Heating Plant H.

I crossed through the remaining buildings of the abandoned railway repair factory, and then I got to the last factory hall. It was a dead end. I was starting to get annoyed at the prospect of making it all the way back, get out and then walk towards the end yet again to reach the next spot which was right behind the last building.
Not only was it a long way, but also a potential risk of being spotted. Then I saw the door.
A small door in the back wall of the factory hall. I walked towards it. It couldn't possibly be open, could it? Nobody would leave this door unlocked. I pushed down the handle....and I was outand looking at the next spot only about one-hundret meters away.
I closed the door behind me and wlaked over to the heating plant that used to supply not only the factory but also some parts of the city with heat.
In front of the heating plant, I met some fellow exlorers who I later had a nice talk with. It turned out they knew my facebook-page and were regular visitors. Always nice to meet a fan :)
Getting into the heating plant itself was easy, there were enough openings.
The surrounding areas are being peopared for the expansion of the railway network, so it's quite possible that the power plant will be demolished soon.


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Railway Repair Factory H.

After  I was finished exploring the abandoned slaughterhouse, I moved on to the next spot that I'd planned - an abandoned factory that used to repair trains of the Deutsche Reichsbahn, the East German national railway company.
I had tried to visit this spot together with my wife a year earlier, but there were workers in some of the buildings and there was a security post inside a container by the main gate, so we decided not to take the risk.
This time however, there were no workers, and the guy I'd met in the slaughterhouse had given me some valuable information regarding the said security guard and the way to get in.
The way he had recommended was really comfortable, and I was inside in no time.
Although some of the buildings that made up the factory ave already been demolished, there are still 10 interconnected halls left that made for a couple of nice shots.
I was completely alone, so I had all the time in the world to explore the entire facility before exiting on the other end and looking right at the third spot that I wanted to visit.


To find out more about the history of this industrial ruin and to check out all the photos from this amazing place, click the button below.

Slaughterhouse H.

This was a nice one. Not in the sense that it was a particularly spectacular abandoned industrial spot, but in terms of people I've met in locations it was pretty cool.
But I'll start frm the beginning...
In late March of last year, my parents called me to tell me that they were going to the city of H. where they were going to meet with the people at whose house I've spent my exchange student year in the U.S. more than 25 years ago. They were attending a conference there and had told my parents who then told me.
My mother told me at which hotel they were going to stay, and when I saw that there were at least two nice spots really close to this particular hotel, I asked them if I could join them, and so I booked a room at the hotel, and about three weeks later, I was there.
The first location I visited was an abandoned slaughterhouse. Since it was really close to the hotel, I scouted the place the first night after we'd arrived late. To my surprise, there wasn't even a gate, only concrete blocks that prevented cars from driving onto the premises. That was easy.
I took a little stroll towards one of the buildings, but I didn't have my camera with me, and I noticed that there were LED lights in some of the buildings. But there were no people, no party or anything. It looked cool, but it was also a bit weird.

The next day, I left the hotel after breakfast and went back to the slaughterhouse and in the way I'd found the night before.
The place itself was really run down. Lots of vandalism, plenty of graffiti and numerous fires have left their mark on a once really beautiful place.
A few times I tought that I was hearing something or seeing someone disappear into one of the buildings, but there was a group of geocaching people around, so I thought it was them.
Then I met the guy.
I'm not sure if he is an artist or a homless person. Maybe both. I don't know if he lives there or just comes there whenever he likes. But he also has a profound knowledge of some other lost places in the area as I've learned...
Anyway, he stumbled onto me and we talked for a little while.
He was the one putting up the LED lights with solar batteries on all of the buildings. "It looks much better than fire, don't you think?", he said.
He also puts paint over ugly graffiti and set up some more or less artistic installations in some of the buildings. In any case, he was a very interesting person and I am glad to have met him - and not just because he gave me some good hints for my next location...


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Foundry P. [Revisit]

Only about a week after we had returned from our Easter tour, Freddy from Nordgriller Urbex and I went on our next short tour.
We had only planned a couple of nearby locations, so we didn't have to meet up too early and had time for a coffee or two before we left for our first spot of the day, an abandoned foundry.
Freddy hadn't visited the old foundry yet, and I was inclined to go for a revisit since the first time I was there, was a relatively short visit and I had to leave because it was getting dark.
It was already April, so the sun was up a little higher when we parked the car and took the same way that I had taken almost three months earlier.
The "old" entrance was still there, so the way in was easy.
We took our time, even checked out the completely empty office building, and when we were finally about to leave, a guy drove onto the yard and got out of the car. He asked us what we were doing, and we told him that we had gotten in through the hole in the fence to take photos.
Surprisingly enough, he reacted very friendly and said that taking photos was totally alright but that he hated sprayers and vandals.
We said thanks and goodbye and then we left - this time though the open gate :)


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Operation "Easter Basket" - Maison Nutcracker

After going for a quick visit of the abandoned technical museum, we only had one location left to visit before finally heading home. It's been generally called the Nutcracker House and is located somewhere in the woods of North Rhine-Westfalia.
At least the parking spot was kind of on the way, but there was a pretty long walk ahead of us. And most of it was uphill...
We first passed some houses where people were obvioulsy having a party. We could smell barbeque and hear them talking. At the end of the street, we found the path into the woods. This path soon turned into a really cool hollow way full of leaves from the last fall and with old trees lining both sides.

The path seemed to go on forever, and since we didn't know the exact coordinates of the place we were looking for, we started to doubt if we would ever find it.
Just then, we passed a field on our left side, and at the end of this field, we could see an abandoned house with crumbling walls looking at us through the trees.
The rest was easy - the back door was open.

Although the house was relatively small, we spent a considerable amount of time in there. There were so many details. It was the perfect finale for a great tour!


To find out more about the history of this house and to check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.