Uelzen Railway Station

This time last week at  7.21pm on a Friday evening, I was sitting in a canalside restaurant in Hamburg eating pizza and drinking beer.  The week has flown, and six days of my life have gone in a flash!  During the conversation that evening I talked about my slow journey by regional train to Hamburg via a station called Uelzen.  There I'd changed trains with seven minutes to spare, from platform 302  to platform 103.  I was somewhat bemused by the platform numbering, as Uelzen is a small town, and Google Earth showed the place as a station with no more than four platforms at the most.  "Ah" said Jan, "the station was designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser."   "Ahh" I said, "that explains all."   I am familiar with Hundertwasser's paintings having discovered postcards of them in Braunschwieg's Altstadtmarkt Museum.  He painted very detailed patterns of faces, plants, buildings, boats, and anything that appealed to him, and all painted in bright, chaotic colours and patterns.  The pavement detail right, gives you an idea of how interesting his work his.  He designed several buildings throughout the world and more can be read about him on his website at:

Painting · Hundertwasser www.hundertwasser.at/english/oeuvre/malerei/malerei.php



The steps down to the subway from platform 302.

The information came too late for me to explore the station, but I'd realised on my journey that the place had some special significance.  The subway from platform 302 to platform 103 looked as if it were a bewitched, pink  medieval castle.  It is a pity I couldn't wander and explore the place, and I was told later by a friend that the ladies toilets need to be seen to be believed.  I wished I'd spent a penny there, but I only had seven minutes to spare.

Uelzen station - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uelzen_station

I'm watching tennis from Roland Garros at the moment, and Federer has just lost a semifinal to Djokovic.  An attack of  "Euro 2012 Football Mania" has broken out here, with flags flying and cars speeding around the city with pennants clipped to their radio aerials and wing mirrors.   I'll watch the England and Germany matches and wave my English flag.

The exterior of the station with decorated columns.