Stade

Do check out the little cultural history museum on the island.

Just ask locals for the way to the ‘Insel’ and they should point you in the right direction. If you can’t find it: walk along the moat from the train station, towards the bridge into the centre. Keep walking straight ahead, neither crossing the railway tracks nor the water, down a narrow road along the moat with big old trees. You’ll see the island after a 100 yards or so :)

I grew up in a house like the one that houses the museum, so of course I love it :)

First trip to Germany, spent most of it in Stade. Great little town with a lot of history. Favorite story: in 1999, after a storm knocked the ball off the thingymajig on top of city hall, they opened the ball and inside was a newspaper clipping from 1899 about a storm knocking the ball off. They added their clipping and put the ball back up so maybe it’ll be opened again after a storm in 2099…

My father was born in Stade, Germany on May 1st, 1948. I would love to go and see his birthplace.