In 1991, shortly after the re-unification of Berlin, a man named Norbert Witte took control of an ageing facility called “Kulturpark Plänterwald” that had been the only constant theme park in East Germany, and renamed it “Spreepark”.

Spreepark’s rollercoaster still stands

With modernised rides the park began to pull in up to 1.5 million visitors a year, but it was being run at a massive loss, and by 2001 the business was forced to file for bankruptcy after amassing debts of around 15 million euros.

The central attraction of the themepark was its 45m tall Ferris Wheel

Somehow, Norbert Witte convinced his debtors that he was sending six of the rides to Peru “for repair”, when in fact he was using them to set up another theme park: Lunapark in Lima. The park didn’t get off to a good start, as peruvian customs officials delayed releasing the complete rides, and the park closed soon after opening.

Unperturbed, Mr Witte decided to enter an entirely new line of business, and again packed up the Flying Carpet ride – but this time he stuffed it full of 167kg of Peruvian cocaine (about $14 million dollars worth) – for shipping back to Germany, to have it “repaired” – again!

Boats from one of the rides lie around in heaps

Unluckily for Mr Witte, one of his accomplices was actually an undercover drug investigator, and the whole affair came to a sorry end when he was arrested back in Germany. Mr Witte only served four years of a seven-year sentence, but his son Marcel (who says he had no knowledge of the drug smuggling) is still serving a twenty-year sentence back in Peru.

Some unusual wildlife has reclaimed the park for nature

So, where is Mr Witte now? Why, back at Spreepark of course! Having been kicked out of the now city-owned park¹, where he lived in a trailer for a while, he is apparently living just outside its fences. Could this guy and his caravan just outside the park’s gates be the disgraced con-man himself?

There are some amazing ground-level pictures of the abandoned Spreepark on The Dead Cat Bounce and Urban Ghosts, but if you wish to indulge in some personal “urban exploration” (ie trespassing), Google will help you locate information about where to climb the fence.

We should probably mention that there are also official park tours, but they cost €15 per person, and they don’t even let you go on the rides!

Locations: Germany, Peru / Categories: Abandoned, Movie Locations, Street Views, Theme Parks

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Above is Estadio Lluís Sitjar in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Built in 1945, for over half a century the 18,000 seat stadium was the home of football club RCD Mallorca. The stadium has sat unused since 2007, but the word ‘Mallorca‘ can still be plainly seen spelled out in the seats. The field of play, however, is already in a sad state.

On another populous Spanish island, Gran Canaria, lies Estadio Insular, which was the home of UD Las Palmas. Built in the same year as Lluís Sitjar, the 21,000 seater was abandoned four years earlier. Grass and trees are already rooting themselves in the stands, and the walls are covered in graffiti.

Stade des Charmilles in Geneva was the site of five FIFA World Cup games in 1954. Much of the facility was dismantled in 2002 and the field is completely barren, but the grandstands remain in place. In the rival city of Zurich, the demolished Hardturm also hosted World Cup games. Satellite imagery shows the shells of the grandstand are still intact, and Street View shows the rubble surrounding it.

In Germany, Gelsenkirchen’s Parkstadion was the home of the Bundesliga’s Schalke 04 from 1973 to 2001. Since then, about one-half of the seating has been removed, but the rest remains.

The largest abandoned stadium seen on Google Maps is the Estadio Fonte Nova in Salvador, Brazil. Originally built to a capacity of 66,080, the stadium was expanded to a monstrous 110,000 seats in 1971. Tragedy struck Fonte Nova in 2007, when an upper terrace collapsed during a Third Division championship final, killing seven spectators and injuring forty. The stadium was immediately closed. Since this imagery was captured, Fonte Nova has been demolished.

At one point the largest arena in the Czech Republic, Brno’s Stadion Za Lužánkami has sat in state for the past decade. Not only is the old playing field easy to make out, but even the goalposts are still standing. Around the edges, though, trees up to 3 metres high have sprouted in the bleachers.

Not all abandoned stadiums are left to rot. The Dell, the former home of English side Southampton, was redeveloped as a housing estate after its 2001 closure. Not only does the estate retain the shape of the original stadium, but all of the apartment blocks are named for famous Saints players.

Naturally, there aren’t only modern abandoned arenas to be found on Google Maps. The Plaza de Toros in Cartagena, Spain has been abandoned for nearly a century. Built on top of an ancient Roman arena, the location is set to be the home of a new Roman museum. Over in Merida, this ancient amphitheatre dates all the way back to 25 BC. The gladiator pit is exposed in the middle of the arena.

We end the first part of our tour in South Africa, where in Cape Town, Greenpoint Stadium was torn down to make way for the neighbouring Cape Town Stadium in advance of the 2010 World Cup¹. Here we see demolition crews working to dismantle the arena. The north grandstand, however, remains standing.

Read part two of our abandoned stadium tour: Abandoned Stadiums of the United States.

Locations: Brazil, Czech Republic, England, Germany, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland / Categories: Abandoned, Stadiums and Sport

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No point in wasting time. Let’s get Spread Eagle and dive right in…

We hope this Naked Baker is at least wearing a hairnet.

Is there anyone in Southern California who’s up for a Nude Wash¹?

There are five different creeks in the southeastern United States that are Naked. Along Naked Creek in Virginia is Naked Creek Road, which happens to lie across the creek from Moose Bottom Road. What that symbolises, we have no idea.

Leave it to the Netherlands to take things to the next level. The city of Wageningen has an entire Nude street, replete with a Nude auto shop!

Our own Noel Ballantyne brings us this wonderful Muff from Country Donegal²:

Don’t worry, ladies; we’re keeping your interests in mind, too. In fact, we know a place in Sint Maarten specifically geared toward many of your tastes:

If all of this nakedness and nudity is a bit much for you to handle all at once, perhaps we should tone it down and focus on Ass Allround:

Not to get too lewd, but we did uncover a prominent Nipple Knob while compiling this entry. As well, we also caught a Wanker in broad daylight directly on Street View.

Thus concludes what is undoubtedly the most Sexey post ever on Google Sightseeing.

Locations: California, France, Germany, Idaho, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin / Categories: Buildings, Natural Landmarks, Street Views, Weirdness

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Every conceivable speck of open land has been packed with vehicles all around this legendary Grand Prix circuit. But why is everyone here? It’s not a race, because the cars are parked all over the race track – not just on the small Grand Prix circuit and its parking lots, but even the mammoth 13-mile Nordschleife track.

In the fields around the facility you can see that the land is filled with tents, having been turned into a massive campsite – even spilling into the open land around nearby residences.

With that many cars in one area, the surrounding roads were bound to be affected, and we can easily spot the steady flow of traffic moving into the area on the 258.

Since this can’t be a race weekend, this incredible surge of people must be here for the massive annual Rock am Ring music festival. Behind the Grand Prix paddock area we can see the huge centre stage which has been used in the past few years by acts such as System of a Down, Coldplay, and Guns N’ Roses.

There is a parallel event that takes place at the same time in Nuremburg (but the imagery there was captured on a different weekend), called Rock im Park, and together the two venues attract over 150,000 visitors.

With such an enormous number of people in one place, there’s no way everyone would be able to catch even a glimpse of centre stage, so down in the infield section of the Grand Prix circuit we find the second stage called O2 Alternastage, and south in GP turn one we see the third stage called Clubstage.

So the mystery is solved, and thanks to Google’s decision to release this particular imagery, we get an incredible aerial snapshot of one of the world’s largest festivals! To read more about this year’s Rock am Ring festival, visit rock-am-ring.com.

Locations: Germany / Categories: Crowds, Stadiums and Sport

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The Street View car has come fairly close to several fires over the years, and many remain to be seen – such as this sidewalk garbage fire in a Marseilles underpass which has filled the air with acrid black smoke, or this small roadside brush fire midway between Cardiff and Newport, Wales.

In Sao Paulo, this petrol station is nearly obscured completely by the smoke from a car fire.

The most inflammatory encounters for the Street View car, however, may be these large roadside fires in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa and Chiapas, Mexico.

I wonder if they’ve tried putting these fires out with the world’s largest fire hydrant? Then again, it probably wouldn’t help, seeing as how as it’s located over in Columbia, South Carolina. Besides, the Street View Car in general has bad luck with hydrants.

Fortunately, there are usually emergency workers on the case. Here in Wiesbaden, Germany, an upper-level house fire is being attended to by a number of fire trucks.

At Philadelphia International Airport, this burned-out husk of an airplane sits in a paved circle. The helpless victim of firefighter training, it joins its comrade at Florida’s MacDill Air Force Base.¹

This small brush fire on the North Island of New Zealand was likely set deliberately as part of the annual process of getting the land ready for the season’s planting, and this field fire in Bulgaria is also deliberate. This other brush fire in Botswana captured by the National Geographic African Megaflyover Project, however, appears to be far more dangerous.

Then there are full-on forest fires. In the wilderness of the Northwest Territories, this forest fire is caught in the heat of the moment, sending a giant plume of smoke into the air that can be seen over 20 miles (30 km) away.

Just as ominous is this massive fire in the far east of Russia, seen here blazing a path toward the Pacific Ocean.

What’s worse than an out-of-control wildfire? Try three, as captured here in Cameroon.

Finally, here’s the Street View car getting incredibly meta, as it takes a picture of someone taking a picture of a fire along the South African coast.

Locations: Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Florida, France, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Northwest Territories, Pennsylvania, Russia, South Africa, South Carolina, Wales / Categories: Aircraft, Natural Landmarks, Other Vehicles, Street Views

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You have to imagine that quite a bit of work goes into naming a new place. I wonder what early pioneers were thinking when they came across these places. Perhaps they had an abundance of forks? Fork, MD and Fork, SC.

What good would a fork be without a solid cutting knife alongside? Cut Knife, Saskatchewan!

Surprisingly enough, Cut Knife is home to the world’s largest tomahawk – which, while not strictly a kitchen implement, could certainly be of assistance on occasion.

Down in southern Florida we find Coffeepot Bayou – to help you get through those rough morning hours!

Plate, Germany offers us the perfect place to serve our food…

Although don’t forget DISH, TX! Although actually, the town renamed itself from Clark to DISH (all caps intentional) in 2005 after making a commercial agreement with a satellite TV company. What did the residents get out of it? Free satellite TV of course… for ten years!

How about some lunch? Looking around we found some Rye in New York, and some Cheddar in the United Kingdom! Before you ask – no this village wasn’t named after the cheese, rather the cheese was named for the village where it was invented! However today, Cheddar today produces more strawberries than anything else. Perhaps a re-naming is in order.

Now all we need is some good ol’ corned beef. Wait! Found it! Burnt Corn, AL and Beef Island, Tortola.

Maybe later we can make some punch and serve it in the punch bowl? If we’re really feeling adventurous we could serve it in the Devil’s punch bowl – there’s quite a few to choose from!

Previously on Google Sightseeing: The world’s Longest Place Names, the brilliantly named Fucking, Austria, the Top Ten Confusing Place Names, and of course the Top Ten rudest place names in Canada, America and Britain.

Thanks to Jonathan!

Locations: Alabama, California, Germany, Maryland, New York, North Dakota, Saskatchewan, South Carolina, Texas, U.S. Minor Outlying Islands, United Kingdom / Categories: Weirdness

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Carlsberg Brewery, Copenhagen

To start, we visit the quite ornate Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen, Denmark². The western gate tower is supported by four carved granite elephants, the symbol of the brewery. The Latin inscription above the gate means Let us work for our country.

Businessman J.C. Jacobson founded this brewery, which has become a major part of what is now a global brewing conglomerate. He named it after his son Carl, who – after a feud – started his own New Carlsberg company. Following the elder’s death the breweries merged under Carl’s leadership.

The elephants are each marked with an initial of one of Carl’s four children, as well as a swastika. This was originally seen as a symbol of luck based on its origin in eastern religions, though the brewery abandoned its use when it was adopted by the German Nazi party.

One thing I remember from my visit is that workers were allowed to help themselves to a beer any time during the day. They went on strike in 2010 when the company tried to regulate that consumption!

The eastern gate is also notable for the plaque describing Carl Jacobsen’s vision for the brewery, and the depictions of his family and important figures from the business. Learn more about this historic brewery at its official site.

St. James’s Gate Brewery, Ireland

Over to Ireland now, and one of the world’s best known brands – Guinness, and its original brewery St James’s Gate. The gate is marked ’1759′ – the year Arthur Guinness first made beer here, and when he signed a 9,000 year lease!

Once the world’s largest brewery, the plant occupies a huge area south of the river Liffey. Along Crane Street we can find both an attractive brewery gate and a slogan painted by conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner.

At the heart of the factory is The Guinness Storehouse visitor centre³. While it’s difficult to get a clear view of it from Street View, it does have a new glass atrium designed to resemble a pint of their famous beer.

Weihenstephan Abbey, Germany

While Street View is available in some German cities, it has not yet made it to Freising in Bavaria, where the Weihenstephan Abbey claims to be the world’s oldest operating brewery.

While there are records of hops being used at the monastery as early as the 8th century, it was granted an official license in 1040, meaning it will celebrate its thousandth anniversary just 3 decades from now!

Abbaye Notre-Dame de Leffe, Belgium

A different group of monks created one of my personal favourite beers, Leffe. It’s no longer made at the Abbaye Notre-Dame de Leffe⁴ in Dinant, Belgium, though a revitalised religious community there does offer tours of the building, and there’s also a nearby museum.

Bragdy Gwynant, Wales

And finally, just to prove that size isn’t everything⁵, how about the world’s smallest brewery? The title is claimed by Bragdy Gwynant in Wales – basically a tiny shed where real ale is brewed for the Tynllidiart Arms pub next door!

We’d love to hear from our readers – post a comment with a link to the location of your personal favourite brewery or brewpub!

Locations: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Wales / Categories: Buildings, Street Views

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While Google’s satellite view still shows it in mid-reconstruction, the recent launch of Street View in Germany allows us to get a good look at the restored building.

Frauenkirche had a rich history since its construction began in 1726. Bach performed there on a newly installed organ a few years before construction was completed in 1743. It withstood a considerable cannonball barrage during the Seven Years’ War – the sandstone dome being much more stable than many thought it would be.

That same dome sheltered 300 people from the early stages of an Allied firebombing campaign in the late stages of World War II. They eventually had to flee as temperatures started to rise to unbearable levels – an estimated 1,000ªC. This caused solid stone to glow red and explode, leading the building to collapse on the morning of February 15, 1945.

Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-60015-0002 / Löwe / CC-BY-SA (via Wikipedia)

The thousands of tons of ruined stone were left mostly untouched for 45 years, as the Communist regime in East Germany was not inclined to do anything about it. Local residents created informal efforts to salvage parts of the building or unique pieces of stone, and successfully prevented a plan to build a car park on the site.

By the mid-1980s protesters regularly gathered here to call for peace and civil rights in the country. Following the reunification of Germany in 1989, the movement to restore Frauenkirche gathered strength, with stones being formally catalogued and funds being raised.

Some parts of the original building were sufficiently intact to be used in the new structure – see the right and left walls in the image above. In addition, almost 4,000 original stones were incorporated in the new construction. These fire-blackened sections are a clear visual reminder of Frauenkirch’s history.

In some cases totally new items had to be constructed, such as the gilded cross which tops the dome. As a demonstration of faith and peace, this was exhibited in English churches for five years until the new building was ready to receive it.

Where possible, even small fragments from the ruins were reused, such as in the rebuilt altar. The statue of Martin Luther which survived the firebombing – it is visible in the historic image above -  has also been restored and stands in front of the church.

The reconstruction was not without controversy – many were offended that the pipe organ was not replaced by a replica, though the creators of the modern instrument did attempt to include many features of the original. And at least one historian has claimed that the re-used stones were placed arbitrarily rather than in their correct locations.

However, since its reconsecration in 2005, Frauenkirch has been immensely popular with locals and tourists, with its distinctive shape once more being visible from many parts of the city.

Read a much more detailed history at Wikipedia and the official Frauenkirch site.

Thanks to Steffen Lorenz and Tesla_HV.

Locations: Germany / Categories: Buildings, Monuments, Street Views, Structures

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To secure release of the images Google had to allow Germans to opt-out of having their house on the street view, so they’ve manually blurred hundreds of streets.

As is traditional, the German Googlers took to the streets to welcome the Street View car to their country with cheerleaders, signs and giant stuffed animal-things. However, in Germany, even Google employees get their faces blurred.

Around 3% of Germany’s property owners opted out of the service, including a tenant in the same building as Google’s Munich office, meaning that even their building had to be blurred out.

But there’s still many things to be found on German Street View, including the world’s largest Euro symbol, a protest of some sort and the fourth tallest freestanding structure in Europe.

I’m sure there will be even more interesting things spotted in Germany over the next few days so make sure you follow our Twitter account for the latest findings.

Locations: Germany / Categories: Street Views

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Common desserts include cookies, pastries and ice cream, although the ice cream isn’t normally this big.

Desserts are often eaten with a dessert spoon, intermediate in size between a teaspoon and a tablespoon (we’re pretty sure this is a dessert spoon).

One of my favourite desserts is cake (although I usually like my cakes without freaky papier-mâché models popping out of them).

Fruit may also be eaten for dessert…

…but the healthier options can be easy to ignore when presented with giant bars of chocolate.

Some strange people prefer to have a cup of coffee instead of dessert. Weirdos.

…

Erm… what? Desert week?

Don’t be so ridiculous, I’d have noticed.

Locations: Georgia, Germany, Iowa, Minnesota, Netherlands, Ontario, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah /

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