 stevejness
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Posted: 7/15/2012 5:45:16 PM
THE IMAGE ABOVE IS A PAID ADVERTISEMENT I will be in Wuppertal, Germany for a couple of weeks, work related. I'm not even sure how much free time I'll have but would like to look into a couple of things anyway. I've never been in Europe outside of airports, so this is all new to me. How difficult is it to travel across borders, to Belgium for example? I have a great uncle buried in the American war cemetery at Henri-Chapelle, and I think it would only be a 2 hour trip from Wuppertal. It would be nice to visit his grave if I get some free time. Are there trains or buses? Anything else to do in that area? |
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Posted: 7/16/2012 2:25:46 AM
I have never been to that part of Germany but I know you'll love it! Lucky bastage! You should be able to travel through the EU countries without any issues. Keep your passport handy. I'm sure someone will chime in with the info your looking for. History is all over the place in Europe if you do some research before you leave...
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hrt4me
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Posted: 7/17/2012 10:15:52 AM
Originally Posted By stevejness:
Hi all, I will be in Wuppertal, Germany for a couple of weeks, work related. I'm not even sure how much free time I'll have but would like to look into a couple of things anyway. I've never been in Europe outside of airports, so this is all new to me. How difficult is it to travel across borders, to Belgium for example? I have a great uncle buried in the American war cemetery at Henri-Chapelle, and I think it would only be a 2 hour trip from Wuppertal. It would be nice to visit his grave if I get some free time. Are there trains or buses? Anything else to do in that area? it is very easy to travel (drive) across borders, and you will want a rental car to get to the American war cemeteries (I've been to Henri-Chapelle) and just explore on your own - realize that fuel is expensive, so renting a diesel will save you a few €s depending upon how much time you have, then you can visit various knife makers in Solingen, the cathedral in Köln, and so many other sites I wouldn't even know where to begin to tell you... you could visit a neat little town along the border called Monschau, you could visit the Hürtgenwald and spend some time walking the battlefields of WWII, you could head south and take a few laps around the Nürburgring Nordschleife, etc. |
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Posted: 7/17/2012 7:22:45 PM
Yes you will be fine you can move freely throughout the EU (unless you pose an immediate and substantial danger to state security/public health etc).
I'm not a expert on the EU free movement of persons so I need to double check my books to give a definitive answer on status the rights. Here goes of the top of my head: Your right to travel and reside freely is guaranteed by Directive 2004/38/EC 'on the right to move and reside freely' there are some issues if time spent over 3 months and bringing over family but the basic rule is if you can reside in one state you can move freely I do advise keeping some sort of ID on you as some countries it is compulsory to have a valid ID on your person. |
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Posted: 7/18/2012 3:30:10 AM
I've been there a few times. My best friends sister goes to university there. I don't have much to add but there is a cool club there that was made out of an old big air raid bunker. Mostly students frequent it but if you're bored one weekend it may be fun to check out just to see the structure.
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stevejness
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Posted: 7/18/2012 5:35:41 AM
Thanks for the help everybody, I appreciate it.
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toemag
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Posted: 7/19/2012 1:09:39 AM
[Last Edit: 7/19/2012 1:10:25 AM by toemag]
You'll have to hurry if you want to do the race course thing.
Legendary Nürburgring track goes bankrupt http://www.thelocal.de/money/20120718-43811.html Tony |
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hrt4me
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Posted: 7/19/2012 4:21:45 PM
Originally Posted By toemag:
You'll have to hurry if you want to do the race course thing. Legendary Nürburgring track goes bankrupt http://www.thelocal.de/money/20120718-43811.html Tony that's a shame, as I always enjoyed going there, and I could even hear the racing in the distance across the countryside from my apartment in the Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler region |
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Posted: 8/16/2012 9:28:07 PM
I was just on a bus in Europe a couple weeks ago and when going from Czech Rep to Germany the bus stopped at a rest stop and everyone had to show passports to the German grenze people. Czech Rep to Germany is a Schengen border. I don't know how that works, it seems like it was prearrangement between the bus company and the border patrol. We did not get pulled over. If it was a private car there would have been no stop, there is no booth on the road itself. There was no stopping between Germany and Belgium on a bus. I have been asked for a passport on the stopping train between Belgium and France, while the train is moving, but I think they were more interested in looking for drug smuggling because they looked in the small bag I had. Bottom line, have your passport on you at all times, not in the hotel safe.
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NLD
