Deutsche Mark replaces the Reichsmark in the three western zones. The Deutsche Mark banknotes had already been printed in the United States at the end of 1947 and then brought to Frankfurt as part of the secret “Operation Bird Dog”.
(e) Lambretta 125, Version NSU (Date of registration: June 29, 1954)
(f) Hochrad ‘Xtraordinary (around 1880) – steel frame and rims, solid rubber tires, leather saddle (Singer & Co., Coventry, England)
(g) Rokoko-Kutsche (Rokoko-Carriage) – 1760
(h) Oldenburg’s first main train station was built in 1879. In 1914/15 it had to make way for a larger train station.
(i) Creation of Duchy of Oldenburg (1773/74) and Territorial Expansions (1803-1826)
(j) Flag of the Constitution, 1849
(k) Napoleonic Foreign Rule (1811-1813)
(l) Collection of Antiquities
(m) Interior of the shop of merchant Melchior Hemken in Bockhorn, Germany (1757)
(n) Die Stärke des Mannes (The Strength of Man), 1787 oil painting by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein
(o) Relics are the remains of saints. These can be body parts, their ashes, remains of possessions or objects such as clothing that the holy person came into contact with. Since the 4th century AD, relics were kept in precious containers called reliquaries and placed on the altar, to offer believers the opportunity to worship.
(p) Weapons, (q) Weapons descriptions, (r) Spears, (s) Spears descriptions, (t) Body Armour, (u) Coffin
(v) Oldenburg Castle Main Hall, (w) Oldenburg Castle Main Hall Balcony, (x) Desk, (y) Clock
From the museum, it was time for some late afternoon drinks and some food.
Not too far from where our car was parked, we spotted this colourful rooster walking. All that was missing was “Pay attention to me boy! I’m not just talkin’ to hear my head roar.”
My wife’s sister then drove us to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) where I was going to pick up some Brötchen (bread rolls) for breakfast the next morning. There was a bakery inside the train station and it was still open. It was so funny to see the following message on the parking meter: Brötchentaste: Gebührenfrei parken bis 15 Min. (Translation: Brötchen button – Park free of charge for up to 15 minutes)
Hanseatic City of Bremen >>
Great day with you!:)