Tour Report: Sanatorium J. [Revisit]

As I've said a couple of posts back, it still feels weird writing about visiting this place - but I also really like looking back at my visits there, and I'm sure that my friend Pixelcracker has memories of this weekend that are just as fond as mine!
We returned to the camp from a rainy day of exploring. We had explored a couple of really cool locations and were looking forward to spending the last evening of our trip at the big campfire having barbecue and a couple of beers.
And we did exactly that. We had another great evening with really great people and we sat by the fire until it almost got too late...
After all, we had to leave pretty early the next morning, and had to get up accordingly.
But before we were going to leave, we had promised ourselves a more elaborate walk through the old sanatorium. The short explore on the night that we arrived had hardly been enough!
So we got up at around eight in the morning, had a strong coffee for breakfast and started our walk through the building.
The new day started just as the last one had ended - rainy. But the sky started clearing a little from time to time, and even a little bit of sunlight came through the clouds, so some of the photos did get a nice light. In addition, the rain had left a few puddles and pools in some of the rooms, which made for a nice mirror effect.
It took us about to hours until we had enough photos and were ready to get on the road.
We had another coffee and said goodbye and then we started heading home. There was one more location to explore on the way, so stay tuned for the next post ;)


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

Tour Report: Recreation Home H. [Revisit]

After we had explored the abandoned inn, Pixelcracker and I still had some time left before we'd planned to go grocery shopping for the evening barbecue up on the mountain.
I'd always wanted to go for a revisit of the old recreation home, but I never got the chance - up until then ;)

In addition, it wasn't too far away, so that we'd have plenty of time to get everything else done as well.

Parking had always been an issue at this location. There is no public parking area anywhere near it, and there was no possibility to park by the side of the streets leading up to the place. So we played the "RV card" again and parked on the street right in front of the building. The access was on the backside anyway, so for any passerby, it'd look like some tourists went for a hike in the woods...in the rain...

The rain hadn't stopped, but it hadn't gotten worse either, so we took our time walking along the fence around the building until we found an opening that led us to the main entrance that was wide open.

It had been more than three years since my last visit, and the condition of the old recreation home had gotten a lot worse - the roof of the large hall had collapsed, so it had become a kind of atrium. Other parts shared the same fate, especially on the upper floor, there were many rooms with massive decay. To be frank, I was surprised that the building was still standing.

Accordingly, we moved around very carefully - the rain and humidity of the days and weeks before had soaked the wooden floors, so that it felt like we were moving on soft soil or something like that. Some rooms we didn't even enter and only took photos from the doors.

After about two hours, we had explored every room that we dared to enter, and we made our way back to the car.

I was really happy to have gotten a chance to take photos of this place again - after all, the first time, we'd missed a lot, and I'm not really happy with the old photos anymore.

Our second day of exploring ended with a great barbecue over the campfire together with good friends up on the mountain - and we managed to not be as drunk as the night before. After all, we had a long drive home ahead of us the next morning ;)

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

Tour Report: Weasel's Inn

The weather really wasn't our friend that day. Pixelcracker and I had left the abandoned manor house and got on the way to the second location we had planned. The drive was about 30 minutes and during these 30 minutes, we drove through fog, sunshine (only a litlle bit), and rain. A lot of rain.
Only as we arrived, the rain started to cease a little.
The good thing was that there was a more or less public parking spot right next to the location - and an RV isn't really percepted as suspicious in the area, so parking there really was a no-brainer.
I got out of the car and started checking around and looking for a way in. A possible access was quickly found. However, it didn't really inspire confidence.
Accessing involved scrambling up a wet, rock wall to access a kind of porch roof. This roof was made of wood and was oviously less than stable. And the wood was mossy and wet from the rain. From that roof we'd have to climb trough a broken window - that would probably be the easiest part.
Pixelcracker and I conferred for a few minutes and decided to give it a try. I'd passed this place so many times without entering, and I wasn't going to let a bit of rain stop me now!
Surprisingly enough, we both made it inside without sustaining major injuries :)

Once inside, we immediately started looking around and taking photos. The inn had a small seating area around the bar and a larger dining room that probably was also used for events. There was also a kitchen on the ground floor. As we entered it, we saw that the ceiling had lowered itself significantly, and the kitchen floor was wet and kind of slippery. There was obviously some major water damage in this building.
On the upper floors, we found the guest rooms. A lot of the still had all the furniture in them, and we could see that there probably hadn't been any refurbishment since the late 1970s or early 1980s.
Some parts of the floor had followed the kitchen ceiling, so we were really careful as we moved around the place. After about an hour or so, we had seen everything and climbed out the same way we had gotten in.
This had been another successful explore - and onther one of those places that you drive past for years and when you enter and look at it, you recognize it from photos online and think "Oh, it's THAT place - nice!!".

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

Tour Report: Knight's Manor W. [Revisti]

It must have been be the mountain air. Or maybe the relaxation that set in as soon as we had set foot in the camp the afternoon before. We'd had a lot to drink, but Pixelcracker and I managed to get up on time the next morning, have coffee and breakfast and still be on time to meet with the lady that was going to unlock an old abandoned mansion for us that we'd planned to explore that morning...

The weather hadn't played along. As we pulled up to the parking spot, it started raining a little. This rain was going to stay with us for the remainder of the tour.

That morning, it started out only a little, and we still had hopes that it would clear. We met the lady, who was a bit surprised to see me again only two months after my last visit there.

She didn't want to come back later to let us back out, so she left the key with us and told us to lock the gate and throw the key in the mailbox when we left.

We really took our time getting all the photos we wanted. That's the really good part about legal visits: You have all the time in the world, don't have to be afraid of getting caught and you can go outside from time to time and smoke a cigarette :)

I took the opportunity to shoot some angles that I'd missed the first time and I took some time just to wander around in the building without the camera.

After about two and a half hours, we were done taking photos, so we left the old manor house, locked the door and the main gate, threw the key in the mailbox as instructed and walked back to the car.

The rain had gotten a bit stronger, but there were more places to explore...

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

Tour Report: Sanatorium J. [Revisit]

It feels weird looking back and writing about a visit to this place that happened almost two years ago. So much has happened there in the past two months, and I don't know if I (or anyone for that matter) will ever be able to set foot in this building under the same conditions that we had over the past years.
On the other hand, it does feel good remembering these days and evenings that we spent up there with good friends, good stories, good food - and yes, we may have also had the occasional alcoholic beverage...but back to the story!

On the way to visit our friend Jens at the Sanatorium J., my friend Pixelcracker and I had already explored two abandoned hotels - one we had planned, and one we hadn't.
After the second explore, we got back to the car and drove to the grocery store on the way to get some beer, liquor and food to cater for our hunger and thirst once we'd arrived at "The Mountain"...

As it turned out, we didn't even have to get food. There already were a couple of friends already up on the campsite preparing a nice wild boar goulash. Of course, we were only told after we'd bought what felt like half of the store's beef reserves...
Anyway, as we arrived, it was still afternoon and the sun was still up, so after the first beer, we decided to go for a quick walk through the old sanatorium to catch some of that beautiful late afternoon sun oozing slowly into the rooms and hallways of the venerable old building...

After our first session, we returned to the campfire to quench our thirst. Over the talks that developed, I almost forgot that I wanted to try and catch the building from the outside just before the sun finally set - but I managed to get two quick shots that I think came our pretty well.
The night went on, and there were so many great people up on that mountain, the evening was spectacularly cool!
I especially remember sharing a bunch of stories with my friend PixelYakuza.
And I remember that something exploded...
At some point, the bottle of Jack was empty - but Pixelcracker and I had planned another photo session inside the old hospital, so at about midnight, we grabbed our photo gear and tried our best getting some night shots of the place.
Despite the lateness of the hour and our alcohol level, a few of the shots turned out pretty good. We had a tour planned for the next morning, so after the nightly excursion, it was time to go back to the RV and go to sleep.


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