Mar 3, 2021

The Flying Train of Wuppertal, Germany

Yesterday, 2 March, the Suspension Train (a.k.a. the Flying Train) celebrated its 120-year anniversary.

These historical postcards are part of my personal collection.

This platform is in front of the Barmen Rathaus (city hall), with Barmen being one of Wuppertal’s 10 urban districts.

Barmen Wuppertal Schwebebahn

This one is postmarked 25 Feb 1903. The Schwebebahn had been running for two years by then.

Schwebebahn Wuppertal

The Flying Train on its route, Barmen- Rittershausen.

Flying Train Station

On its way to Ritterhausen, the Schwebebahn goes under the Neue Sonnborner Brücke (New Sonnborn Bridge)

Sonnborn Bridge and Flying Train

Youtuber Denis Shiryaev digitally reworked the black-and-white film from 1902, and added color. I especially like the sound effects, which really brings it to life.

Jul 24, 2019

Hotel Moderne in Barfleur

Barfleur, most famous for its port a long time ago, is famous for oysters and mussels today.

Barfleur, Normandy

One of my interests is collecting historical postcards. With this one, we walked around town trying to locate it. The last mention of the hotel restaurant was made in some restaurant review forum in 2015.

This poster on site shows the Annexe Hotel Moderne, which is the building on the left. The one on the right is the post office today.

This is the the same Annexe Hotel Moderne today. We had hoped for a delicious smell wafting from the kitchen (any restaurant will do around lunch time), but instead only heard party music blaring at noon. The restaurant itself, a different building on the left of the square, looked very closed up, and in a neglected condition, so it was not worth taking a photo. As a matter of fact, at first we passed right by it during our search.

Annexe Hotel Moderne, Barfleur

Normandy is dotted with deserted beaches like this. I hope it stays this way.

Mar 3, 2019

Sights to See in Selestat/Schlettstadt in the Alsace

Sélestat is a relatively small town of about 20.000 residents. We spent many hours just walking around, and most of the town (so it seems) is an array of historical buildings, half-timbered houses, towers, etc. The church tops in the center of town gave us a good sense of orientation. Without them, we would have gotten lost once an hour. At least.

This is the Ritterturm (Knights’ Tower) in 2019.

and many years ago…

This is an usual view of the St.Georg Church (from left to right), the empty facade of a half-timbered house, a residence with laundry hanging outside, and a very modern glass addition on the Maison du Pain d’Alsace Museum.

The Witches’ Tower in 2019…

and a long time ago…

We had dinner at the ‘Brasserie Chez Youpel’ and my husband actually managed to eat all of his Choucroute platter.

 

Feb 26, 2019

St. George Church in Sélestat, France

One of my fairly new hobbies is collecting historical postcards. I like to browse at Akpool Postcards, especially for cards in the 1 euro boxes before we go on a trip to a certain area. This is how I learned of the town of Sélestat (German name: Schlettstadt).

After our one night in Strasbourg, we drove on to Sélestat, which is on the way to Colmar and only a 20-minute drive.

This postcard shows St. George Church in Sélestat. Unfortunately, an uncirculated postcard shows no date. My guess is that this photo was taken in the 1930s.

Edit 24 April 2020: One reader just informed me of having the same postcard in black and white, and hers shows the date December 1918. Thanks, Monique.

The same church, as above, from today’s perspective – in 2019.

St. Georg Church Sélestat

Construction of this church went on for eight centuries (8th – 15th century).

Choosing your ‘sites to see’ based on historical postcards is very interesting.

Apr 28, 2018

Postcards of Mainberg Castle

Ever since I started doing research for a blog reader about Mainberg Castle in northern Bavaria, I have become very interested in the topic myself, and started buying historical postcards.

Mainberg Castle in 1914

 

Mainberg Castle around 1930

 

Mainberg Castle in 1946

 

Mainberg Castle in the 1920/1930

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