Germany Highlights: Witzenhausen and Unterrieden

This year, I had the privilege of visiting Germany. This was my first time in the country, and my 2nd time ever in Europe. My first European trip had been to Greece, so this promised to be much different. Germany is a land steeped in culture and tradition, but it has also adapted to the modern world better than any other European country, being the economic powerhouse of the European Union. From the Teutonic Knights through to the fall of the Berlin Wall, I knew that a 2 week visit would barely scratch the surface of this country.

After a long trip involving a flight to Toronto, then to Frankfurt, then a train to Kassel, our friends picked us up and we drove to an idyllic town called Unterreiden. I personally can’t sleep on flights, and I had been up for over 24 hours, so I crashed hard and slept for about 16 hours. When I woke up the next morning, I was ready to take on the world! Figuratively, of course. I’m a lover, not a fighter (usually). 

The plan for our first day was to bike over to Witzenhausen and check out the town for the day, and then walk around Unterreiden for the evening. Our German friends had graciously provided us with bicycles which we quickly put to use. It should be noted that Germany is very bike-friendly. Even in more rural areas, there are high-quality bike paths connecting most of the towns. Motor vehicles are also very aware of cyclists, so I felt fairly safe riding on the roads in small towns, when alternate bike paths were not available. 

We rode over to Witzenhausen and, in a stroke of luck, arrived at a Street Food Festival. On a side note, we saw signs and banners for all sorts of festivals and special events. The cultural scene is very vibrant and there are many opportunities to get involved with the community.

Witzenhausen is known as the Cherry City, which is Kirschenstadt in German. We walked over to a food truck along a nearby stream and grabbed some drinks. I had a Fritz Cola (similar sweetness but less tanginess than Coca-Cola), and my wife had a cherry soda. We would end up consuming a lot of cherry products on this trip. This city loves cherries so much that they have their own Ironman event called Cherryman.

We then spent some time admiring the local buildings. I’m from Western Canada, and our history is quite sparse. European settlement in Alberta began just over 200 years ago, and Alberta only became a province in 1905. It is unfair to directly compare Alberta to Germany, but it was nice to be surrounded by buildings that were the same age or older than my home. The variety of architecture was also nice. Our friend took us to a tower that used to be part of the town wall. The top of this tower gave us a commanding panoramic view of the town. 

We ended up at a conservatory/greenhouse that was run by the local university. My wife and I both love plants, her more than I. They had a variety of exotic plants for the students to study, such as coffee trees, mangos, and cotton plants. I always forget coffee comes from berries on trees.

We biked home to Unterrieden and spent some time walking around town. It appears that Germany is a fairly high-trust culture, at least trust in your neighbours. I will write a separate blog post highlighting some of the cultural differences between Western Canada and the small parts of Germany that I saw. As an example of trust, they have these small unmanned kiosks where you can go grab a cold beer or a snack and leave your money in the deposit box on top. Another fun fact was the dairy vending machines. Milk, yogurt, cheese, etc. Asking my wife’s friend about these, she explained that it was often used by elderly locals who couldn’t make the trip over to Witzenhausen all of the time. This allowed them to get some of their essentials right at home. 

I’ll carry on this series with our visit to Juist in the North Sea!