Germany Summer 2021 – The One-Year-Later Tour

Highlights From This Trip

• 6 Days
• 1750 Miles
• 20 Locations Explored
• ~350 photographs
• Explored five Soviet-era army bases
• Also cars, churches ballrooms & a theme park

After nearly a year stuck in the UK, it was clearly time for a holiday. Time to get away, and immerse myself in another European road trip. A couple of hours on a plane, and I was in Germany (once again).

Off to a bad start!

My flight landed early in the morning, and my friend swooped in to pick me up from the airport. The plan was to drive west for the first day, to hit some local(ish) spots. Without haste we hit the road to make the most of the day. 50km later, things took a turn. Have you ever had a sudden gearbox and tramsission shaft failure in the fast lane of the Autobahn? I don’t recommend it! But I do recommend breakdown cover; the car was towed to a garage and we continued on in our shiny new courtesy car!

Cars reclaimed by nature

I always enjoy photographing cars being swallowed by nature. The greener the better for me (bonus points for ferns, which are are favourite plants!). The first location on this tour kicked off with a car, which was the first of many I was lucky enough to photograph on this trip. It was a circa 1950s Opel Olympia Rekord!

I also got a wonderful tip from a friend (thank you my dear!) about a Volvo graveyard that was also nearby, so we added that to our list for the evening. This one had a lovely mix of cars spanning the decades from the 1950s to 1970s!

Later on in the trip we explored another car graveyard, as well as an interesting replica F1 car stored in a barn.

East Germany ballrooms (again!)

Having ticked off most of the classic ballrooms on previous trips, I was able to visit some less well known examples on this trip. On my previous tour in this region (summer 2020) we were unable to arrange permission to visit one ballroom. Coincidentally, we ended up driving passed it on this tour. Sadly, this was a bittersweet reunion. We saw the ballroom was wide open for us, but that it had also suffered a major fire relatively recently.

Exploring Soviet-era army bases

We explored five former Soviet army bases, which are always a highlight for me. These sprawling complexes eat up a lot of time due to their large size. You must search for hours to find the most photogenic and interesting buildings in these forest complexes. This is indeed part of the fun as the more you work for something, the sweeter the victory tastes!

I am always keen to photograph Soviet murals. On this trip I had my heart set on two examples, featuring my favourite airplane (the intimidating MiG-21). After much searching I found both (at least, in a fashion). Unfortunately, one had almost completely disintegrated and I only recognised the wall based on the blue and yellow sunburst pattern background. The part with the MiG, was complete gone. The second one, although slightly tarnished, was treasure worth seeking out (and worthy of my usual MiG love selfie)!

Other locations explored

• A couple of beautiful churches
• A wild west theme park, with dinosaurs (this has been on my bucket list for a long time!)
• Some nice ruins from the glass blowing industry
• A large mansion in German, complete with gorgeous ballroom

More behind the scenes photos from this tour