In late 2023, Dennis had the idea to visit Bonn in North Rhine-Westphalia for its Christmas Market. A good idea. We chose Bonn over Cologne or Aachen, as Cologne’s – and Aachen’s – Weihnachtsmarkt is a mass tourism event. Even if Bonn used to be the capital of the German Federal Republic when it was known as West Germany and at the start of a reunited Germany, the city is quite small. And, so we expect, the Christmas Market more cosy and with a higher ratio of local people.
Having roamed the Bonner Weihnachtsmarkt or Bonn Christmas Market (and we would do that later in the day again) and having visited the Beethoven House, we explored Bonn some more.
Poppelsdorf Palace
Firstly, we walked to Poppelsdorf Palace or Poppelsdorfer Schloss. A Baroque building in the Poppelsdorf district of Bonn and which is now part of the University of Bonn.
The design of a new structure to replace the old ruined castle of Poppelsdorf commenced in 1715 at the request of the owner, Joseph Clemens, Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, who engaged the French architect Robert de Cotte. Clemens wanted a maison de plaisance that would be near his remodeled Bonn Palace.
In 1818, under Prussian rule, the palace and the nearby park became part of the University of Bonn. The same year the park was converted to the Botanical Garden of Bonn, which today contains about 0.5 hectares of greenhouse area with eleven greenhouses and about 8,000 different plants.
Unfortunately, the Botanical Garden of Bonn, which is part of the complex, is closed during weekends in winter. The Schloss was closed as well and big renovation works were being done.
Bundeshaus
So we decided to walk all the way to the Bundeshaus on the banks of the Rhine.
The Bundeshaus or Federal House is a building complex which served as the Provisional Parliament House of West Germany, and thus the seat of the German Bundestag (Federal Diet, Lower House) and Bundesrat (Federal Council, Upper House), from 1949 until 1999.
The main building, constructed between 1930 and 1933, served as a Pedagogical Academy until the end of World War II. After the resolution of the Hauptstadtfrage [de] (Capital Question) in 1949 in favor of Bonn, the structure was converted into the provisional seat of the Bundestag and Bundesrat.
For over forty years it served as the seat of both constitutional bodies. The Bundeshaus was expanded and renovated numerous times until these institutions were transferred to Berlin after the Hauptstadtbeschluss (Capital Resolution) in 1999, nine years after the German reunification.
The parliamentary chamber then became the Internationale Kongresszentrum Bundeshaus Bonn, now known as the World Conference Center Bonn, in which national and international conferences take place.
The southern part of the building is to become the headquarters of the Climate Secretariat of the United Nations as part of the UN-Campus.
The Haus der Geschichte or House of History provides an opportunity to book tours and to visit the former Bundesrat.
Again, we couldn’t go inside but I’m happy I saw he former parliamentary building.
Due to the political compromise Berlin-Bonn Act following the reunification, the German federal government maintains a substantial presence in Bonn.
Roughly a third of all ministerial jobs are located in Bonn as of 2019, and the city is considered a second, unofficial, capital of the country.
Bonn is the secondary seat of the President, the Chancellor, and the Bundesrat, and the primary seat of six federal government ministries and twenty federal authorities. The title of Federal City (Bundesstadt) reflects its important political status within Germany, although in practice it doesn’t do much.
Rhine dyke
Now mid-afternoon, we returned to the hotel via the dyke at the Rhine. We had a rest and then went shopping on the Christmas Market. It started to rain so we returned to the hotel once again, to enjoy some sauna and pool time. After which we went for dinner.
Breakfast at Bahnhöfchen
Because the hotel breakfast wasn’t that memorable, we decided to have breakfast elsewhere on Sunday. Bahnhöfchen is a restaurant across the Rhine, in Beuel, in a listed former station building of the Bröl Valley Railway or Bröltalbahn.
“The station looks back on a long tradition: on 28 May 1862, the first load of iron ore, wood and coal was delivered still transported by horse-drawn tram. In the course of industrialization, however, steam was quickly switched to: the first narrow-gauge public transport railway in Germany was born”, the website says.
“From now on the Bröltalbahn was supposed to take over the quarries Connect Ruppichteroth to Beuel with the whole world. Due to the expansion of the routes, the network recently covered 83.5 km. The Bröltalbahn was used to transport war supplies during World War I. Through the purchase of the Bröltalbahn by the Rhein-Sieg-Railway stock corporation and the expansion through bus and regular bus traffic, lost the once popular railway is becoming increasingly important.”
The last trip took place on 17 May 1967 before operations were completely stopped. To this day, the former station building and the canopy are considered a former platform but as a listed building.
Tischbuffet
Breakfast is served at the table under the form of Tischbuffet or ‘table buffet’. Basically an array of breakfast items. And it’s a very nice breakfast indeed.
Trip By Trip 
18 Comments Add yours