Skybird
10-10-21, 01:41 PM
Join me for another tour through my hometown, Münster.
Last time we got to know the romantic idyll on the river Werse in the east and south-east, today we are going in almost the opposite direction. The 45-minute film takes you to the Promenade, which is a heavily green bicycle expressway that is built on the medieval city wall and surrounds the entire old town, we travel around one third of it. We circle the Aasee, Münster's artificial inner-city lake, which is large, but very shallow, which is why there is constant risk of the water tipping over and extensive fish deaths. On mild evenings in summer, barbecues and partying are the order of the day in the many meadows along the shore. Sometimes, unfortunately, rioting too. Then we drive into the old city center, straight into the pedestrian zone, the shopping streets, and the old town. It's not old at all, just a perfect replica, because the old buildings, with the exception of most of the churches, were destroyed during the Second World War - and then rebuilt as perfect replicas. Everything you see here may look old - but it is not! ;) This also applies to the historic town hall, in which (and its counterpart in Osnabrück) both the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, which ended the 30 Years War, and the Peace of Münster, which ended the 80 Years War between Spain and the Netherlands and brought independence to the Netherlands, were signed. Münster, one could say, is, so to speak, the cradle of the independent Holland as we know it today ...;) The city is less than 50km from the border. Finally, we walk a little through one of the noble old town residential areas of Münster, the so-called Kreuviertel, my parents two families lived here, so I know it very well, we used to have an appartment building here, too. At last, we move back home through the Wienburgpark to the north, which I have also known since I was a child, when it was all mud and fallow land and brambles. The cafe at the end was owed by parents of a schoolboy I knew, our class had many fetes there. I spent one year of my youth living in Münster already back then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxATruq0NMc
The weather was great again, and I chose Sunday morning because then there isn't much going on, the streets are empty, so the flair and hustle and bustle of the city center is missing, too, which in this case is a loss, but - also missing are the many bicycle cops that we have here and which pose a serious risk for me with my illegal filming. I needed to have an eye on that danger.
The camera ran at 2x speed, only where I walked and pushed the bicycle in the pedestrian zones, it ran at 5x. When playing, you practically do not see the differences.
I'm not looking for the unsightly sides of Münster, which also exist, but the journey is a pretty good cut through the typical urban and residential culture here. Münster used to be a well-off city, it was and is adminstration centre, garrison centre, seat of the German-Netherland Corps, a military logistics hotspot, the Wehrmacht had is central main bakery here that sent its bread to all divisions at all fronts during the war (that was discovered just ten years ago or so), and last but not least it was a mercantile heavyweight in the region and beyond. Thus, the city became wealthy, and you still see that. The infrastructure is very, very good for bicycles, and yes, the city is indeed as incredibly green as it seems - it's teeming with chlorophyll, that's no ILM trick. There are many parks, and green corridores leading from the outside right into the city centre. The city is seat of the third biggest university in Germany (by students numbers), and has a famous hospital of international reputation, the UKM (Universitätsklinikum Münster). Only a few other cities got through Corona as well as Münster, acceptance for masks and vaccination was above national average. The local city natives :) are known to be be a bit arrogant, noses pointing high up into the air, the political climate now is green, but for most of my life and before was ultra conservative and arch-catholic. Many of the farmers however are sensibel people, though clever tradesmen. Its two very different tribes who built their tents in sight of each other.
There will be a third film, the material is already there, this time in the west and north of the city and further outside the gates, not so much in urban areas. There are some satellite settlements that belong to Münster, but are still separated from the core city area by lush green strips and will only grow over the next few decades. I am always surprised at how great the illusion can be that you are already "in the country", even though you are actually still in the city. With the triology then completed, you can have a pretty a decent and all-embracing impression of what it is like to live in this place. Its not the shabbiest life...
Last time we got to know the romantic idyll on the river Werse in the east and south-east, today we are going in almost the opposite direction. The 45-minute film takes you to the Promenade, which is a heavily green bicycle expressway that is built on the medieval city wall and surrounds the entire old town, we travel around one third of it. We circle the Aasee, Münster's artificial inner-city lake, which is large, but very shallow, which is why there is constant risk of the water tipping over and extensive fish deaths. On mild evenings in summer, barbecues and partying are the order of the day in the many meadows along the shore. Sometimes, unfortunately, rioting too. Then we drive into the old city center, straight into the pedestrian zone, the shopping streets, and the old town. It's not old at all, just a perfect replica, because the old buildings, with the exception of most of the churches, were destroyed during the Second World War - and then rebuilt as perfect replicas. Everything you see here may look old - but it is not! ;) This also applies to the historic town hall, in which (and its counterpart in Osnabrück) both the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, which ended the 30 Years War, and the Peace of Münster, which ended the 80 Years War between Spain and the Netherlands and brought independence to the Netherlands, were signed. Münster, one could say, is, so to speak, the cradle of the independent Holland as we know it today ...;) The city is less than 50km from the border. Finally, we walk a little through one of the noble old town residential areas of Münster, the so-called Kreuviertel, my parents two families lived here, so I know it very well, we used to have an appartment building here, too. At last, we move back home through the Wienburgpark to the north, which I have also known since I was a child, when it was all mud and fallow land and brambles. The cafe at the end was owed by parents of a schoolboy I knew, our class had many fetes there. I spent one year of my youth living in Münster already back then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxATruq0NMc
The weather was great again, and I chose Sunday morning because then there isn't much going on, the streets are empty, so the flair and hustle and bustle of the city center is missing, too, which in this case is a loss, but - also missing are the many bicycle cops that we have here and which pose a serious risk for me with my illegal filming. I needed to have an eye on that danger.
The camera ran at 2x speed, only where I walked and pushed the bicycle in the pedestrian zones, it ran at 5x. When playing, you practically do not see the differences.
I'm not looking for the unsightly sides of Münster, which also exist, but the journey is a pretty good cut through the typical urban and residential culture here. Münster used to be a well-off city, it was and is adminstration centre, garrison centre, seat of the German-Netherland Corps, a military logistics hotspot, the Wehrmacht had is central main bakery here that sent its bread to all divisions at all fronts during the war (that was discovered just ten years ago or so), and last but not least it was a mercantile heavyweight in the region and beyond. Thus, the city became wealthy, and you still see that. The infrastructure is very, very good for bicycles, and yes, the city is indeed as incredibly green as it seems - it's teeming with chlorophyll, that's no ILM trick. There are many parks, and green corridores leading from the outside right into the city centre. The city is seat of the third biggest university in Germany (by students numbers), and has a famous hospital of international reputation, the UKM (Universitätsklinikum Münster). Only a few other cities got through Corona as well as Münster, acceptance for masks and vaccination was above national average. The local city natives :) are known to be be a bit arrogant, noses pointing high up into the air, the political climate now is green, but for most of my life and before was ultra conservative and arch-catholic. Many of the farmers however are sensibel people, though clever tradesmen. Its two very different tribes who built their tents in sight of each other.
There will be a third film, the material is already there, this time in the west and north of the city and further outside the gates, not so much in urban areas. There are some satellite settlements that belong to Münster, but are still separated from the core city area by lush green strips and will only grow over the next few decades. I am always surprised at how great the illusion can be that you are already "in the country", even though you are actually still in the city. With the triology then completed, you can have a pretty a decent and all-embracing impression of what it is like to live in this place. Its not the shabbiest life...