My bruises have bruises. I'm blaming the cheerleading. Review writing is a whole lot less dangerous....
My bruises have bruises. I'm blaming the cheerleading. Review writing is a whole lot less dangerous.
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The former capital of Germany, Bonn is somewhere I’ve wanted to visit for a while, but especially since I went to Berlin, the new capital, in a compare and contrast sort of way. I only had 28 hours in the city, but I still saw a fair bit.
One think I would recommend that you do immediately on arrival is to get hold of a Welcome Card. These start at 9 Euros for one person for 24 hours, but ones for longer periods, or for groups and families are also available. The cards offer unlimited use of public transport in and around the city, and free entry to almost all the museums, making them very good value, even for those, such as myself, who qualify for concessionary admissions in most places. They also offer reductions on boat trips, city tours, accommodation at some hotels and various other freebies. Through the rest of the op, I’ll point out where you can use the card. You have to use it on the day you buy it, but when you start is up to you, so you can buy it at 8am and not validate it until 9pm that evening – you then get your 24 or 48 or 72 hours validity starting from that point.
Bonn has around 40 museums, and I couldn’t possibly visit all in my short time there, but I got round a fair few, helped by the fact that with my Welcome card making entrances free, I could walk in, have a nosy around and leave if I didn’t like it, without feeling I had wasted money.
BEETHOVENHAUS • Address: Bonngasse 20 • Tel: +49 228 9817525 • Entrance: €4 / €3 (concessions) • FREE with the Welcome Card • Open: 10.00 –
18.00 Monday to Saturday, 11.00 – 16.00 Sundays and Bank holidays
Germany and Austria are full of places like this – it seems our musical friend moved around a lot, but this is the house in which Beethoven was born, and lived until he was 22. If it hadn’t been home to such a well-known musician, it wouldn’t be worth a second glance as it’s basically an empty wooden house with a few exhibits. There are creaky floorboards a go go throughout the building, and tapping out tunes on these is a fun way to get from one room to another if you are either (a) a former dancer, or (b) a child or child at heart. Well I liked it anyway. The musical instruments are mainly for show, but pay them a substantial sum and they’ll arrange for an unknown pianist to give you a private concert on site, featuring some of the great man’s best works.
This is an unusual little place – a museum dedicated to maths – but the 5 floors were fascinating, tracking arithmetic from caveman days to latest steps with computers. The people working here were especially helpful, and when I asked for a leaflet in English, not only did I get one, but they also went on to explain the museum, layout, exhibits etc to me, all in that language. It’s a lovely hands-on place, so you can take children and let them play with the machines. Making learning fun. Fancy that.
KUNSTMUSEUM • Address: Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 2 • Tel: +49 228 776260 • FREE with the Welcome Card • Entrance: €5 / €2.50 • Open: 10.00 – 18.00 Tuesday to Sunday (until 21.00 on Wednesday), closed Monday
www.bonn.de/kunstmuseum
This is Bonn’s main art museum, but it’s a very odd one. For a start, they don’t seem to have their subject matter sorted. It’s not classical, but it’s not modern. It’s just something in between. It’s a very airy place that gives the impression it’s only half finished, and to be honest, the building’s exterior is more aesthetically pleasing than most of the works on display. The shops (of which there are a fair few) were overpriced and rather dull.
FRAUEN MUSEUM • Address: Im Krausfeld 10 • Tel: +49 228 691344 • Entrance: €4.50 / €3 (concessions • FREE with the Welcome Card • Open: 14.00 – 18.00 Tuesday to Saturday, 11.00 - 18.00 Sunday
www.frauenmuseum.de
The Women’s museum is the only one of its kind in Germany, and it’s not hard to see why. Again, a very empty museum, and this one actually is still in a half build stage, with only the upper floors open to the public. The works on display include men’s personal ads, mutilated pictures of men and half men half women concoctions. Maybe the place to go if you’re a lesbian who really, really hates all things male, but not for the rest of us. The staff seemed a little shocked when I arrived, as if they weren’t expecting visitors, and there were only 2 other people looking round during my time there.
HAUS DER GESCHICHTE DER BR DEUTSCHLAND • Address: Willy Brandt Allee 14 • Tel: + 49 228 91650 • Entrance: Free • Open: 09.00 – 19.00 Tuesday to Sunday, closed Monday
This museum traces the history of Germany, with interactive displays, films and strange one-off artifacts, like Adenauer’s first Mercedes. It also has, for some very odd reason, a piece of moon rock given by NASA, though as far as I recall, there were no Germans involved in the landing. It was an ok museum, but more suited to people with a vested interest in the subject. Maybe it’s a generation thing too, because all the older people I’ve spoken to liked the place. But then I never really was one for history, especially not history with broken exhibits and films that froze during their playing. One thing this place does have though, is a lovely café. It’s up on the first floor, and offers views of the local area on one side, and the inside of the museum on the other. For once it was cheap too, and I had a large main course and a drink for €6.
Trips:
There are various places that offer fun day trips from the city, depending on what you’re after. I went to Königswinter, a gorgeous old fashioned town a 30 minute tram ride away. Here I got to ride on the oldest mountain railway in Germany, to the top of a hill with a fantastic view of the Rhein and surrounding area. The café at the summit also serves fantastic waffles, but be warned, the portions are huge and can easily be shared among 2 if not 3 of you - I was alone so unfortunately I had to eat them all by myself. Find out more at www.drachenfelsbahn-koenigswinter.de . If you have a welcome card, you can get a 20 % reduction on the entrance price. If this isn’t for you, there are also many castles and palaces and random small towns all within commuting distance of the city.
Shopping:
Bonn has some nice shops, and unlike in Berlin, most are fairly close together. There are the standard department stores (Galleria Kaufhof and Karstadt) and lots of clothes shop chains (C&A, H&M, New Yorker, Orsay), but also a decent selection of independent retailers offering unusual gifts and items you won’t find all over the place. Prices again, are reasonable. The main shopping area is directly across from the train station, near the cathedral (Münster), which is also worth visiting. There is a surprising lack of tourist shops in the area – the museums sell post cards, as does the odd stand, but places selling typical souvenirs – things with “Bonn” and “Beethoven” printed on them in large, tacky letters – are few and far between.
Where to stay:
www.bonn.de has a list of the city’s hotels and guest houses. There is a good selection in all price ranges, in and around the center. I stayed in the Ibis (see op), which would work out at a mere 15 GBP per person per night if there’d been two of us.
Where to eat:
Again, Bonn has a nice choice of places. In and around the cathedral area there are a lot of street vendors, though check before you buy because prices can vary. I got a crepe for €1 from one stand, and spotted them for twice the price barely 20 m further down the street. Bretzels and German style hot dogs are also readily available, as are sandwiches from the Bakers and Nordsee. For sit down meals, the choice ranges from international chains such as Pizza Hut to local bistros and restaurants, all of which (bar the fanciest of the fancy) seemed to offer good food at affordable prices.
Getting there:
The nearest airport is Köln-Bonn, though Düsseldorf would also be feasible. Bonn has a major train station with connections from all over the country and abroad, or you could grab a boat and sail in along the Rhein.
Verdict:
Bonn is a very unusual place, in that it seems to be good at lots at things, but excel at none. The museums are ok, the shops are ok. There’re cheap places to eat and stay. The scenery is pretty but only once you get a little way out of the center. The city is easy to get around, with a comprehensive underground and tram network running frequently. It was a very nice place to visit for a few days, but a stay of, say, a week, just for the purpose of tourism, would be too long for me. Some of my friends live there, and while I could imagine doing so too, I think I still prefer Heidelberg, at least for now. The overall conclusion? Semi-bon Bonn, me thinks.
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Apr 24th, 2003
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