Day trips are fairly common when I am in Germany. We both like to travel, and doing so on Saturday or Sunday breaks up the routine. So climb aboard and accompany us on our day trips in 2025.
Undeloh
Our first day trip (in late August) is to Undeloh to see the heather. We get there via tram, train, and shuttle bus. Undeloh is part of the vast Luneburg, Germany heath-about 90 square miles.
Undeloh is a mere village of about 1,000 people. There are horse carts (for a price and a wait) available; but we decide to walk one of the shorter paths (about six km) through the heather.
St. Magdalene’s Heath Church and the wooden clock tower standing next to it are about as close to attractions as the village has. In fact, a clock tower is featured on Undeloh’s coat of arms-for what it’s worth.
The real reason that any sane person would come to Undeloh is the heather. It is supposed to be at its peak this time of year (the end of August). So, let’s turn onto the Heidelehrweg Trail at the pond and check it out.
The volume and appearance of the heather along the path in Undeloh is just okay. I have seen better and worse. I don’t know if the heather here had just passed peak, or if it still has several days to go. All I know is that it was not glorious.
The alpacas should not have come as a surprise to us as they live on a nearby farm. But here they are-consorting with tourists. It’s not a shock. The locals pay to take the alpacas in Burgerpark, Bremen for their daily walk. There is money to be had in alpacas.
Eventually, we spot some horse-drawn carriages going to and fro along different paths. This group looks like they smell something bad.
We return to Bremen via a train from nearby Sprotze. The heather in Undeloh wasn’t great; but at least it was something different.
Achim Forest
This day trip is the shortest of all, and it is almost an afterthought. Still, it requires a train trip in the direction of Hannover; but it’s a relatively inexpensive and short one, as we get off only four stops from our departure in the town of Verden. The town of Achim is one stop earlier by train. It’s still a mystery to me why we don’t get off the train at Achim to access the park.
Actually, one CAN probably get off at Achim and gain entry to the forest-just not at the same gate. For the forest stretches between the two towns and is part of the complex of forests, heathland, and moors in this region of Germany. Locally, this particular forest is known as the “Achimerwald”.
So why go to all this trouble to see Achim Forest? Because it is said to be enchanted by fairies. That, and because it is a change of pace from the usual walks I do.
Fortunately, Achim Forest has a few other things going for it. For instance, on the edge of a clearing, we spot a prime example of a tree with “spider roots”. Such trees germinate on “nurse logs”; and, as the log decays and the tree roots reach the ground, they create an elevated spider-like appearance. These trees are often called “octopus trees”.
I had never seen, or even heard of, an “animal jump”; and yet there is one in Achim Forest. It’s actually a clever idea, although animals (even within species) don’t compete in the broad jump. The basic idea is to compare the average jumping distance of animals to one another. So, for example, a house mouse can jump about two feet while a deer can clear around fifteen feet. If animals could, or would, jump for fun, this is where they would come.
There are some rocks in the forest from which a guy using a primitive spyglass saw the church spires of Bremen.
There is also a kindergarten in one of the forest’s covered clearings. Great idea. Never too soon to teach the kiddies about nature.
And then there are more fairy doors in the deep forest. Always more fairy doors. A ton of fairies must live here.
We only find the true path through the forest on our way out. I think we go backwards on it. Well, paths are only suggestions anyway.
Bad Zwischenahn
A few years back, we visited Bad Zwischenahn to see the gardens (we didn’t like them) and to ride the ferry around the lake (we enjoyed that). Unfortunately, we had to exit the ferry about half way around the lake because that’s where we had to get off for the gardens. We returned to Bad Zwischenahn to see the lake again and to finish our ferry tour.
The lake and promenade are pretty much as I remember them. We don’t wait a long time to board the ferry, and, before we know it, we’re off!
Naturally, since we had done half the cruise before, there wasn’t much new to see. The other side of the lake is heavily forested; so there’s not a hell of a lot to see there either. We do, however, see “Drei Berge”-the alleged starting point for Bad Zwischenahn. But what the heck, it’s a beautiful day and being on the ferry and the lake is its own reward.
For something completely different after disembarking, we walk along the promenade to the right as far as we can go. Here, we see the twin villas, not from the lake as before, but from the gated driveway. It must be nice.
We keep walking to the right, searching for a locally famous overlook. Instead, we find a boules court. For the uninitiated, boules (or petanque) involves rolling a hollow ball so that it lands close to a small wooden target. The object to get the rolls closer to the target, score points, and thus win the game. I didn’t know they even played boules in Germany.
As we keep on going on, we run across the oldest building in Bad Zwischenahn: St. Johannes Church. It’s been in business since 1124…about the same time as the town was founded. It’s now Evangelical Lutheran and still open as a church. We don’t go in; but everything inside is very old. Great cemetery, though. I bet that’s pretty old too.
Our path turns into a boardwalk, and we eagerly await the promised view from the overlook. But, when we get there, the overlook is disappointing. Just a view of some marshes and a section of the lake that we could get without walking miles. Bah!
We eat dinner staring at a statue of a big fish. This time around, our ferry ride was glorious and we took a walk in a direction that we hadn’t gone before. But we had already seen most of the stuff that Bad Zwischenahn has to offer; and I don’t yearn to return there anytime soon.
Gelnhausen
My lady friend works as a literature commentator for a media outlet in Germany. To be expected, each year she attends the book fair in October in Frankfurt. When I am in the country at that time, I tag along; not so much to go to the book fair, myself; but to see a bit of the city.
So I walk all over the place: to the Main River, the Alte Oper, the Eschenheimer Turm. However, each visit I make to Frankfurt features a day trip to a town or city nearby. This year, I chose Gelnhausen.
Gelnhausen is a town of about 24,000 located forty kilometers to the east of Frankfurt. There was some confusion leaving Frankfurt. I had missed the first train to Gelnhausen, and I don’t even remember how long it took me to get there-partly because I wasn’t sure that I really WAS there.
I have no map or brochures, and everything I look at or within sight seems modern. Still, I walk on. What the hell. After walking a bit, I spot a gate leading uphill. If Gelnhausen’s old town is anywhere, it’s up there. So I proceed.
The town doesn’t look any older as I go up. Then I espy a church on a hill in the distance as well as iron steps leading up to it. Now we’re cooking!
The Marienkirche is the top landmark in Gelnhausen’s old town. Built largely in the 13th century, the church (called locally the “crown jewel of God”) represents the transition from Romanesque to Gothic architecture.
The Marienkirche is bound on all sides by either a wall or an iron fence-as if it will fall down the hill if it wasn’t. I don’t go in; but walk around most of it…admiring tombs and old bells.
On the corner across from the church is the first sign post that I have seen. It is a map and I am, indeed, in Gelnhausen. Hooray!
So, I am at last near the old town and I just have to follow this street. It leads directly to the Obermarkt (upper market) and the heart of the old town. The Obermarkt, although small, is in full swing.
Surrounding the Obermarkt is the town hall, info center, various cafes and restaurants, and (best of all) a statue of a lamp lighter. Before electricity, towns and cities hired guys to light (and later on, extinguish) gas, oil, and candle street lamps. Quite a job.
I take a break not far from the Obermarkt and notice a statue dedicated to the Brothers Grimm across the street. This was near where the brothers were born and is a key part of their territory. In fact, Gelnhausen is a stop on the “Fairy Tale Route”, which denotes the area where the Grimms collected local folklore.
Down a street heading from the Obermarkt is St. Peter’s Church. So the citizens of Gelnhausen have a choice: if they are feeling Lutheran and evangelical, they can go to Marienkirche; if they are feeling Catholic, they are better off going to St. Peter’s. In either case, the church edifice is Gothic-so they don’t have a choice there.
Up a side street is the inner Timber Gate built in 1230 as part of the first wall around the town. Of course, there is an outer Timber Gate; but I don’t walk back that far. I just walk to the inner Timber Gate to take some photos and then retrace my steps. I am too pooped to do otherwise. It was a long uphill walk from the train station to get this far.
There’s much more to see in Gelnhausen (particularly the Kaiserpfalz, or Imperial Palace, and the Hexenturm, or Witch’s Tower); but, honestly, the attractions here are spread out and I have walked so far (mostly uphill) already, that it’s time to turn around and walk back to the train station. As I cross over the Kinzig River, I say goodbye to Gelnhausen and what could have been.
So there you have it…my 2025 day trips in Germany. All of them offered different things to see-some more than others; but, in any event, it was a change in routine-and I appreciated that.
Musical Interlude: German Road Trip Songs