Tour Report: Cycling Track "Victory Wreath"

We had planned one last stop on the way home from our short tour in March of 2019 - an abandoned cycling track. It was located conveniently on the way and presumably easy to reach, so it wouldn't take up too much time, because after all, it was a pretty long drive home.

I had checked for a parking place before we arrived and had found a public parking lot within walking distance of the location. It was Wednesday, so there was a lot of traffic, but since the place was pretty close to the Autobahn, we managed just fine and didn't have to drive a long way through the city. We parked the car, got our gear and walked to the old track.

The place was right at the street and there was a large scrap trading company right next door, and since it was a weekday, there were a lot of workers. We still started walking around to check for access. There was none that we could find. The only option was to climb over the fence, which we did.

I'd never visited a cycling track - neither active nor abandoned - and so this was a pretty exciting location. The excitement was heightened by the fact that there was a worker on a crane in the scrapyard next door who could clearly see me walking around. We didn't want to stress our luck and only took a few photos before climbing out and getting back on the way home.

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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: Hillside Hotel [Revisit]

This abandoned hotel was the final location I explored together with my friend Pixelcracker on our spontaneous tour through the mountains in October of 2017.
I had visited this place a few months earlier together with my wife, but we only explored part of it because we chickened out and didn't enter the part of the building that was affected by a fire a couple of years ago.
Pixelcracker and I used the same parking spot and access route that I'd taken the first time, and entering the hotel was just as easy. And this time, I went up the charred stairs to the first floor. It didn't really feel safe, but it obviously didn't collapse under our weight ;)
Upstairs, we found a couple of really rooms that were still in pretty good condition. The smoke from the fire had settled all over the walls and kind of swallowed a lot of the light, so the atmosphere was a bit eerie.
I was glad to have climbed up the stairs, becuase it would have been a pity not to photograph the rooms there.
After checking out the main building, we went to the adjacent buildng that had offered some great shots during my first visit. As we had climbed inside through the kitchen window, I was terrified - in only two months time, the entire place had literally been turned upside down. It didn't look like typical vandalism, because not a lot had been destroyed - but much of the furniture had been carried around the house or was lying on the floor.
I can only imagine that it was an "urbexer" who wanted to destroy the place for everyone that comes after him - it does happen in the German urbex "community". There are a lot of really jealous fellows and people that think that only they are "elite", and some of these people really do destroy places to spoil them for everyone else so that only they have the "good" photos.
I've tried to illustrate the development below.
That's what this looked like to me; it was very sad.
So after a really successful weekend of exploring, this was kind of a sad conclusion for our tour, but after all, we had seen so many great places and met so many great people, so that after almost two years, I'm still looking back on that weekend with a big smile on my face!!


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

Here are some photos that document the change of the place over a period of less than two months. Only about six weeks are between the two photos.

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: Hotel "Rosary"

This abandoned hotel was a totally accidental find and became the second spot on my tour with Pixelcracker in October of 2017. We had just left the first location and were walking back towards the car. I was about to light a cigarette, when we spotted a building that did look a bit abandoned. Don't ask me what made me look, but after some years of exploring, you don't even have to be explicitly looking for something, but you find it anyway ;)
It was another hotel. The sign out front looked dirty, the lawn hadn't been cut in some time, and the facade had seen better days. But all the windows were intact, there was no obvious way in. We were in a bit of a hurry because we still had a bit to drive to our destination and we wanted to get some groceries before driving up to the mountain.
But we took the time to check a little more, and we found an open window.
Once inside, we were surprised. The overall condition of the hotel was really good. There was almost no visible decay or vandalism. It was obvious that some "interior decorators" had been there before us and possibly some stuff had already been stolen, but it did look pretty good.
And that was also my problem. I really don't like spots in pristine condition. I gotta have decay, mold, rust, flakes, stains - and this place didn't have that.
Of course, I did take some photos, it was an accidental find and there was no vandalism - these things made this a successful explore, but the spot itself wasn't really spectacular.
At the time, we decided not to explore the second building adjacent to the first one because the hour was getting late, but later I saw that there was a pretty neat pool area that we'd missed...
Well, next time :)


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

Tour Report: Hotel "Teddybear"

I had heard stories of angry neighbors calling the police as soon as you enter this place - but when I got to visit this abandoned hotel on a spontaneous tour together with my friend Pixelcracker in October of 2017, everything went smoothly.
Only two days earlier, we had decided to go for a three-day tour in Pixelcracker's RV. I called my friend Jens if it was possible to park the RV on his premises for the two nights we planned to stay, and he was okay with that. The next evening, I packed my gear, loaded the batteries, and the next morning, I met with Pixelcracker for a weekend of adventure!
We had decided for the abandoned hotel as our first location because it was conveniently on the way, so we wouldn't have to take a long detour and be in the camp in time for barbecue. Additionally, the place seemed to be a pretty safe bet to gain access - aside from the horror stories about the neighbors.
Before we arrived, we took our time to study the area on Google Earth to find a way to approach the building without looking too suspicious - preferably we'd not be seen at all by any neighbors. But that task seemed impossible to accomplish, because the hotel lies right at the end of a street in a densely populated residential area...
We had to "disguise" ourselves as tourists to blend in. We parked the RV a long way off, took our backpacks and started making our way towards the old hotel. The weather was really nice, so we probably did look like some tourists going for a hike. We took the longer way that didn't lead straight to the hotel, but enabled us to approach the building through the forest without being seen by the next-door neighbors.
It took us some time to find a way in, but we eventually made it and found a really nice place. Of course - many "interior decorators" have taken care that almost no furniture is left in its original place, but surprisingly enough, the vandalism hadn't really started at that point in time.
We took our time checking every single room and taking photos. We must have spent about three hours in there before climbing back out and heading towards the car.

I hadn't even lit my "post-exploration cigarette" when I spotted something...

...but that'll be a story for the next report :)


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