Tour Report: Railway Bridge D.

This one is more a monument than an abandoned place, but we were in the area and thought it might be a good place to visit and take some photos.
The drive from the abandoned garrison that we had visited first took about 45 minutes, during which the sky above us became completely clear of clouds. As we arrived at the old railway bridge, that had been a symbol for the German separation, we found a place to park right away. There is a free public parking lot pretty close to the bridge itself.
The bridge used to be more than 1.000 meters long before half of it was destroyed during World War II, so it was a very impressive structure, even as we were still relatively far away.
We took our photos, and I got a bit annoyed that there were no clouds in the sky. A clear blue sky without any clouds looks boring in most photos - but at least it wasn't raining ;)
The fortified bridgehouse was surrounded by scaffolding after Dutch investors bought the bridge and are in the process of securing and renovating it.
Of course, we slipped through the construction fence to get a closer look. There was a slippery, muddy slope that we had to climb in order to get up to the bridgehouse, but we managed and got to enjoy the view along the railway bridge to the other (East German) side of the River Elbe.
Towards the end of our exploration, we walked across the grasslands and admired the massive bridge piers that keep the steel construction on top in place.

The old bridge is definitely worth a visit, and since it is a monument, I can share the location:

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

Tour Report: Border Troops H.

Back in late October of  2017, we went for a day of exploring with our friend Freddy from Nordgriller Urbex. The days were getting shorter, so we decided for a couple of spots that were only about two hours away from our hometown, so we'd have enough sunlight to take our photos.
As Freddy picked us up early in the morning, the sun was just coming up, and the weather looked perfect for a tour.
For the first spot, we only had to drive to the border where Germany had been separated until 1990. For fear that NATO might start an attack on the Eastern Bloc, the East German military had set up a chain of garrisons along the entire border. These were manned by the "Grenztruppen" (Border Troops), a military formation tasked with securing and controlling the state border.
Most of the garrisons that I have seen were standardized facilities with accommodation and office building, vehicle garages, dog kennels and a small bunker for storing ammunition. This one was no different.
As we drove past the place, we noticed that it was not secured in any way; the gate was wide open, and there were no signs of any use - except for dumping trash. Many abandoned former military installations in Eastern Germany are being used by the locals for dumping all types trash. It was the same here. Old electric appliances and tires were lying around as well as various plastic bags of unknown content.
Entering the place was as easy as we'd suspected. All the doors were open, and we could walk around as we pleased.
Of course, the copper thieves have made a mess of the place over the years - but surprisingly enough, there weren't too many signs of the local youth using this place for hanging out. There were hardly any graffiti and/or leftovers from parties.
The place wasn't too interesting, but we got a few nice photos out of it in the end - and another green pin on our map ;)
After about 90 minutes or so, we left and went back to the car to drive to the next spot we'd planned for the day.


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

Tour Report: Farmhouse "Danish Dynamite" [Revisit]

Only a short while after my first visit to this place, I got the chance for a short revisit. My niece worked for a German radio station at the time, and they had her do a short piece about urban exploring. So we drove up to Denmark, so I could show her the abandoned house that we had discovered a few weeks earlier.
My niece had been on tour with us once before, so she wasn't completely new to the hobby of urban exploration. We parked in the same spot where we had parked for our last visit, walked around the house, and the window was still open.
My niece was recording everything, asking questions and describing what we were seeing.
We started with the house itself and then made our way into the barn. There were actually a few shots that I'd missed the first time around, and the light was pretty good as well.
After about an hour, we climbed out again.
On the way to the car, we noticed that a neighbor was standing in front of his house and looking at us. We thought that this was a unique chance to get a little extra for the radio, and walked over to him.
We introduced ourselves, and he told us that he had seen us walking around the old house. Apparently, he had no problem with this, and he even agreed to tell us a little bit about the story of the house we'd just explored. Since he spoke German, that was a really nice addition for the recording.
When we were finished, we packed up and headed back home.


To check out all the photos from this magnificent place and to find out about its history, click the button below.