My list of good reasons to enjoy a visit to Bonn and the Seven Mountains.

Christmas market in Bonn (all photos by Alexander Verbeek)

I was back in Bonn, the rustic university city on the banks of the Rhine. Beethoven was born here; you'll find him as a pinup celebrity on every corner, with his outlandish hairdo even more extended than the original.

I lived and worked here in 1998 when Bonn no longer served as the capital of West Germany. After the unification of East and West Germany in 1990, Bonn was no longer the capital but still served as the seat of government. When I arrived, embassies were moving to Berlin, which would soon be the capital and the heart of government.

My memories of Bonn from some 25 years ago are not very favorable. I remember how much it rained, how often the shops were closed, and how little there was to do in what was often referred to as the former capital village. The people I met were worried about the future now that the federal government and its many officials had packed their bags.

Bonn’s metamorphosis

But Bonn did well. I sometimes came back in the years since I left, and I was pleasantly surprised by the city's metamorphosis each time I visited. I focussed increasingly on environmental issues and sustainable development, a passion I shared with the new Bonn that had been rebranded as a scientific and cultural hub that became a host for development policy and national, international, and supranational institutions.

The German federal government also maintained a substantial presence. About a third of all jobs in the ministries are still located in this town, making it a kind of second, unofficial country's capital. The city is also home to some 20 United Nations institutions, including the headquarters for the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Every time I returned to Bonn, I started to appreciate the city better; it's become much more lively with more cafes and terraces. The happy atmosphere in the Christmas markets in the center of town made last week's visit the most memorable.

My meetings last week were on the 21st floor of the UN Building, and just like during my last meeting here in June, I often looked in the distance to the seven mountains, the "Siebengebirge." So I decided to go for a hike once the conference was over.

You may have noticed that I started a few weeks ago to post each day on social media a memory of something that I saw on this day. It could be a memorable photo from years ago or a new memory made today. While in Bonn, I posted two images: my view of the mountains from the UN Building and, vice versa, my view of the UN Building from the mountains the next day.

Siebengebirge

Some will claim that these mountains are more like hills, and others argue that there are many more hills than seven, but that's hardly relevant. Whatever the name is, the Siebengebirge is a lovely place for Bonn's nature lovers or those who pass through for work and extend their stay with one more day to hike in the forest.

I enjoyed my walk in this mountain range's beech and oak forests. It is part of volcanic origin, but the geological subsoil is remarkably varied, and so is the landscape. It's a diverse mosaic of forests in different habitats, such as former quarries, vineyards, orchards, open rocky areas, and natural streams and headwaters.

The forest must be resilient to human influence since the Romans were already mining trachyte in the Siebengebirge in the first century AD. More than a thousand years later, this area's stones were used to construct churches in the Rhineland. They were also used in the building of the famous Cologne Cathedral, which I wrote about last summer in this article:

Visiting the famous Cologne Cathedral

Since 2004, the Siebengebirge has been included in the European Natura 2000 network of protected areas. This network of protected areas aims to preserve the European natural heritage.

Nature has its own way of creating Christmas decorations; the frost gave a beautiful white silk layer of tiny chrystals on the leaves on the forest floor. It was lovely to walk here, although the only hiking pants I had available on this side of the Atlantic were the same ones I wore when I crossed the Pyrenees mountains during the heatwave last June. They were too hot then and definitely too cold now. Nor were ventilating summer hiking shoes the best choice for a sludgy walk after the December rains.

Tens of millions of years ago, gas-containing alkaline basalt magma formed in the tectonic Rhine Valley fault zone. After it penetrated the 40 km thick earth crust, it became the basalt stock we can still admire today.

In 1914, quarry workers discovered a 14,000-year-old Stone Age double grave of a woman and a man from the Ice Age. They were buried with two works of art made of bone and antler. Next to the two human skeletons are the bones of a small animal that the researchers believe to be a wolf. Only in the 1970s did it become apparent that it was a very early domestic dog.

I walked 18 kilometers, a pleasant and easy hike, with a stop halfway in a typical German restaurant: lots of brown wood and copper, with Bavarian dishes that include lots of potatoes, spätzle, sauerbraten, schnitzel, creamed herring, and sausages. And beer, lots of beer, and even the beers are brown. I enjoyed a vegan onion soup, sparkling mineral water, and bread. Brown bread.

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You may also like:

One year ago:

Christmas season on the island and traditional "oliebollenkraampjes"

Another walk:

Join me for a walk in Central Park

Notes:

https://news.globallandscapesforum.org/36704/bonns-reinvention-for-the-21st-century/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonn