New video up :)
Last year, I didn't have the time to make a review, but this year, I took a couple of minutes (mostly just to kill time) and made a short video. Gocheck it out!
December 22, 2019
December 20, 2019
Tour Report: Anti-Aircraft Shooting Range
After exploring the command post bunker, another abandoned military installation was the second destination on the first of two days of our short tour through the northeastern part of Germany back in January of 2018. We had actually planned this spot only for one special relic that we'd seen photos of, but in the course of the research, it turned out to be part of a far larger area with many relics that point to a vivid history over the past century.
As we arrived at the place, we found one thing to be very obvious: fences.
The entire place seemed to be fenced in. And we could see trucks and people working on the premises.
I'm sure that there would have been possibilities to enter the area by sneaking through the forest looking for a hole in the fence, but since at least part of the place seemed to be in use by someone, we decided not to take the risk and attempt a different approach.
We rang the bell at a house near the main gate of the area. A woman opened up, and as we confronted her with our desire to explore the area, she surprisingly said yes - under certain conditions.
She allowed us to walk around in the front part of the premises, if we didn't bother the people working in the back of the place.
Luckily, the permitted part contained the "special relic" that I mentioned above so that the main goal could be achieved.
This special relic are the remains of an old anti-aircraft cannon that probably dates back to World War II, but it could also be a leftover from the use by the East German military; there is no real information.
I addition to the cannon, there were also some smaller buildings and shelters to be found - the main ammunition bunkers remained out of our reach - but we were informed that there might be the possibility of a visit if we ask in time before we get there...so there might be another visit in the future :)
To find out more about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.
As we arrived at the place, we found one thing to be very obvious: fences.
The entire place seemed to be fenced in. And we could see trucks and people working on the premises.
I'm sure that there would have been possibilities to enter the area by sneaking through the forest looking for a hole in the fence, but since at least part of the place seemed to be in use by someone, we decided not to take the risk and attempt a different approach.
We rang the bell at a house near the main gate of the area. A woman opened up, and as we confronted her with our desire to explore the area, she surprisingly said yes - under certain conditions.
She allowed us to walk around in the front part of the premises, if we didn't bother the people working in the back of the place.
Luckily, the permitted part contained the "special relic" that I mentioned above so that the main goal could be achieved.
This special relic are the remains of an old anti-aircraft cannon that probably dates back to World War II, but it could also be a leftover from the use by the East German military; there is no real information.
I addition to the cannon, there were also some smaller buildings and shelters to be found - the main ammunition bunkers remained out of our reach - but we were informed that there might be the possibility of a visit if we ask in time before we get there...so there might be another visit in the future :)
To find out more about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.
December 7, 2019
Tour Report: Command Post W43 [Revisit]
A little more than two months after my wife and I had discovered the abandoned command bunker in the woods, we returned to this place.
We were a crew of four explorers, and only my wife and I had visited this bunker - on a dark and rainy day and with no tripod for the camera, so it was only logical to return and check this place out one more time.
The good thing was that we didn't have to look for the bunker anymore, because we'd already found it and marked the coordinates on my GPS.
As I've said, there were four of us. Our friends Norgriller Urbex and North Urbex joined us for a large portion of our tour. This bunker was our first spot for the weekend, and we met up at the parking spot that my wife and I had identified as perfect during our first visit.
The weather wasn't perfect, but at least, it wasn't raining. Since we'd saved the coordinates, we didn't have to roam through the forest for one and a half hours, but we took the way that was little bit longer to get a look at the entire area. There are a few more buildings surrounding the main bunker - nothing noteworthy, but interesting in the context.
As you may have seen in my previous post about this place, the bunker isn't really big, so the exploration itself didn't take too long, and since we had one more location planned for the day and a reservation for dinner that evening, we didn't linger around longer than necessary.
To find out more about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.
Here's a video we made of our tour - you will see more than the bunker in this post, because it was a two-day tour:
And here are the photos from our explore:
We were a crew of four explorers, and only my wife and I had visited this bunker - on a dark and rainy day and with no tripod for the camera, so it was only logical to return and check this place out one more time.
The good thing was that we didn't have to look for the bunker anymore, because we'd already found it and marked the coordinates on my GPS.
As I've said, there were four of us. Our friends Norgriller Urbex and North Urbex joined us for a large portion of our tour. This bunker was our first spot for the weekend, and we met up at the parking spot that my wife and I had identified as perfect during our first visit.
The weather wasn't perfect, but at least, it wasn't raining. Since we'd saved the coordinates, we didn't have to roam through the forest for one and a half hours, but we took the way that was little bit longer to get a look at the entire area. There are a few more buildings surrounding the main bunker - nothing noteworthy, but interesting in the context.
As you may have seen in my previous post about this place, the bunker isn't really big, so the exploration itself didn't take too long, and since we had one more location planned for the day and a reservation for dinner that evening, we didn't linger around longer than necessary.
To find out more about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.
Here's a video we made of our tour - you will see more than the bunker in this post, because it was a two-day tour:
And here are the photos from our explore:
November 12, 2019
Tour Report: VLF Communications Bunker
The abandoned Nuclear Weapons Depot had been a really great start for our New Year's Tour last year. The weather was perfect, and we had one more open-air location planned before visiting another cold war facility and then heading home.
To find out more about the history of this relic from the Cold War and to check out all the photos, click the button below.
The second location we had on our list was a fortified VLF communications hub that had been built during World War II for communicating with the submarines in the Atlantic. The hub would have consisted of three antennas on massive fortified substructures. Only one of those substructures had been completed when the construction of the facility was no longer deemed necessary in 1941.
With the exception of the many graffiti, the bunker has not been altered since construction stopped almost 80 years ago.
Accessing the place was easy - there was a hole in one of the entrances that had been walled up at some point in the past.
The shape of the building along with the colors of moss and graffiti and the sunlight made this place fascinating, but also kind of surreal to explore.
It was a nice and easy location from a bad time in history, and I'm glad that we took the time to check it out.
To find out more about the history of this relic from the Cold War and to check out all the photos, click the button below.
November 3, 2019
Tour Report: U.S. Nuclear Weapons Depot D.
Two weeks into the year 2018, it was time for our first tour of the year. The day before, my mother had spontaneously decided to join us, which totally made sense, because we were going to take her car anyway :)
It was a beautiful sunny Sunday morning. We left early, and we arrived at our first spot after about two and a half hours of driving.
For the first location, we had decided to check out an abandoned nuclear weapons depot of the US Army. Supposedly, it wasn't secured at all and more or less a local recreational area, so entering wouldn't be troublesome, and we expected a nice walk in the park, so to speak.
And that is exactly what we got - a really nice walk in the park.
There were no fences to be climbed, and the entire area was completely open.
We were there at around ten in the morning, but there already were people walking their dogs, and the later it got, the more people were coming and going, some with their children, some with cameras, and some were alone just walking around.
Anyway, we actually did what everyone else was doing - having a good time. We took our time walking around in the morning sun and checking out very corner of the ample premises. We also went a little off-road and got to explore an ammunition depot of the German Luftwaffe, which was situated right next to the nuclear weapons depot.
Shortly before noon, some fog came up and really added a nice touch to the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the fog was gone as quickly as it had come.
Before we left, I made a little climb up the guard tower (of course), and after about two hours of walking through the cold, we arrived back at the car and started heading for the next location.
To find out about the history of this relic from the Cold War and to check out all the photos, click the button below.
It was a beautiful sunny Sunday morning. We left early, and we arrived at our first spot after about two and a half hours of driving.
For the first location, we had decided to check out an abandoned nuclear weapons depot of the US Army. Supposedly, it wasn't secured at all and more or less a local recreational area, so entering wouldn't be troublesome, and we expected a nice walk in the park, so to speak.
And that is exactly what we got - a really nice walk in the park.
There were no fences to be climbed, and the entire area was completely open.
We were there at around ten in the morning, but there already were people walking their dogs, and the later it got, the more people were coming and going, some with their children, some with cameras, and some were alone just walking around.
Anyway, we actually did what everyone else was doing - having a good time. We took our time walking around in the morning sun and checking out very corner of the ample premises. We also went a little off-road and got to explore an ammunition depot of the German Luftwaffe, which was situated right next to the nuclear weapons depot.
Shortly before noon, some fog came up and really added a nice touch to the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the fog was gone as quickly as it had come.
Before we left, I made a little climb up the guard tower (of course), and after about two hours of walking through the cold, we arrived back at the car and started heading for the next location.
To find out about the history of this relic from the Cold War and to check out all the photos, click the button below.
October 31, 2019
Tour Report: Old Wine Inn [Revisit]
For New Year's Eve 2017, we got a visit from my brother-in-law and his girlfriend. Since New Year's Eve that year was on a Sunday, the two arrived on Friday to be able to go on a short tour with us - in addition to our traditional New Year's Eve explore.
We didn't want to get up too early and had planned dinner for the evening, so we had to choose locations not too far from home, which meant that for us, it would have to be revisits of locations we'd already visited.
With many locations, I really like revisits. Almost twenty percent of all my explorations have been to places that I've visited before. To me, the revisit is part of documenting the history of a place, because you can see how it changes over time - either through natural decay or (unfortunately) also through vandalism.
This abandoned inn and this particular visit was no different, although I was surprised at the things that had in fact changed.
It was my third visit tho this place. The first was in September of 2016, the second in October of that same year, and now the third visit - more than a year after visit number two.
We parked the car on the exact same spot that we'd used for the first two visits, and we crossed the street to get to the premises. It was Saturday afternoon, and most people were probably shopping for New Years, so there wasn't too much traffic passing us, and we were able to get to the access without being seen. The window was still open, and we were able to enter without trouble.
The first thing I noticed was that the beautiful old wooden chest was gone - along with the old grandfather clock and some other stuff from the central hall. Moving on, we found that even more stuff had been removed - most notably the bar. Well, not the entire bar, but the fixtures, mirrors and shelves; even the bar stools were gone. Only the bar table itself remained.
We got the impression that sometime in the fourteen moths since our last visit, someone had removed most of the furniture that still was in acceptable or good condition. Since there were no apparent signs of forced entry, and the furniture couldn't have been moved out through the small window that we used to get in, I would think that the owner had sold off the things that weren't too moldy.
So, in this particular case, it seemed that not vandals had taken a liking to this place, but that there was an owner who still had at least some sort of interest in the old inn.
Well, at least the moldy things were still there :)
To check out all the photos from this really cool place, click the button below.
We didn't want to get up too early and had planned dinner for the evening, so we had to choose locations not too far from home, which meant that for us, it would have to be revisits of locations we'd already visited.
With many locations, I really like revisits. Almost twenty percent of all my explorations have been to places that I've visited before. To me, the revisit is part of documenting the history of a place, because you can see how it changes over time - either through natural decay or (unfortunately) also through vandalism.
This abandoned inn and this particular visit was no different, although I was surprised at the things that had in fact changed.
It was my third visit tho this place. The first was in September of 2016, the second in October of that same year, and now the third visit - more than a year after visit number two.
We parked the car on the exact same spot that we'd used for the first two visits, and we crossed the street to get to the premises. It was Saturday afternoon, and most people were probably shopping for New Years, so there wasn't too much traffic passing us, and we were able to get to the access without being seen. The window was still open, and we were able to enter without trouble.
The first thing I noticed was that the beautiful old wooden chest was gone - along with the old grandfather clock and some other stuff from the central hall. Moving on, we found that even more stuff had been removed - most notably the bar. Well, not the entire bar, but the fixtures, mirrors and shelves; even the bar stools were gone. Only the bar table itself remained.
We got the impression that sometime in the fourteen moths since our last visit, someone had removed most of the furniture that still was in acceptable or good condition. Since there were no apparent signs of forced entry, and the furniture couldn't have been moved out through the small window that we used to get in, I would think that the owner had sold off the things that weren't too moldy.
So, in this particular case, it seemed that not vandals had taken a liking to this place, but that there was an owner who still had at least some sort of interest in the old inn.
Well, at least the moldy things were still there :)
To check out all the photos from this really cool place, click the button below.
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| The Bar - October 2016 and December 2017 |
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