We started our last day in Thüringen early. Very early. Because we had a busy schedule. Approximately 20 coffee breaks. And maybe one or two abandoned places. This one was the second.
It is located on top of a hill. The street leading up is very steep. So steep that the brakes in some of the cars we were with might not have been able to hold the cars in place. So we parked at the bottom of the hill and walked up. Finally on top of the hill, our destination was nowhere to be seen. Thanks to Google Maps on the iPhone, we had to walk around in circles a bit because apparently it doesn't handle hills very well. But that was only the first of many mysterious things to come.

Establishing Shot

This place must have been built as a hotel/restaurant during the cold war and was eventually used as a training center by an IT company. At least some documents that were spread over the kitchen appliances indicated this. For example, there was a copy of the final exam for the apprenticeship as IT merchant in the year of 1993. From the top of my had, I would have gotten most of the answers correct. It made me a little proud. And a little sad.

Kitchen Appliances

The rooms in this hotel were rather strange. Upstairs, they had normal rooms with a nice view over the accompanying valley. Only the beds were less hotel grade and more army grade. Salvation army grade even. And they had rooms in the basement. With no view at all and almost no light. Who would sleep in such a place?
Okay, I would. But I certainly wouldn't pay for it.

Bunk Beds in a windowless room

All over the hotel were some subtle remainders of Russian inhabitants. The kitchen had some safety instructions printed in Cyrillic on the wall. Then there was the labeled toilet of a family named Golovatenko. No idea why they had their own toilet, we just assumed they were some affiliates of the KGB. Also, we found a photocopy of some sort of passport with a handwritten note on it about the checkout of the Ukrainian embassy in Berlin.

Ukrainian Embassy

The last part that was somewhat remarkable was the basement. It was a lot higher than most basements I have seen so far and it was packed with air condition and heating equipment. As far as I could tell, they could heat their tiny building with gas, oil and coal. And they had a huge air condition. Our theory was that the KGB had a hidden bunker under the building. And since we didn't find it, they must have hidden it really well.

Coal Cart

As usual, all my pictures are in the Gallery:

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