Alright.
Since I was visiting my cousin last weekend to celebrate her 45th birthday, I took the opportunity to record a trip to the town of
Salzgitter-Bad, where I grew up.
We moved there in 1969 and lived there for 23 years. So it covers the complete childhood from kindergarten up until I joined the military, including my wild first driving years. I moved away from there in 1992, because the Iron Curtain had fallen, my air force unit had become obsolete and I was transferred to the region I now live in.
It's a worker's town, the area lives from heavy industry like steel production (they're leading in hot-dip galvanizing for car bodies), railway coach and tram manufacturing, machine construction and others. Bosch and Alstom have factories there and Volkswagen has their main engine factory in Salzgitter (the engine for the Bugatti Veyron was made there, too). In earlier times there also were iron ore mines but they were abandoned in the 1970's, when it became unprofitable.
The town took in a lot of refugees from the parts of East Germany, which after the war had fallen to Poland and I believe that kind of patchwork history is also reflected in the architecture, which is a hotchpotch of buildings from about every era since the Middle Ages -- you will see old half-timbered houses, which are typical for medieval German towns, lots of workers' colonies from the pre- and post-war era but also some architectural sins of the 1960's and 1970's.
Streets are narrow (nothing for US-sized trucks for sure), the town is located 15 km north of the Harz Mountains, so the terrain is very hilly. Since I left there almost 20 years ago, the town has been more and more on skid row. There are nice new living areas with lots of wealthy people but they drive to the near big cities of Baunschweig or Hannover for a shopping trip, thus the local retail is suffering.
I drove around town and visited all the places of my childhood. Much has changed in 20 years, especially in the old town center, which used to be an open square and has been converted into a shopping mall. The roads are in a lousy condition (as you will definitely notice) -- they have been patched and patched again for years and years.
Since I was in the Jaaaaag with its strongly sloped windscreen, I had to use the long extension of my suction cup holder, which naturally lead to more shaking in the picture but I still think it's acceptable.
And to provide the right mood, I also added some music from the 1980's and early 1990's to reflect the nostalgia
Part 1:
Watch out for:
- 02:09 min. at the end of the street on the right is the apartment building I used to live in between 1980 and 1992.
- 03:07, camera holder cannot cope with the Jaaag shooting forward and going up a steep hill at the same time.
- 04:56, Greifpark on the left is one of a couple of local recreational areas.
- 05:56, about 150 meters down the road to the left is the kindergarten I used to go to.
- 06:58, my primary school.
- 07:48, the house were I first lived in with my mother, after my parents got divorced in 1969. Stayed there only for a year or two.
- 08:12, the house on the opposite right corner of the crossing is where we lived until 1980.
- 08:45, the protestant church, where I got my confirmation.
- 09:43, my uncle and aunt still live in that house on the right, my cousin not anymore of course.
- 11:35, on the left, behind the trees, is a ruin of a 12th century village church.
- 12:42, my
Realschule (secondary school)
- 13:37, Bohlweg street marks the northern end of the historic town center. You can tell by the half-timbered houses.
- 14:02, On the right is the market place with the town hall in an architectural style we call "1960's baroque".
- 14:07, on the left is St. Elisabeth hospital, run by the catholic church.
Part 2:
Watch out for:
- 00:23, train station on the left.
- 00:39, this used to be the open square I mentioned above and it looked like
this before.
- 02:09, Kniestedter Kirche on the left, a 15th century church, which is no longer used for religious purposes but functions as a cultural center these days.
- 03:15, the
gymnasium I went to.
- 04:47, entering the northern part of town, which was mainly built in the years before WWII, when the iron ore mining became important for the war industry. Almost all the houses here are from that area and were built for the workers and their families.
- 06:36, my other aunt and uncle lived in one of those houses on the right but I cannot remember exactly in which anymore. They moved away from there, when I was 11 or 12 years old.
- 11:47, local fire brigade, going south again down the main north-south road, which connects the several parts of Salzgitter.
- 14:00, re-entering the city center.
- 14:32, entering the heart of the old town core, which dates back to the 14th century. Resumed in part 3.
Part 3:
Watch out for:
- 00:12 Ratskeller hotel and restaurant, many family reunions were celebrated there, like birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, golden weddings, etc.
- 01:59, leaving town where we entered it, going on a short trip into the vicinity.
- 02:31, entering the village of Gitter, which also belongs to Salzgitter and where my cousin is living now.
- 03:20, leaving town now, going for a small trip into the vicinity, following a road I used to drive to work on for a couple of years. That was the time, when my driving was the most reckless imaginable. You cannot believe how I hammered the cars down those roads.
- 09:11, stop the video here! See the road ahead? 100 kph allowd there. That's where I used to overtake other cars. Sometimes it was really close. When I drive there now, I think I must have been completely bonkers. Let that be a warning to all 20+ year-olds, who think they are a driving god.
