Not too long ago, I made plans to visit another assistant Abby in Wolfsburg a.k.a. VW-City! Wolfsburg is about an hour east of Hannover by regional train and almost on the former East/West German border. The city was actually originally founded in 1938 as Stadt des KdF-Wagens and of course is known today as the base of Volkswagen. True to its reputation, the first thing you see when you exit Wolfsburg Hauptbahnhof is the giant VW factory and campus. The first factory is a pretty old looking red brick building and kind of what you expect a factory to look like. This makes the rest of the VW headquarters that much better--once you start crossing this cool walking bridge across the Mittellandkanal, the new museum quarter opens up and is truly gorgeous. Good job, VW!
Sadly, I didn't have quite enough time to do Autostadt (the main VW museum), but Abby showed me around a lot of the grounds--don't worry, I'll definitely be back before I leave! Another cool feature is the test-drive track where you can pay a little extra to drive a VW SUV over an obstacle of sorts with water pits, concrete tubes and steps. Other not quite as exciting options include safety and economy training (learn how to save gas)!
About a week after Wolfsburg, I traveled to Minden (about 45 minutes west of Hannover by regional train) to do some sightseeing and catch up with Sarah, another assistant I met at the Berlin Conference. Minden was founded over 1,200 years ago and lies on the border between Nordrhein-Westfalen and Niedersachsen n the Weser River. Minden wasn't particularly exciting, but across the Weser was a small Frühlingsfest, and we also made it to Wasserkreuzstrasse where the Mittellandkanal (remember it from before!) is actually carried over the Weser River by a set of two aqueducts. Pretty Cool!
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I can't wait to try the test-drive track. VW watch out, here I come!
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