Dear TR members,

Here are your German National Meeting mascots Hans-Herrmann and Heide again.

In the last issue, we presented historical aspects of the heathlands and the HOTEL PARK SOLTAU event centre, as well as its special highlights such as the Carrera racetrack and the flight simulator.

In today's edition, we would like to introduce you to the tours we have selected for you. They are divided into tours without fixed departure times and guided tours with fixed departure times, such as city tours.

Lüneburg

Let's start with the Hanseatic city of Lüneburg. Lüneburg became famous for its salt works. Salt was already being mined here at the turn of the first millennium.

For a long time, Lüneburg had a monopoly on salt in northern Germany, which made it one of the first members of the Hanseatic League. Visby, Lübeck and Lüneburg became the richest cities in the Hanseatic League.

The salt was needed to preserve (cure) fish, mainly herring. With the decline of the Hanseatic League and the disappearance of herring, Lüneburg rapidly became impoverished in the 16th century. Today, the healing powers of the salt springs are beneficial for many physical problems.

Fast forward to the present day: the city lies on the River Ilmenau, approximately 50 km south-east of Hamburg on the edge of the Lüneburg heathlands, and has a population of around 75,000.

It is home to Leuphana University with approximately 10,000 students. Lüneburg offers many interesting sights due to its diverse historical architecture. It is a charming town that we would like to introduce to you. The Geramn TV series ‘Rote Rosen’ was mainly filmed here. You can book a guided tour of the town or a tour of the Salt Museum in German or English for Saturday or Sunday.

Celle

The royal residence town of Celle is also known as the gateway to the South Heathlands. It lies on the River Aller, which was the foundation for its economic boom in the Middle Ages as a toll and trading centre for merchant ships, as well as through its monopoly on grain shipping.

Celle was the residence of various dukes for many centuries. The four-winged Renaissance/Baroque castle bears witness to this. In 1714, Duke Georg Ludwig ascended the throne of England and Ireland as King George I. He thus founded Britain's German-descended dynasty of the House of Hanover.

After the Second World War, Celle became a garrison town for British troops until 2012. According to its own statement, Celle is the largest half-timbered town in Europe. There are around 700 medieval houses clustered together in a small area. This makes it Europe's densest contiguous ensemble of half-timbered buildings. The old town remained largely intact in the Second World War, which has preserved its historical charm.

Every two years in August, the “Oldtimer und Fachwerk” meeting takes place in the old town. On this day, hundreds of classic cars can be admired, framed by old half-timbered houses.

On Saturday, we offer guided tours of the town with “Witch Regular” or “The night watchman's wife” in German and English.
Those were the city tours.

 More interesting places await you.

Iserhatsche House in Bispingen. This former hunting lodge is full of curiosities. Everything imaginable has been collected here.

The largest accessible collection of Deutschmark coins, the largest bottle opener, a collection of model cats, a collection of coffee cream lids with over 25,000 pieces. 1,000 jumping jacks, Kinder Surprise eggs, playing cards, beer glasses, beer mat table displays, 300 bottle ships, telephone cards, as well as the largest wooden beer bottle weighing over 5 tonnes, etc. In total, Iserhatsche has around 150 different collections.

Furthermore, the Iserhatsche landscape park with its terraced lake system is a unique cultural and historical landmark. Covering 23 hectares, it showcases architecture combined with the unrivalled genius of nature. In short, it is simply worth seeing.

Crude Oil Museum

The next destination could be the German Crude Oil Museum in Wietze. The German Crude Oil Museum is a reminder that the small town of Wietze in the southern Lüneburg heathland was once the ‘Texas’ of Germany.

In 1858, geologist Konrad Hunäus discovered traces of oil while searching for coal in the southern heathland. This laid the foundation for industrial oil production in Wietze, which began in 1899.

Workers’ villages, a refinery, a harbour and a railway station were built. In 1918, a mine was even built to extract oil-bearing sand. A total of 52 oil companies were active in the town at times.

By 1963, Wietze's oil fields had been exhausted, but numerous facilities and buildings bear witness to the time when the oil rush dominated the small town. The history of oil from then to the present day is vividly presented in the (open-air) museum.

Stechinelli Chapel

Who would have guessed? The Stechinelli Chapel on the Wieckenberg estate.

Franzisco Capellini, known as Stechinelli, the builder of the chapel in Wieckenberg, first came to the court in Hanover in 1656 as a page in the entourage of Duke Georg Wilhelm of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

Over the years, Capellini acquired a considerable fortune. After purchasing the estate, he wanted to build a Catholic chapel. The building had to be constructed in a rural barn style and not appear to be a church, as the surrounding duchies were Protestant.

Construction began in 1692, but Capellini died in 1694. It was consecrated in 1699.

During his lifetime, Capellini had stipulated that a church service should be held once a month. This tradition is still observed today. We offer tours in German and English.

Hundertwasser railway station

Uelzen railway station is not just any railway station. It was redesigned by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser as part of an Expo 2000 World Exposition project.

Today, the station is of course used as a ‘normal’ station. 220 trains and 15,000 passengers and visitors use it every day.

Tank Museum

The Lüneburg heathlands look back on an eventful political history in the recent past. One example is the Tank Museum in Munster.

Here you can admire military vehicles from the 20th century. Covering an area of approx. 10,000 m², the German Tank Museum in Munster in the Lüneburg heathlands displays 150 large pieces of equipment, tanks, guns and vehicles from 1917 to the present day.

Air Lift Museum

The Air Lift Museum in Faßberg is located in the immediate vicinity. An exhibition on the site documents the blockade of the transit routes to West Berlin and the air lift from Faßberg to Berlin.

Established in 1948, the Allied air lift was a gigantic undertaking that required enormous logistics and turned former enemies into friends.

The memorial site gives an impression of the efforts and motivations of the Allies to guarantee Berlin's freedom. The Faßberg air base was one of the most important pillars of the airlift.

The Royal Air Force Station Faßberg at the time ensured that Berlin was supplied with coal. British and American aircraft flew a total of 539,112 tonnes into blockaded Berlin. Statistics show up to 450 take-offs and landings per day.

A trip to the heath!

Even though the heath is not yet blooming during our German National Meeting at the end of May, a tour of Wilseder Berg (165 m above sea level) has been organised.

The small village of Undeloh is home to the Heath Experience Centre. Here you can learn everything you need to know about the origins, development and preservation of the Lüneburg heathlands. A walk around Wilseder Berg is also recommended.

An alternative way to explore the heathlands is to take a horse-drawn carriage ride up Wilseder Berg.

The sheep herding at the Schäferhof in Neuenkirchen takes place between 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Between 800 and 1,000 Heidschnucken sheep, including Hans-Hermann and Heide, then rush to their night quarters. It is quite impressive to see so many four-legged nature protectors.

... and much more!

Other interesting destinations include the giant ship elevator in Scharnebeck, the German Emigration Museum and the submarine in Bremerhaven, the felt, toy and printing museum in Soltau, the Heidepark Soltau, the Lüneburg Heathlands Wildlife Park, the Soltau Outlet Centre and the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg.

No matter which tour you choose, you can always enjoy the unique landscape and tree-lined streets.

For all tours, you will receive the link for the route for your navigation device in good time. It is important that you feed the data into your navigation device at home. Doing this at the hotel is usually not successful.