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March 2015 |
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Kicking off the season: Easter walking in Weimar
‘From the ice they are freed, the stream and brook, by the Spring's enlivening, lovely look‘. Many Germans know the first lines of Goethe’s famous poem The Easter Walk and like to quote it around Easter time. In
Weimar, the Easter holidays are something of an unoffical opening for the tourism season. Going on a Easter walk here is a must for many visitors. The town awakes, the beautiful park on the Ilm (pictured left) is buzzing with people, likewise the cafés. Culturally, the Thuringian Bach Festival (27 March-19 April) is kicking off the festival season, closely followed by a festival of culture at beautiful Schloss Ettersburg (20-31 May) just outside Weimar. From June to September, the Weimar Summer events then transform the town into an open-air stage for music, art and outdoor delights. Goethe would have been pleased.
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Starting with a splash: Kuhnle-Tours shows off its boats
As is traditional for Germany’s premier boat charter operator Kuhnle-Tours, with expanding coverage of waterways in Germany, France and Poland, the season begins with two key events: a Boat and Wine weekend (11-12 April) at Niderviller, on the Rhine-Marne canal in eastern France, which besides wine and boats will include local specialities and classic cars. That’s followed by the Open Boat weekend (25-26 April) at Kuhnle’s main base, Hafendorf Muritz, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Both feature boat sales. Details are on Kuhnle’s
German site. Meanwhile the English-language website, which emphasises its offer of houseboating through Berlin, is highlighting new destinations and bases in Poland.
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Partying by the riverside: Regensburg's spring fair
The UNESCO city of Regensburg
is kicking off its year with the traditional Dult (8-25 May), a huge fairground encampment including a giant ferris wheel takes up its position by the river bank; there are fireworks and music and typical food…in fact, it could be said that this is more authentically Bavarian than Munich's Oktoberfest. Meanwhile, the tail end of the fair overlaps with a very different event: the early music festival Tage Alter Musik (22-25 May), where international artists give classical music concerts in several historic venues.
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Still on the water: punt racing in Southwest Germany
Southwest Germany is a place of culture and tradition, and that particularly applies to two watery festivals of real character. The first is at Tübingen (pictured left) a handsome university town straddling the river Neckar, 45 minutes south of Stuttgart. Here on 4 June, the Stockerkahn Fest will see students holding punting races, watched by thousands of people lining banks and bridges. It is a crazy competition, with teams allowed to use fair means and foul to win.Then, on 20 July, the Danube city of Ulm hosts the Nabada, a procession of boats and barges, some of them homemade and silly, mocking politicians. The day ends with free concerts through the city.
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Meanwhile on land: Leipzig's diverse musical appeal
Leipzig is making sure its reputation for great music appeals to the widest possible audience. Thus, for Wave-Gotik-Treffen
(22-25 May), the largest Goth festival in Europe, dozens of bands will be playing at all kinds of venues across the city, with all music genres of the Goth world from Goth Metal to Neo-Folk, with the streets becoming compelling fashion catwalks for the living dead. Later in the year, for a more traditional experience, the famous Gewandhaus Orchestra
is ending its season with open air classical music concerts on 11-12 July in the Rosental park, and encouraging its audience to bring a picnic. If you don’t make it to either date, there’s plenty more going on every evening in the city’s nightlife.
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Picture credits
Masthead left to right, T top, B bottom: Black Forest gone blue, Achim Mende. Brandenburger Hof hotel. Schloss Lübbenau (T). Bundesliga, GNTB (B). Ski lift at Fichtelberg, Oberwiesenthal Tourism (T). Martin Luther (B). Chilled gnome, DZT (T). Rügen cliffs, GNTB (B). Cherry cake, pa (B). Berlin S-Bahn
Main images. Weimar walk: Weimar GmbH. Kuhnle boat: Kuhnle-Tours. Regensburg fair: Peter Ferstl. Neckar punts: Baden-Württemberg Tourismus Marketing GmbH. Leipzig Goth: Mira Held
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