World Tour of Germany: Dortmund - Friday and Saturday
Continued from Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday. Beverage refill at the ready! Don't forget to click on the images for a larger version because there's some pretty good photos here, even if I do say so myself.
Friday, May 30th
The weather forecast was actually fairly decent today so I thought it would be a good day to go to Westfalenpark. I went off to the train station and managed to work out how to get tickets for the S-Bahn [underground] - there was a button for 'other services' and they were hidden under there! - so I got a day rider ticket and went out to the park.
Westfalenpark itself was created in 1894 as a perpetual city park but in 1959, it was redesigned for the first National Garden Show. Following two more garden shows in 1969 and 1991, the park was extended to cover 60 hectares and took its current form. We used to come to the park all the time and it actually hasn't changed much since that time. It doesn't seem to have been looked after very well though, a lot of it was overgrown and in need of painting so that was a shame. Surprisingly, a lot of it was closed and most of the fountains weren't working - I don't know if that was because it's not got the visitor numbers it used to have or if it was too early in the year but seeing as it was practically June, I kind of doubt that. I think perhaps it's just not as popular as it used to be which is such a shame. I had expected that it would be busy; according to the internets, a lot of Germans take this day off so they could have a long weekend and with the nice weather, it seemed like they'd all go to the park. However, it was actually rather empty! I saw some other people, mostly older couples and a few families with younger children but generally it was incredibly quiet. That wasn't so bad because it meant it was nice and peaceful wandering round and I could take my time, especially as I had a list of things to look for and photograph. I took so many photos! Even without my list of things, I think I would still have taken plenty because there's always scope for photography in parks, I find.
Entering at Ruhrallee, I was greeted with this sight of the Florianturm. It was constructed in 1959 and at that time was the tallest building in Germany at just under 220 metres/338 metres above sea level. Even as it was being constructed, it was already being used as a symbol for Dortmund and has continued to be an iconic building since then. It contains a viewing platform at 141 metres/260 metres above sea level and a rotating restaurant at 137 metres/255 metres above sea level. Also at the entrance of the park here is a largish pond with flamingoes; there used to be loads but now there's barely a dozen but I did get this photo with the lovely reflections.
As I was strolling through the Rose Garden area, I noticed this brick entranceway and as I got closer I was stunned to see a very distinctive crest on either side.
It's the crest of the Royal Engineers, and a very definite indication that the British Army was based in the area so I was quite surprised to see it. Not only that it was still there but that it was there in the first place! I have no idea why it was put there, there was no further information about it at all so it's very odd.
Two of the best pictures I took of the roses in the Rose Garden. I didn't make a note of the first one, but the second is a floribunda called Maxim.
The fountain was in a little area next to the Rose Garden and one of the few that was actually working. I took a photo of it because it seemed a bit familiar. The middle picture is of a sheltered seat and we have an old photo of me and my sister sitting under it. The last picture there is just of a nice area of the park.
When I was approaching this building, I thought that it looked really familiar and realised that we have several photos of us standing outside it. So I had to take an updated photo of me in that spot :)
The bakehouse and the wurst wagon just around the corner were both unfortunately closed but this is a nice little building all the same. The stage in the lake is another thing that I remembered from past visits so it was nice to find it was still there. We did actually see a ballet performed on it once, this show seems a bit wooden...
The Japanese Garden area. There's the stepping stones across a pond and then lots of steps that lead up to the house. I was quite sad to see it in such a state of disrepair. It really is a shame. This fountain is another of the few that were actually working and although the pipe itself is rather crappy, the basin bit is quite nice.
I'd spent several hours wandering round and managed to cover pretty much the whole park, stopping at one point for a handy sandwich I'd bought to take with me. I'd bought a combined ticket which covered entrance to the park and to the tower as well, so once I'd done all the park, it was time to go up the tower. I was slightly anxious because I'd been up it once before and didn't like it one bit. I'm a wee bit older now and have been up various other towers and things since so I thought I'd be okay with it and I was. There was some lovely views from the top, although I didn't really know where any of it was.
Signal Iduna Park, home of Borussia Dortmund, and St Bonifatius church as seen from the Florian Tower.
Once I'd had enough of admiring the view and being blown about, I went back to the entrance at Ruhrallee where I took some last photos of the flamingoes, including this one where the flamingo suddenly appeared from behind me, and a final picture of the tower before I made my way back to the S-Bahn.
Going out to Westfalenpark had put me midway to the area where I used to live and I'd already decided that if I was going to revisit that area, then this would be the best time to do it. So I got on the S-Bahn out to Stadtgarten Ost and made my way past the field where we used to play and down to the street. I was painfully aware of how difficult it would be to take photos of random houses, even without the German's strong desire for privacy. It probably would have been easier if I wasn't on my own but I was rather self-concious and so I pretty much just walked rapidly along, taking sneaky photos as I went while trying not to attract too much attention. As a result, I didn't really stay long enough to study much of the area but it was all so different from how I remembered anyway that I don't think I would have wanted to hang about.
I got the S-Bahn back into the city centre so I could get something for tea. I nipped into the supermarket first to get some more drinks and also picked up a jelly on the recommendation of polkadotsquared, before I went off to dean & david to get a salad.
A chicken Caesar salad (the bag contains fresh bread), pink lemonade Snapple and a Waldmeister [Woodruff] flavour jelly. The salad was so tasty and the fresh bread was yummy too. The jelly was Jill's idea as it's a proper German delicacy and so I should try it. It smelt kind of like Play-Doh and had an almond/marzipanish sort of flavour. It's very hard to describe the flavour but it was the most bizarre jelly I've ever eaten.
On my way to the supermarket, I'd passed the Kamps Bäckerei stall and could not resist buying a pastry. If you've ever wondered what a Berliner looks like, well, this is it. It's a Berliner Kirsche actually, so it had cherry filling. As for how it tasted, sehr lecker!
Saturday, May 31st
The plan for today was to do the Resistance and Persecution exhibition, maybe do the City Tour as well before going shopping and buying all the things I'd been eyeing up the past week. I went to the exhibition first which was free to get in and which also had an English guide. When I asked the man if there was one, he said there was but I'd have to pay 50 cents for it. I did that sucking my breath in thing to indicate how extortionately priced it was, which made the man laugh and say, "oh, I know!" The guidebook is ridiculously underpriced, it's all nicely printed and properly bound like a decent book and should definitely cost a couple of Euros at least.
The building that housed the exhibition was originally the police prison and known as the Steinwache [stone guard]. In 1933 it was taken over by the Gestapo and turned into a torture centre for political prisoners so it became known as the Hell of West Germany. Despite the fact that it was only designed to hold about 200 people, up until 1945, 66,000 people were imprisoned there. I knew it would not be a pleasant experience but I thought it was an important one and would be interesting to hear it told from the Germans' point of view. According to the guidebook, Dortmund was very much against Hitler and the Nazis, and there were several underground resistance movements so that was nice to know. There was an awful lot of information though and four floors worth so it took me quite some time to go round it all. Apart from a group of four people who practically ran round the thing, I was the only visitor so I could take my time.
A recreation of how the cells were kitted out, I think this was from the time the Gestapo were controlling it.
An arty shot showing the staircase to the two upper floors as well as a bit of the centre of the building. Behind this staircase is another that went down to the basement area.
It was about 1pm when I left and I knew exactly where I was going to go for dinner: Flayva! Unfortunately the pretty girl with the Hogwarts t-shirt wasn't there so that was a great shame ;) I had a very nice tuna sandwich and then decided that I really had to treat myself to some cake. There was such a great selection, it was a hard choice. I was trying to decide between three and very nearly went for the apple cinnamon cake, but in the end, this one won out:
Cheesecake!! It was very nice but afterwards, I thought I should have had the apple cinnamon cake because I can have cheesecake any time. Oh well.
It was about 2pm once I'd finished so I decided to leave the City Tour till tomorrow and just do the shopping thing instead before the shops got insanely busy. On my way to Flavya, I'd seen a store logo that I knew well but hadn't seen for years so I just had to go and check it out.
C&A!! Talk about a nostalgia trip! I had intended on buying an X-Men t-shirt from Primark (yes, they have Primark too) but once I discovered C&A, it was sod Primark, I'm buying something from here! I actually saw a very nice long-sleeved t-shirt that was reduced to €5 and so I ended up buying that as well as another short-sleeved t-shirt which was similarly reduced. From there I went into Karstadt where I treated myself to the fountain pen I'd been eyeing up the other day and some chocolate. Although I'd not been able to find the visitor centre to get souvenirs, I'd found a bookshop that had lots of Dortmund stuff so I was able to get them from there instead.
I went back to the hotel briefly to dump my shopping bags and to pick up the collection of empty bottles and cans that I'd been amassing. When I'd done the first lot of shopping at the supermarket, it had cost more than I'd expected so I examined the receipts and realised that a bottle deposit was being included. Next to the supermarket was something that I'd initially taken for a cash machine but which was actually the bottle recycle machine. Luckily I was aware of the concept from the US so I'd saved all the bottles and cans I'd bought in order to get them recycled. I got 25 cents back for each bottle and Arizona can, while the normal sized cans were just 15 cents. I got a little voucher for the value of the deposits which I spent on another can of Arizona iced tea and a yoghurt before I went to dean & david to get another salad.
This was their Land and Sea salad: tuna, egg, tomatoes and sunflower seeds with another slice of yummy fresh bread. I'd not had sunflower seeds on a salad like that before, it was quite interesting.
I took this later on when the sun was setting because it was such a gorgeous sky. You can see the U building on the right with the large U that lit up at night. ALL night.
Still to come: Sunday and Monday!
Friday, May 30th
The weather forecast was actually fairly decent today so I thought it would be a good day to go to Westfalenpark. I went off to the train station and managed to work out how to get tickets for the S-Bahn [underground] - there was a button for 'other services' and they were hidden under there! - so I got a day rider ticket and went out to the park.
Westfalenpark itself was created in 1894 as a perpetual city park but in 1959, it was redesigned for the first National Garden Show. Following two more garden shows in 1969 and 1991, the park was extended to cover 60 hectares and took its current form. We used to come to the park all the time and it actually hasn't changed much since that time. It doesn't seem to have been looked after very well though, a lot of it was overgrown and in need of painting so that was a shame. Surprisingly, a lot of it was closed and most of the fountains weren't working - I don't know if that was because it's not got the visitor numbers it used to have or if it was too early in the year but seeing as it was practically June, I kind of doubt that. I think perhaps it's just not as popular as it used to be which is such a shame. I had expected that it would be busy; according to the internets, a lot of Germans take this day off so they could have a long weekend and with the nice weather, it seemed like they'd all go to the park. However, it was actually rather empty! I saw some other people, mostly older couples and a few families with younger children but generally it was incredibly quiet. That wasn't so bad because it meant it was nice and peaceful wandering round and I could take my time, especially as I had a list of things to look for and photograph. I took so many photos! Even without my list of things, I think I would still have taken plenty because there's always scope for photography in parks, I find.
Entering at Ruhrallee, I was greeted with this sight of the Florianturm. It was constructed in 1959 and at that time was the tallest building in Germany at just under 220 metres/338 metres above sea level. Even as it was being constructed, it was already being used as a symbol for Dortmund and has continued to be an iconic building since then. It contains a viewing platform at 141 metres/260 metres above sea level and a rotating restaurant at 137 metres/255 metres above sea level. Also at the entrance of the park here is a largish pond with flamingoes; there used to be loads but now there's barely a dozen but I did get this photo with the lovely reflections.
As I was strolling through the Rose Garden area, I noticed this brick entranceway and as I got closer I was stunned to see a very distinctive crest on either side.
It's the crest of the Royal Engineers, and a very definite indication that the British Army was based in the area so I was quite surprised to see it. Not only that it was still there but that it was there in the first place! I have no idea why it was put there, there was no further information about it at all so it's very odd.
Two of the best pictures I took of the roses in the Rose Garden. I didn't make a note of the first one, but the second is a floribunda called Maxim.
The fountain was in a little area next to the Rose Garden and one of the few that was actually working. I took a photo of it because it seemed a bit familiar. The middle picture is of a sheltered seat and we have an old photo of me and my sister sitting under it. The last picture there is just of a nice area of the park.
When I was approaching this building, I thought that it looked really familiar and realised that we have several photos of us standing outside it. So I had to take an updated photo of me in that spot :)
The bakehouse and the wurst wagon just around the corner were both unfortunately closed but this is a nice little building all the same. The stage in the lake is another thing that I remembered from past visits so it was nice to find it was still there. We did actually see a ballet performed on it once, this show seems a bit wooden...
The Japanese Garden area. There's the stepping stones across a pond and then lots of steps that lead up to the house. I was quite sad to see it in such a state of disrepair. It really is a shame. This fountain is another of the few that were actually working and although the pipe itself is rather crappy, the basin bit is quite nice.
I'd spent several hours wandering round and managed to cover pretty much the whole park, stopping at one point for a handy sandwich I'd bought to take with me. I'd bought a combined ticket which covered entrance to the park and to the tower as well, so once I'd done all the park, it was time to go up the tower. I was slightly anxious because I'd been up it once before and didn't like it one bit. I'm a wee bit older now and have been up various other towers and things since so I thought I'd be okay with it and I was. There was some lovely views from the top, although I didn't really know where any of it was.
Signal Iduna Park, home of Borussia Dortmund, and St Bonifatius church as seen from the Florian Tower.
Once I'd had enough of admiring the view and being blown about, I went back to the entrance at Ruhrallee where I took some last photos of the flamingoes, including this one where the flamingo suddenly appeared from behind me, and a final picture of the tower before I made my way back to the S-Bahn.
Going out to Westfalenpark had put me midway to the area where I used to live and I'd already decided that if I was going to revisit that area, then this would be the best time to do it. So I got on the S-Bahn out to Stadtgarten Ost and made my way past the field where we used to play and down to the street. I was painfully aware of how difficult it would be to take photos of random houses, even without the German's strong desire for privacy. It probably would have been easier if I wasn't on my own but I was rather self-concious and so I pretty much just walked rapidly along, taking sneaky photos as I went while trying not to attract too much attention. As a result, I didn't really stay long enough to study much of the area but it was all so different from how I remembered anyway that I don't think I would have wanted to hang about.
I got the S-Bahn back into the city centre so I could get something for tea. I nipped into the supermarket first to get some more drinks and also picked up a jelly on the recommendation of polkadotsquared, before I went off to dean & david to get a salad.
A chicken Caesar salad (the bag contains fresh bread), pink lemonade Snapple and a Waldmeister [Woodruff] flavour jelly. The salad was so tasty and the fresh bread was yummy too. The jelly was Jill's idea as it's a proper German delicacy and so I should try it. It smelt kind of like Play-Doh and had an almond/marzipanish sort of flavour. It's very hard to describe the flavour but it was the most bizarre jelly I've ever eaten.
On my way to the supermarket, I'd passed the Kamps Bäckerei stall and could not resist buying a pastry. If you've ever wondered what a Berliner looks like, well, this is it. It's a Berliner Kirsche actually, so it had cherry filling. As for how it tasted, sehr lecker!
Saturday, May 31st
The plan for today was to do the Resistance and Persecution exhibition, maybe do the City Tour as well before going shopping and buying all the things I'd been eyeing up the past week. I went to the exhibition first which was free to get in and which also had an English guide. When I asked the man if there was one, he said there was but I'd have to pay 50 cents for it. I did that sucking my breath in thing to indicate how extortionately priced it was, which made the man laugh and say, "oh, I know!" The guidebook is ridiculously underpriced, it's all nicely printed and properly bound like a decent book and should definitely cost a couple of Euros at least.
The building that housed the exhibition was originally the police prison and known as the Steinwache [stone guard]. In 1933 it was taken over by the Gestapo and turned into a torture centre for political prisoners so it became known as the Hell of West Germany. Despite the fact that it was only designed to hold about 200 people, up until 1945, 66,000 people were imprisoned there. I knew it would not be a pleasant experience but I thought it was an important one and would be interesting to hear it told from the Germans' point of view. According to the guidebook, Dortmund was very much against Hitler and the Nazis, and there were several underground resistance movements so that was nice to know. There was an awful lot of information though and four floors worth so it took me quite some time to go round it all. Apart from a group of four people who practically ran round the thing, I was the only visitor so I could take my time.
A recreation of how the cells were kitted out, I think this was from the time the Gestapo were controlling it.
An arty shot showing the staircase to the two upper floors as well as a bit of the centre of the building. Behind this staircase is another that went down to the basement area.
It was about 1pm when I left and I knew exactly where I was going to go for dinner: Flayva! Unfortunately the pretty girl with the Hogwarts t-shirt wasn't there so that was a great shame ;) I had a very nice tuna sandwich and then decided that I really had to treat myself to some cake. There was such a great selection, it was a hard choice. I was trying to decide between three and very nearly went for the apple cinnamon cake, but in the end, this one won out:
Cheesecake!! It was very nice but afterwards, I thought I should have had the apple cinnamon cake because I can have cheesecake any time. Oh well.
It was about 2pm once I'd finished so I decided to leave the City Tour till tomorrow and just do the shopping thing instead before the shops got insanely busy. On my way to Flavya, I'd seen a store logo that I knew well but hadn't seen for years so I just had to go and check it out.
C&A!! Talk about a nostalgia trip! I had intended on buying an X-Men t-shirt from Primark (yes, they have Primark too) but once I discovered C&A, it was sod Primark, I'm buying something from here! I actually saw a very nice long-sleeved t-shirt that was reduced to €5 and so I ended up buying that as well as another short-sleeved t-shirt which was similarly reduced. From there I went into Karstadt where I treated myself to the fountain pen I'd been eyeing up the other day and some chocolate. Although I'd not been able to find the visitor centre to get souvenirs, I'd found a bookshop that had lots of Dortmund stuff so I was able to get them from there instead.
I went back to the hotel briefly to dump my shopping bags and to pick up the collection of empty bottles and cans that I'd been amassing. When I'd done the first lot of shopping at the supermarket, it had cost more than I'd expected so I examined the receipts and realised that a bottle deposit was being included. Next to the supermarket was something that I'd initially taken for a cash machine but which was actually the bottle recycle machine. Luckily I was aware of the concept from the US so I'd saved all the bottles and cans I'd bought in order to get them recycled. I got 25 cents back for each bottle and Arizona can, while the normal sized cans were just 15 cents. I got a little voucher for the value of the deposits which I spent on another can of Arizona iced tea and a yoghurt before I went to dean & david to get another salad.
This was their Land and Sea salad: tuna, egg, tomatoes and sunflower seeds with another slice of yummy fresh bread. I'd not had sunflower seeds on a salad like that before, it was quite interesting.
I took this later on when the sun was setting because it was such a gorgeous sky. You can see the U building on the right with the large U that lit up at night. ALL night.
Still to come: Sunday and Monday!