0:00:03 > 0:00:06I'm embarking on a new railway adventure that will take me
0:00:06 > 0:00:08across the heart of Europe.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15I'll be using this, my Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide,
0:00:15 > 0:00:20dated 1913, which opened up an exotic world of foreign travel
0:00:20 > 0:00:21for the British tourist.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26It told travellers where to go, what to see,
0:00:26 > 0:00:28and how to navigate the thousands of miles of tracks
0:00:28 > 0:00:30crisscrossing the continent.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34Now, a century later, I'm using my copy to reveal
0:00:34 > 0:00:37an era of great optimism and energy
0:00:37 > 0:00:42where technology, industry, science and the arts were flourishing.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46I want to rediscover that lost Europe that in 1913 could not know
0:00:46 > 0:00:52its way of life would shortly be swept aside by the advent of war.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10I'm travelling through Germany,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13powerhouse of today's European Union.
0:01:13 > 0:01:14100 years ago,
0:01:14 > 0:01:19it already looked muscular, industrially and politically.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22If I'd been travelling on these tracks in 1913,
0:01:22 > 0:01:26I'd be visiting quite a new country.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28The Kingdom of Prussia had merged with or absorbed
0:01:28 > 0:01:31various principalities and duchies
0:01:31 > 0:01:35to form the thoroughly modern industrial state of Germany.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39British travellers here a century ago viewed its power
0:01:39 > 0:01:45and success with a mixture of admiration, envy and fear.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48On this journey, I'll discover how Kaiser Wilhelm II's
0:01:48 > 0:01:54militarism threatened Europe's fragile balance of power.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57The Navy built two battleships a year.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00So, that was really a tremendous fleet.
0:02:00 > 0:02:06I'll let Bradshaw's steer me towards Germany's music and culture...
0:02:06 > 0:02:10HE SPEAKS GERMAN MENACINGLY
0:02:10 > 0:02:14..attempt a 1913 equivalent of a Jane Fonda workout...
0:02:14 > 0:02:17- And up and down... Come on!- NO!
0:02:17 > 0:02:21..see model railway making on the grandest of scales...
0:02:21 > 0:02:25This is an absolute paradise for model lovers,
0:02:25 > 0:02:27for anybody who loves trains.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31..and sample Germany's favourite tipple...
0:02:31 > 0:02:34- What does your expert palate tell you?- It is perfect, isn't it?
0:02:34 > 0:02:35It's pretty good, isn't it?
0:02:39 > 0:02:40My journey starts in Dresden,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43close to the border with the Czech Republic,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47then heads north on Germany's oldest long distance railway,
0:02:47 > 0:02:51through the eastern states, to the musical city of Leipzig.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54Continuing north into Lower Saxony,
0:02:54 > 0:02:56I'll travel to Braunschweig
0:02:56 > 0:03:00before arriving at the prosperous port of Hamburg.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04My journey will end at the home of Germany's Imperial Navy.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19In the years before the First World War, the British King had
0:03:19 > 0:03:21the title Duke of Saxony.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24My first stop is its capital, Dresden.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28My Bradshaw's says it's always been one of the most frequented
0:03:28 > 0:03:29cities in Germany.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32There are English and American quarters.
0:03:32 > 0:03:38As a city for art, music and good society, Dresden cannot be excelled.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40If only I'd known it in those days.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43Fortunately, thanks to the railways in 1913,
0:03:43 > 0:03:48thousands of British tourists could enjoy this jewel of a city
0:03:48 > 0:03:51when it sparkled at its brightest.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57Dresden, on the river Elbe,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00is the birthplace of Kings, Queens and Consorts.
0:04:03 > 0:04:09Queen Victoria's mother was German and in 1840, Victoria married
0:04:09 > 0:04:13her German first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha,
0:04:13 > 0:04:17strengthening further the dynastic bond between Britain and Germany.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29As though to demonstrate German engineering prowess,
0:04:29 > 0:04:31at the end of the 19th century,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34Dresden was given a superb station on two levels -
0:04:34 > 0:04:37one with a terminus and one for the through trains.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40It was, of course, destroyed by bombs in World War II
0:04:40 > 0:04:44and then for the 45 years that East Germany was a Soviet satellite state
0:04:44 > 0:04:46the station was neglected,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49but it was restored at the beginning of the 21st century
0:04:49 > 0:04:52and the British architects, Foster and Partners,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55designed a roof, which is Teflon coated
0:04:55 > 0:04:58and covers 30,000 square metres.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05Dresden is now home to more than half a million people.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08At the time of my Bradshaw's the city was as important
0:05:08 > 0:05:12a cultural destination as Prague, Paris or Berlin.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21Dresden's golden age had been the 18th century,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24when its beauty was captured in a painting by Canaletto
0:05:24 > 0:05:27and it became known as Florence on the Elbe.
0:05:31 > 0:05:32Architecture aside,
0:05:32 > 0:05:36Dresden is a place of great cultural interest for me.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38A favourite opera composer, Richard Wagner,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41spent nearly 20 years here.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45When my Bradshaw's guide was published in 1913, the world
0:05:45 > 0:05:47was celebrating the centenary of Richard Wagner,
0:05:47 > 0:05:52so he was born just over 200 years ago in nearby Leipzig.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56Now, many people don't like Wagner, they find him long and loud
0:05:56 > 0:06:01and certainly he's politically controversial, but I am a fan.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03I think for his understanding of humanity,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06he is one of the greatest artists of history.
0:06:06 > 0:06:11I think his most absorbing work is his Ring Cycle of four epic operas,
0:06:11 > 0:06:16which took him 26 years to write and which I find extraordinarily deep.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18HE SINGS
0:06:30 > 0:06:34But Dresden is associated with one of his very early pieces.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45In 1842, Dresden's famous Semper Opera House invited Wagner to
0:06:45 > 0:06:50premiere his grand tragic tale about two rival Roman families -
0:06:50 > 0:06:51called Rienzi.
0:07:02 > 0:07:07I'm meeting Cosima Curth to find out how it was received.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09It was a success then, Rienzi?
0:07:09 > 0:07:11It was a great success.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14He didn't like it very much, said it was like crying around.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16It made him popular.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19Rienzi is more or less very similar to the Grand Opera
0:07:19 > 0:07:22like they had at the time.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Wagner then stayed in Dresden after that?
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Yep, first of all, he liked the town,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30because it was the first town where he had a lot of success.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34And he wanted to present a second opera here a few months later,
0:07:34 > 0:07:36which was the Flying Dutchman.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41Wagner was also a fine conductor,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44likened by his contemporaries to a general in battle.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52He was the first who conducted directly to the musicians.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56He used to like to use the baton as well.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00There's a nice story about it. Sometimes he forgot it.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04So, he took a ladle that was given to him by a musician
0:08:04 > 0:08:07and broke the handle and conducted with that.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09But even nowadays we have fantastic conductors,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12but they use two sticks to conduct.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14But nobody's done it with a ladle.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16Never again! Never again!
0:08:19 > 0:08:25In Dresden, Wagner briefly helped to organise a military operation.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27In a period of revolutions across the continent,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30people in Dresden took to the streets.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35Wagner became very actively involved in politics, didn't he, in 1849?
0:08:35 > 0:08:37What was it that happened?
0:08:37 > 0:08:40In the 19th century, Dresden was a really international town,
0:08:40 > 0:08:44open to many countries, but the living conditions for the workers
0:08:44 > 0:08:46weren't at the highest condition
0:08:46 > 0:08:50and that's why Marx published his thesis of a new world,
0:08:50 > 0:08:55and this caused a lot of trouble, and started a movement of a revolution,
0:08:55 > 0:08:57which started in Dresden in 1849.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00And Wagner was drawn in to that, wasn't he?
0:09:00 > 0:09:04Yeah. He was a great enthusiast about these changes in living conditions.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08He himself was especially interested in the way that musicians were paid.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11That maybe the opera shouldn't be owned by the king,
0:09:11 > 0:09:13but owned by the masses.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19The authorities sought help from Prussia, which used a new invention,
0:09:19 > 0:09:21railways, to send troops.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26And what job was given to Wagner in this revolution?
0:09:26 > 0:09:28He had a fantastic job.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30He had to climb up to the tower of one of our churches,
0:09:30 > 0:09:33and to watch where the army is coming from.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35And to announce it to somebody else.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38And because it was such a hard job, he asked to send
0:09:38 > 0:09:41- a bottle of wine to him. - And that would help with his work!
0:09:43 > 0:09:46Over 200 rebels were killed in the fighting
0:09:46 > 0:09:51and although Wagner escaped, a warrant was issued for his arrest.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55So, that was bye-bye, Dresden, for Richard Wagner.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58Yeah. Not for ever. He came later on back to Dresden because
0:09:58 > 0:10:01his wife stayed in Dresden,
0:10:01 > 0:10:05and she herself tried to make him
0:10:05 > 0:10:08apologise to be accepted again as another member of society.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11She could do so and she succeeded in doing.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23And it's not just in the opera house that Wagner gets an airing.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25SHE SINGS
0:10:28 > 0:10:32Hello. Excuse me. That was charming. What's the song about?
0:10:32 > 0:10:36Actually it's a warning of not having sex before marriage.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40It comes a little late for me, but thank you, anyway. Bye.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48The now beautifully restored Lutheran Church of Our Lady -
0:10:48 > 0:10:52the Frauenkirche - is symbolic of what the Germans have experienced
0:10:52 > 0:10:55since British tourists first followed my guide here.
0:10:55 > 0:11:01Destroyed by allied bombing in 1945, for decades its ruins constituted
0:11:01 > 0:11:03an anti-war memorial.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08When East and West Germany were reunified in 1990,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11the church was painstakingly reconstructed.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16The Frauenkirche manages to be both pretty and overpowering,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19which is perhaps why the people of Dresden love it so much.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24In 1843, it was the scene of an extraordinary choral work,
0:11:24 > 0:11:28with an orchestra of 100 and a choir of 1,100.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32The conductor was one Richard Wagner, the composer was one
0:11:32 > 0:11:37Richard Wagner and the subject was the Last Supper of Christ.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39CHORAL SINGING
0:11:51 > 0:11:54Today, the Frauenkirche symbolises the rebirth of Dresden
0:11:54 > 0:11:58following the destruction of its buildings and population.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02DRAMATIC CHORAL MUSIC
0:12:20 > 0:12:23Early travellers to Dresden I'm sure would have remarked
0:12:23 > 0:12:27on the romantic look and feel of the place.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31In 1913, the city was in the grip of a health craze -
0:12:31 > 0:12:34a new philosophy of well-being called Naturheilkunde,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37or naturopathy, had taken hold.
0:12:37 > 0:12:38And its mantra was,
0:12:38 > 0:12:44"In einem gesunden Korper wohnt ein gesunder Geist", or as we would say,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47a healthy mind in a healthy body.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51Like the rest of Europe, Dresden had experienced industrialisation,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54bringing with it smoky factory chimneys
0:12:54 > 0:12:56and polluted atmosphere and water.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59But the fresh air of the hills around the city
0:12:59 > 0:13:03became a magnet for international health tourists.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06I'm headed for Weisser Hirsch. Bradshaw's tells me it's a
0:13:06 > 0:13:10well-known health resort that's grown from a village in recent years
0:13:10 > 0:13:15and now has villas, hotels and sanatoriums of the highest repute,
0:13:15 > 0:13:17reached by electric car from Dresden.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20I wondered what an electric car might be?
0:13:20 > 0:13:23It turns out to be a thoroughly original suspended railway.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30It's one of the oldest suspension railways in the world.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35It climbs 84 metres and is 274 metres long.
0:13:35 > 0:13:40In 1913, it also provided an easy escape for Europe's wealthy and
0:13:40 > 0:13:44leisured elite, intent on improving their physical health and fitness.
0:13:44 > 0:13:49Prussian nobility and Russian royalty rubbed shoulders with
0:13:49 > 0:13:53well-heeled merchants and military top brass, actors,
0:13:53 > 0:13:55singers and writers.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08- Eckhard.- Hi, Michael!
0:14:08 > 0:14:12I'm meeting author, Eckhard Bahr, at the once grand and famous
0:14:12 > 0:14:18spa resort, Der Weisser Hirsch, now decidedly faded and overgrown.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20I get the impression at the beginning of the 20th century
0:14:20 > 0:14:22there was a new interest in health.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25- That's true.- Coming up to the top of the hill people wanted to get
0:14:25 > 0:14:27away from the industrial cities?
0:14:27 > 0:14:30That's right. There was a sense of back to nature
0:14:30 > 0:14:35and Dr Lahmann who was a physician of that time, he combined
0:14:35 > 0:14:42this new feeling, this new style of thinking with a great new idea.
0:14:42 > 0:14:48So, he combined health care and treatments
0:14:48 > 0:14:52with a new sense of fresh air,
0:14:52 > 0:14:54good portion of diet
0:14:54 > 0:14:58and also a good sense of humour.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07Dr Heinrich Lahmann, a pioneer of food and health treatments,
0:15:07 > 0:15:09was a man ahead of his time,
0:15:09 > 0:15:13recommending diet and exercise instead of prescription drugs.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18- The buildings were clearly very impressive.- That's true.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21And la toura sanat... Latin for what?
0:15:21 > 0:15:23Nature cures all, is that it?
0:15:23 > 0:15:29Yes, nature cures, water cures and also fresh air,
0:15:29 > 0:15:31baths in the sunshine.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34This, I take it, is the bath house?
0:15:34 > 0:15:37That's true, yes. The bath house.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39There was a female bath for the ladies
0:15:39 > 0:15:43and a bath for the gentlemen.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46What sort of treatments did Dr Lahmann propose?
0:15:46 > 0:15:49They got showers,
0:15:49 > 0:15:54extremely pointed at different parts of the body
0:15:54 > 0:15:58and then again different kinds of light,
0:15:58 > 0:16:03warm and cold, so it was a strange combination of types.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06For instance, they were sitting in a box
0:16:06 > 0:16:09and this was full of electric lights.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14So, they got even small electric shocks.
0:16:14 > 0:16:19Then he sent them out to the forest nearly naked.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23They wear very small piece of clothes and then
0:16:23 > 0:16:27they stood still in the surroundings
0:16:27 > 0:16:30and listened to the voices of the birds.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32I'm sure that would be very good for you!
0:16:35 > 0:16:40By 1913, more than 7,000 guests had visited Der Weisser Hirsch.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43And many of them were already wedded
0:16:43 > 0:16:46to the latest physical exercise regime.
0:16:47 > 0:16:53The Mr Motivator of his day was famous Danish athlete JP Muller.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56His bestselling fitness book, My System,
0:16:56 > 0:17:02was designed to turn parlour dandies in to iron men, in just six weeks.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08Fitness instructor, Grit Buechner, is going to put me through my paces.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10This person here isn't wearing many clothes.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13What was the appropriate clothing for the Muller?
0:17:13 > 0:17:16Muller said you need not a lot of clothes.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19You go outside and if it's cold or it's hot,
0:17:19 > 0:17:24that's enough to make you harder if you don't have a lot clothes.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27And so can you show me the system?
0:17:27 > 0:17:31Yes, I can show you, but please not in this clothes,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34sports clothes or less clothes.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37I'll go and get less clothes, yah!
0:17:37 > 0:17:40# Keep young and beautiful
0:17:40 > 0:17:42# It's your duty to be beautiful... #
0:17:47 > 0:17:51Muller's magical formula consists of 18 different exercises,
0:17:51 > 0:17:54practised daily during a 15-minute workout.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Right. I think I'm ready.
0:18:03 > 0:18:08- OK, bend, short and sharp. - Short and sharp.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10- 13 times.- What?
0:18:10 > 0:18:14Yep. Stretch your knee. What's with your leg?
0:18:14 > 0:18:18- Look at Ticha. She do it right. - Hello, Ticha.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20The more you do over the six weeks,
0:18:20 > 0:18:22the stronger and fitter you should become.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25Last three, do as high as you can. One.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28Oh! Oh!
0:18:28 > 0:18:31- Are you warm?- Yep, warmed up.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34- And you feel it in your legs? - Oh, gosh, yes.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37- We do the next.- Wow, well, if I get a figure like that,
0:18:37 > 0:18:39it'll be worth it.
0:18:39 > 0:18:40- Do this.- What?!
0:18:40 > 0:18:42What's with your legs?
0:18:42 > 0:18:45- I can't reach my toes. - You must stretch.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47Have we done our 15 minutes yet?
0:18:48 > 0:18:50With sales of over 2 million,
0:18:50 > 0:18:54My System was endorsed by doctors and kings.
0:18:54 > 0:18:59The Czech writer, Franz Kafka, swore by it and fitness regimes today
0:18:59 > 0:19:02owe much to his once radical ideas.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05Right leg, left leg.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07This is quite tiring.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10And up and down. Come on!
0:19:10 > 0:19:12NO! No more!
0:19:12 > 0:19:14Good job!
0:19:14 > 0:19:18Kafka wrote really extraordinary stories.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20He gave a word to the
0:19:20 > 0:19:24English language for things that were really bizarre - Kafkaesque.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27If you're ever asked if you saw something Kafkaesque, say yes.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29Michael Portillo doing gymnastics!
0:19:43 > 0:19:44On this new day,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47I'll be embarking on a highly historic railway line,
0:19:47 > 0:19:50which first opened in 1839.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11My next stop is Leipzig, which my Bradshaw's tells me
0:20:11 > 0:20:15is a town of great commercial importance.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18It's the seat of the Supreme Law Courts of the German empire and its
0:20:18 > 0:20:23university is ancient and renowned and I'm travelling on tracks that
0:20:23 > 0:20:28are pretty significant too, as this was the first major long distance
0:20:28 > 0:20:33railway made in Germany and it's almost as British as my Bradshaw's!
0:20:37 > 0:20:40In the 19th century, the main industry in Saxony was textiles -
0:20:40 > 0:20:43linen and woollen cloth.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45Economist Friederich List,
0:20:45 > 0:20:48seeing the great possibilities the railway had offered British
0:20:48 > 0:20:51industry, conceived in the 1830s
0:20:51 > 0:20:54a railway unifying the states of Germany.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58And who better to build it than British engineers?
0:20:58 > 0:21:02Rail historian John Lace is an expert on the line.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06- Hello, John.- Hello, Michael. Good morning.- Good to see you.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10So, this railway line from Dresden to Leipzig
0:21:10 > 0:21:13plays a very important part in German railway history.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15How did the railway actually come to be built?
0:21:15 > 0:21:20The Leipzig directors approached James Walker, who then was President
0:21:20 > 0:21:24of the Institute of Civil Engineers in London
0:21:24 > 0:21:27and he came across with his young assistant, James Hawkshaw,
0:21:27 > 0:21:30who was 23, to survey the line between.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32Walker took two weeks, at the end of it said,
0:21:32 > 0:21:36I've done all I need to do, there is more work for me back in Britain
0:21:36 > 0:21:40and he left Hawkshaw to walk the route endlessly.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45Without modern surveying equipment and no GPS, engineers like Hawkshaw
0:21:45 > 0:21:51faced a huge challenge, getting 116 kilometres of route just right.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53I'd like to show you this map actually,
0:21:53 > 0:21:57which gives a really good overview of the entire line
0:21:57 > 0:22:00and shows what John Hawkshaw had created.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04It's a very detailed map and it shows every bridge
0:22:04 > 0:22:08and every crossing and all the cuttings there were
0:22:08 > 0:22:11and the one tunnel that was built at Auber.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13It's a relatively simple line.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15It doesn't have a lot of ups and downs?
0:22:15 > 0:22:21No. James Walker had been one of the developers of
0:22:21 > 0:22:23the Leeds-Selby line, which is a very flat line
0:22:23 > 0:22:27and when he proposed this line, the directors were overjoyed.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33To complement the British construction know-how,
0:22:33 > 0:22:38the Leipzig Dresden Railway Company ordered 16 British locomotives.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45Its first coal-powered steam engine was called Komet.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47John Robson, who was a driver with
0:22:47 > 0:22:49the Liverpool-Manchester railway line,
0:22:49 > 0:22:54accompanied the first Komet from Bolton to Liverpool docks to Hamburg,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56down the Elbe. 15 crates.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01Robson was skilful enough to re-assemble those 15 crates
0:23:01 > 0:23:03into a working locomotive.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07An extraordinary thought. How fast was Komet in those early days?
0:23:07 > 0:23:10Oh, between four and six miles per hour,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14it didn't travel at the speed that this train is travelling now.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20With Friedrich List's ambition fast becoming a reality,
0:23:20 > 0:23:24the people of Saxony flocked to experience train travel.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27There were up to six trains per day passing up and down
0:23:27 > 0:23:29on the Leipzig to Dresden line.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Commercially it was also a success,
0:23:32 > 0:23:36finally giving businesses a quick way to move goods to the River Elbe.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Leipzig is a city made of music.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45It was home to Johann Sebastian Bach and Felix Mendelssohn
0:23:45 > 0:23:50and is famous for its Opera House and the St Thomas's Boys' Choir.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56But as well as being a centre of culture, thanks to the
0:23:56 > 0:24:00railway, it's also one of Germany's leading commercial cities.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07The railway station in Leipzig according to Bradshaw's is
0:24:07 > 0:24:10the largest in Europe, and it's still thought to be
0:24:10 > 0:24:13the biggest on our continent by floor area.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16With its 24 platforms and six railway sheds,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19and now since the fall of communism, vast parts of the station
0:24:19 > 0:24:23have been converted to a shopping complex.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28In 1913, Leipzig was at the heart
0:24:28 > 0:24:32of one of the most productive areas in Europe.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34Germany's late industrial revolution
0:24:34 > 0:24:36meant that entrepreneurs could take full advantage
0:24:36 > 0:24:40of new technology and manufacturing methods.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44To appreciate how productive and self-confident
0:24:44 > 0:24:46Germany had become,
0:24:46 > 0:24:51I'm heading by tram to the west of the city, to the suburb of Plagwitz.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56It's home to what was one of the largest cotton spinning mills in Europe.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59I've arranged to meet Bertram Schultze,
0:24:59 > 0:25:00who runs the Spinnerei today.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05- Hello, Bertram. - Hello, very welcome.
0:25:05 > 0:25:06We're walking along tracks.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10Were the railways very important to the development of this place?
0:25:10 > 0:25:11Actually, it was essential.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14They bought this property of about 100,000 square metres,
0:25:14 > 0:25:19because the developer over 100 years ago, whose name was Dr Karl Heiner,
0:25:19 > 0:25:24had arranged that the tracks were brought in to the big properties so that the goods
0:25:24 > 0:25:28could come in, the raw materials, and the goods could go out again.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32Well, they founded the place in 1884, based on this market research
0:25:32 > 0:25:36that it would be profitable to create a big inner German
0:25:36 > 0:25:39cotton spinning mill producing mainly the thicker threads.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46It meant that the mill could spin the cotton itself,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49rather than rely on foreign imports.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54So a visitor coming here in 1913 using this guidebook
0:25:54 > 0:25:58would have found the factory in full production?
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Yeah, full scale, very lively, I guess.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04Working a three-shift system, so going through all the time.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09The Spinnerei's 1,600 workers
0:26:09 > 0:26:12were processing 20,000 bales of cotton
0:26:12 > 0:26:15into 5 million kilograms of thread.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17Bertram wants to show me
0:26:17 > 0:26:20what's left of just one of the huge spinning rooms
0:26:20 > 0:26:23where productivity reached unassailable levels.
0:26:24 > 0:26:25This is the old elevator.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30We just put in very new technique into it. You should feel safe.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34Wow, what a vast space.
0:26:35 > 0:26:40This is where we still have the full scale 4,000 square metres
0:26:40 > 0:26:44on one layer where you can still have the feeling of how
0:26:44 > 0:26:46it worked with machinery in here.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49So they had the machinery actually going in long lines like this
0:26:49 > 0:26:51between the columns.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57You must imagine a 20 metre machine and people working on it.
0:26:57 > 0:26:58Now it is quite hot,
0:26:58 > 0:27:02so with the machinery it must have been hotter, so they had
0:27:02 > 0:27:06a very early air conditioning and air moisturing system in here
0:27:06 > 0:27:10which was in the middle where you can see the walls back there.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13While the air conditioning is testament to German engineering prowess,
0:27:13 > 0:27:19the mill also illustrates what Germany regarded as a great weakness - a lack of colonies.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22As the imperial powers of Europe
0:27:22 > 0:27:26scrambled to carve up Africa between them, Germany was late to the table,
0:27:26 > 0:27:29securing only a few colonies in the south and west
0:27:29 > 0:27:33and modern-day Tanzania in the east.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35This paucity rankled the Kaiser,
0:27:35 > 0:27:39who wanted new markets for goods and new sources of raw materials.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43Germany was able to use the territory in Tanzania
0:27:43 > 0:27:45to grow its own cotton.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48Germany, yeah, but especially the cotton spinning mill.
0:27:48 > 0:27:53I think Tanzania was used for different reasons as well,
0:27:53 > 0:27:58but this company had their colonies down there, about 30,000 hectares,
0:27:58 > 0:28:00so it was really quite a big space,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03which they turned into farmland and tried to grow their own cotton.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Cotton growing conditions in Tanzania were hard. Pests put paid
0:28:09 > 0:28:13to two-thirds of the harvest in the second year and the scheme failed.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22Today, the cotton machines are long gone and in their place is art.
0:28:26 > 0:28:31Historically, the most renowned artists of Leipzig were musicians.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42My guidebook directs me to the Thomaskirche, or St Thomas's church,
0:28:42 > 0:28:43with its lofty roof -
0:28:43 > 0:28:49very distinctive - and its monument to Johann Sebastian Bach.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53Now Bach was the so-called Thomaskantor here at the church
0:28:53 > 0:28:55and more to the point, he wrote several cantatas
0:28:55 > 0:28:59while he was in charge of the boys' choir here.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03And he effectively established Leipzig as the musical capital of Saxony,
0:29:03 > 0:29:05arguably of Europe.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13I'm heading to a remarkable music school,
0:29:13 > 0:29:15where the creativity of Bach
0:29:15 > 0:29:17could be sustained and nurtured,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20and one generation of genius could inspire the next.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25I'm meeting conservatory librarian Barbara Wierman
0:29:25 > 0:29:26at the Hochschule.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29My Bradshaw's tells me
0:29:29 > 0:29:33about the famous music conservatorium of Leipzig -
0:29:33 > 0:29:34why was it so famous?
0:29:34 > 0:29:39Oh, actually it was the first music conservatory in Germany.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41Especially our founder, he's really famous -
0:29:41 > 0:29:43that's Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy,
0:29:43 > 0:29:46and it was his idea to have a conservatory,
0:29:46 > 0:29:49a music school in Leipzig.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51He was a really good music politician.
0:29:51 > 0:29:56He made politics here in Leipzig so that it became in his time,
0:29:56 > 0:29:59the music town, Leipzig. Music city Leipzig.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04The students of this elite music school were privileged indeed.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07Not only did they study under a great composer, they were
0:30:07 > 0:30:11also taught by the musicians of his Gewandhaus Orchestra.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14I've brought you to the library to tell you about some
0:30:14 > 0:30:18of our famous alumni and to show you some of the archival materials.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20You must have had so many, I imagine.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22Who are the most famous?
0:30:22 > 0:30:26I think one of the most famous is Edward Grieg and Leos Janacek
0:30:26 > 0:30:32and of course of interest to you is Arthur Sullivan.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34# Three little maids from school are we
0:30:34 > 0:30:36# Pert as a schoolgirl well can be
0:30:36 > 0:30:39# Filled to the brim with girlish glee
0:30:39 > 0:30:42# Three little maids from school... #
0:30:42 > 0:30:46Arthur Sullivan, the composer half of Gilbert and Sullivan,
0:30:46 > 0:30:48won the Royal Academy of Music's
0:30:48 > 0:30:51first Mendelssohn Scholarship to study here.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55Barbara wants to show me how the young Arthur fitted in.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58If we have a look at our reports, there are two reports left.
0:30:58 > 0:31:03He came here in 1858 and he left in 1861.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07The reports say he was really good at composing.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11He was a first violinist of the Gewandhaus Orchestra
0:31:11 > 0:31:14and you must know the first violinist is also responsible for conducting.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17He was very talented at conducting.
0:31:18 > 0:31:19What's this here?
0:31:21 > 0:31:25These are the programme notes of his final exam.
0:31:25 > 0:31:30He played and conducted his own composition.
0:31:30 > 0:31:32The Tempest, by Shakespeare.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35Do you know how that was received?
0:31:35 > 0:31:37It was very well received.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41Here in Germany and when he returned to Britain.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44I should think it was hard for the people in the conservatory
0:31:44 > 0:31:48to imagine that Arthur Sullivan, such a gifted conductor and composer,
0:31:48 > 0:31:52would one day become famous for satirical operettas.
0:31:52 > 0:31:57It was surprising, let's say!
0:32:04 > 0:32:08Just like Sullivan, the current crop of talented students
0:32:08 > 0:32:10benefit from Mendelssohn's legacy.
0:32:28 > 0:32:29You're studying here.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32Do you have a sense of history about the place?
0:32:32 > 0:32:34Yes, there's a sense of history.
0:32:34 > 0:32:39I can feel the history when I go through the city and see the houses.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41And Bach is a great inspiration?
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Yeah, every time I'm looking for a good
0:32:44 > 0:32:49programme for my semester, Bach has to be in it.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52- Maybe a little more Bach?- Yes!
0:33:05 > 0:33:06In a city of so many students,
0:33:06 > 0:33:10the 1913 traveller might not have been surprised
0:33:10 > 0:33:11to find a jolly good pub.
0:33:18 > 0:33:22In this most famous subterranean Leipzig haunt -
0:33:22 > 0:33:25Auerbach's Keller - they could enjoy a hell of a good evening.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33- Thank you very much. - This is a typical Saxony food.
0:33:33 > 0:33:38Beef roulade with dumpling potatoes and red cabbage.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41That does sound typically Saxon.
0:33:41 > 0:33:46The dumpling potatoes are very solid.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52They're chewy, but they really absorb the gravy.
0:33:52 > 0:33:57The beef is stuffed with olives and other vegetables.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59A very good meal.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02MAN SPEAKS IN GERMAN
0:34:13 > 0:34:16Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Shakespeare of Germany,
0:34:16 > 0:34:19set a key scene of his tragedy Faust here.
0:34:25 > 0:34:30Faust sells his soul to the devil, in return for knowledge and worldly pleasures.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32Together, they visit the Keller,
0:34:32 > 0:34:34where Goethe used to drink as a student.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38MAN SPEAKS IN GERMAN
0:34:41 > 0:34:44Well, I assume that those were lines from Goethe's Faust,
0:34:44 > 0:34:47but I must say, this devil wouldn't tempt me to very much.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52'After devil and dumplings, I'm ready for heavenly sleep.'
0:35:06 > 0:35:10I'm up early, heading north from Leipzig station into Lower Saxony.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17I'm approaching the halfway point of my journey through
0:35:17 > 0:35:20Germany from Dresden in the east to Kiel in the north.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27You can get a nice cooked breakfast on the German railways
0:35:27 > 0:35:29but on this train, it's strictly self-service.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46My destination today is Braunschweig or Brunswick,
0:35:46 > 0:35:47and I'm changing at Magdeburg.
0:35:47 > 0:35:50I'm supposed to have six minutes to make the change.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53But this train is arriving late, so it's going to be a real chase.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03Koln, bitte.
0:36:03 > 0:36:04Links, danke.
0:36:08 > 0:36:09The train for Koln, or Cologne,
0:36:09 > 0:36:12stops at Brunswick, but it's three platforms away.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25Made it.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29Relief. Now that I'm on the Brunswick train,
0:36:29 > 0:36:31my journey should just take me just 45 minutes.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43Helmstedt is an interesting station because in the old days,
0:36:43 > 0:36:46this was the border between East Germany and West Germany.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50Now of course there is no border and the trains go through smoothly.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53And to the uninitiated like me, you can't tell the difference
0:36:53 > 0:36:57between East and West Germany - it is now an entirely seamless country.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02Brunswick was the birthplace of Caroline of Brunswick,
0:37:02 > 0:37:05who became known as the Injured Queen of England.
0:37:05 > 0:37:10In 1795, Britain's future King George IV agreed to marry her,
0:37:10 > 0:37:14although she was described as "short, fat and ugly",
0:37:14 > 0:37:18because Parliament agreed to pay off his gambling debts if he did.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22Caroline duly bore him an heir and George then duly left her.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26So it seems rather surprising that Bradshaw's specifically notes
0:37:26 > 0:37:30that Brunswick residents are happy.
0:37:30 > 0:37:35My book says the people from Brunswick are cheerful, happy?
0:37:35 > 0:37:41- I heard it.- Is it true? - I would say half and half.
0:37:41 > 0:37:46Some people are very cheerful and some people are...
0:37:47 > 0:37:49THEY LAUGH
0:37:49 > 0:37:54- Sie sind frohlich, ja? - Ja.- Why not be happy?
0:37:56 > 0:38:00Braunschweigers, yes. They're smiling.
0:38:00 > 0:38:01You have a lovely smile.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03- Let's see that smile. - Thank you.
0:38:03 > 0:38:08Let's see that smile. That would make everybody happy.
0:38:09 > 0:38:12There may be another reason for the "cheery" comment.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16Brunswick is home to one of Germany's oldest breweries.
0:38:17 > 0:38:22The Hofbrauhaus Wolters dates back to 1627 and by the 1880s,
0:38:22 > 0:38:26they were brewers by appointment to the Duke of Brunswick.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29Meike Bluhm is the brewmaster.
0:38:29 > 0:38:30Meike, hello.
0:38:30 > 0:38:31Hi, Michael, nice meeting you here.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34I notice straightaway that there are railway tracks here.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37Historically, were the railways quite important for the brewery?
0:38:37 > 0:38:38Absolutely, yes.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41They were important for us to bring the raw materials on to site,
0:38:41 > 0:38:45but also to transport the finished goods to all over northern Germany.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50Curiously, the railway also contributed
0:38:50 > 0:38:52to the taste of the beer.
0:38:52 > 0:38:54The steam locomotives running on this line
0:38:54 > 0:38:58needed soft water in their boilers.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00But Brunswick is a city of hard water,
0:39:00 > 0:39:04so it had to be piped in from the Harz mountains, 40km away.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07And the brewery was quick to use it,
0:39:07 > 0:39:10giving their beer a purer, softer taste.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17This is called the mash tun, where the malt grist
0:39:17 > 0:39:21and water are mixed, stirred and heated up to about 75 degrees.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25- Which explains why it's so hot in here.- Absolutely.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29And what happens when you mix the grain with the water like this?
0:39:29 > 0:39:32What happens is that the enzymes in the grains
0:39:32 > 0:39:34break down the starch into sugars.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38And that sugar is later fermented into alcohol by the yeast.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41Forgive me asking you, but is it quite unusual these days still
0:39:41 > 0:39:45for a woman to be a master brewer?
0:39:45 > 0:39:47It is still quite unusual, although times are changing
0:39:47 > 0:39:51and there are a few to be found now in some breweries,
0:39:51 > 0:39:54but I'm...a rarity.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57A master brewer has to have a very good palate.
0:39:57 > 0:39:58Is that true?
0:39:58 > 0:40:01Are you born with it or are you trained to it?
0:40:01 > 0:40:05That is true. You can be born with it. Some people are not.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08There is a lot of training you have to undergo to develop
0:40:08 > 0:40:10a palate for beer.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13Tasting is still our most important quality check,
0:40:13 > 0:40:16so we sample every batch, every day.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18Were you born with a fine palate?
0:40:18 > 0:40:20I do have a bit of a palate, yes.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23And how did you discover that?
0:40:23 > 0:40:26Don't want to answer that question!
0:40:26 > 0:40:29I carry a guide book from 1913 and I'm wondering what would beer
0:40:29 > 0:40:33have tasted like at the beginning of the 20th century, do you think?
0:40:33 > 0:40:36It would have tasted more bitter than it tastes now,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39and also a bit sweeter, that means more body.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45I can give you a sample of beer that comes pretty close to what
0:40:45 > 0:40:48beer would have tasted like 100 years ago.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56It doesn't taste very bitter to me, it does taste a bit sweet.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00Actually, it's pretty good. What does your expert palate tell you?
0:41:00 > 0:41:03- It's perfect, isn't it? - It's pretty good, isn't it?
0:41:04 > 0:41:11Wolters produces around 270 million bottles and cans of beer a year,
0:41:11 > 0:41:12all now transported by road.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18But with nearly 200 kilometres between me and my hotel,
0:41:18 > 0:41:22I'm definitely letting the train take the strain.
0:41:29 > 0:41:31Hanover - I have to change trains here.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54My next stop will be Hamburg.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57According to my Bradshaw's, it's situated on the River Elbe
0:41:57 > 0:41:5960 miles from the mouth of the river,
0:41:59 > 0:42:02the second city of the German Empire.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04It ranks in commercial importance
0:42:04 > 0:42:08before any other town in continental Europe.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11By 1913, the Great British ports of Liverpool
0:42:11 > 0:42:15and London had to regard Hamburg as a serious rival.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22Its huge port, that gives Hamburg this access to the world,
0:42:22 > 0:42:24is situated in the heart of the city.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28And as Germany's second largest city,
0:42:28 > 0:42:31it's also one of Europe's most affluent.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45Hamburg's main station is really awe-inspiring.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47It was built in 1906,
0:42:47 > 0:42:50apparently replacing four different terminal stations.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54So for the traveller with the Bradshaw's Guide in 1913,
0:42:54 > 0:42:55it would have been new.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59It is, they say, the busiest station in Germany,
0:42:59 > 0:43:03the second busiest in all of Europe after Paris' Gare du Nord,
0:43:03 > 0:43:05and this evening it really feels like it.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12Time, I think, to find the quiet sanctuary of my hotel.
0:43:29 > 0:43:34When I think of Hamburg, I picture a busy industrial port.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36Its beauty is an unexpected bonus.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54The Bradshaw's Guide loves to list major engineering feats.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57"Under the Elbe is a double tunnel for pedestrians and vehicles,
0:43:57 > 0:44:04"490 yards long, made at a cost of over £500,000."
0:44:04 > 0:44:07With that tone of enthusiasm, this has to be worth seeing.
0:44:15 > 0:44:19By the early 1900s, Hamburg's traffic problems were chronic.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23The roads were hectic, and the river even worse.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26Congestion and currents made life difficult for workers
0:44:26 > 0:44:30crossing from the city to Hamburg's bustling docks.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33The solution was to dig the Sankt Pauli Elbtunnel,
0:44:33 > 0:44:36and this grand entrance hall is the way in.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40Well, this is built on an extraordinary scale.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45But it's not just the size of it, it is the architectural grandeur.
0:44:45 > 0:44:50It's been built like the Pantheon in Rome and it's beautifully tiled
0:44:50 > 0:44:54and here I see reliefs - I imagine these are the engineers
0:44:54 > 0:45:00and the architects immortalised in statues, and quite rightly so.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13Four huge lifts on either side of the river carry pedestrians,
0:45:13 > 0:45:16cyclists and motor vehicles to the bottom...
0:45:18 > 0:45:20..where they enter two narrow tunnels
0:45:20 > 0:45:23taking traffic backwards and forwards.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27Hello, Hartmut.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30- Hello, Michael. Welcome to the Old Elbe Tunnel.- Thank you very much.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34- I'm finding it impressive and beautiful.- Yes, it is.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38'Hartmut Graf is the head engineer responsible for keeping the tunnel running.'
0:45:38 > 0:45:41When was it actually built?
0:45:41 > 0:45:47It was built up to 1911 and it was planned up to 1905.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51And the planning was heavily influenced by the Glasgow tunnel.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54The decision to build a tunnel, rather than a bridge?
0:45:55 > 0:46:00The port was too active for a bridge and the ships were too big.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03Let's step out of the way here.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09It's built quite narrow.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12Was there a lot of traffic in the early days?
0:46:12 > 0:46:17Yeah. There was quite a lot of traffic, mostly by horses.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22And I suppose the early motorcars, in 1911.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25Yeah, there are some pictures with very old cars here.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27Why do you think it was built so grandly,
0:46:27 > 0:46:31in the style of the Pantheon and with such beautiful tiles?
0:46:31 > 0:46:36At this time, 1900, Germany still had an emperor
0:46:36 > 0:46:40and he wanted to be proud about this.
0:46:40 > 0:46:45So perhaps this was the reason it was built in this way.
0:46:45 > 0:46:50I mean, everywhere we look, there are beautiful ornaments, decoration.
0:46:50 > 0:46:55Yeah, and also Hamburg wanted to show what it was able to build.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58It's a pretty active tunnel, isn't it?
0:47:00 > 0:47:05But at just over 100 years old, the tunnel is showing signs of age.
0:47:08 > 0:47:09Ready.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13'And major restoration work is being carried out on the second bore.'
0:47:15 > 0:47:19This is amazing, because you have obviously taken the tunnel back to its original skin.
0:47:19 > 0:47:23What is the job you are doing now?
0:47:23 > 0:47:29The main job we are doing here at the moment is to renew the lead.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31How long will this job take you?
0:47:31 > 0:47:38It's taken already nearly two years and it will take us up to 2016.
0:47:38 > 0:47:43So why is Hamburg spending the money on these tunnels, do you think?
0:47:43 > 0:47:49Because this is a thing which is very important to all Hamburg people
0:47:49 > 0:47:51and they don't want to miss it.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54Well, thanks to you, they're not going to miss it.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57This might seem like a DIY job,
0:47:57 > 0:48:01but this is to protect future generations from lead poisoning.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05I'm delighted that this engineering heritage
0:48:05 > 0:48:08is being celebrated and restored.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16My next stop isn't old at all,
0:48:16 > 0:48:18but if Bradshaw's was to be republished today,
0:48:18 > 0:48:22this place would secure an enthusiastic mention.
0:48:22 > 0:48:27Hamburg is home to the greatest model railway in the world.
0:48:37 > 0:48:42Miniatur Wunderland has 13,000 metres of track,
0:48:42 > 0:48:45covering an area of 1,300 square metres,
0:48:45 > 0:48:51divided up into eight huge sections representing different countries.
0:48:54 > 0:48:58I'm meeting one of the model's founders, Sebastian Drechsler.
0:49:00 > 0:49:06Sebastian, this is an absolute paradise for model lovers,
0:49:06 > 0:49:09for children, for adults, for anybody who loves trains.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12It's fantastic. How long has it been here?
0:49:12 > 0:49:17It's here for 12 years. My two older brothers had the idea when I was 18.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20Back in the day, they had a club and a record label and they decided
0:49:20 > 0:49:24that they don't want to get old at the nightclub and came home with strange idea,
0:49:24 > 0:49:27and one was to build the largest model railway of the world.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30It was very hard for me to imagine to change the guest list
0:49:30 > 0:49:33of a club to the guest list of a model railway!
0:49:33 > 0:49:37- I'm astonished you have only been doing this for 12 years.- Exactly.
0:49:37 > 0:49:41In this 12 or so years, we spent about 560,000 working hours
0:49:41 > 0:49:45just on the layout, to create all of that.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48And you have now established the largest model railway in the world?
0:49:48 > 0:49:51Already, since we opened up Switzerland,
0:49:51 > 0:49:53we are the largest model railway.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56Now, where is the United Kingdom? I thought I might go there.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59It's only in our heads.
0:49:59 > 0:50:01No United Kingdom?
0:50:01 > 0:50:05Not now, because we need the perfect space for the motherland
0:50:05 > 0:50:09of railways and we need to have such a huge space.
0:50:09 > 0:50:13We want to build a spectacular United Kingdom.
0:50:14 > 0:50:16This is our control room,
0:50:16 > 0:50:19the core of everything in Miniatur Wunderland.
0:50:19 > 0:50:21It's so impressive.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24It looks like the control room of a real railway, just astonishing.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28We have 265 cameras on the whole layout
0:50:28 > 0:50:31because there are train accidents all over the layout.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35Because someone is running and searching for the train, where exactly it is.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38We first localise the train with the cameras
0:50:38 > 0:50:40and then go to fix the problem.
0:50:40 > 0:50:45So the guys working here, I imagine if one day they were asked
0:50:45 > 0:50:47to go and work for the German railways,
0:50:47 > 0:50:50- they could do the transition. - They could.
0:50:52 > 0:50:57The wonder of this miniature world is its attention to tiny detail.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01Every one of the 250,000 inhabitants has a story.
0:51:03 > 0:51:05And model maker Sonia Schroder
0:51:05 > 0:51:08is going to show me how they come to life.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11- Well, I hope you have your spectacles?- I do.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15So, first you should dip your brush into the water. Just slightly.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22And you definitely should start with the pink shirt.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25'If you haven't worked it out yet, Sonia is coaching me
0:51:25 > 0:51:27'to paint a mini me.'
0:51:27 > 0:51:31Try to paint around your hand and booklet.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34You're doing well.
0:51:34 > 0:51:38Just do little, little paint strips.
0:51:38 > 0:51:42'Now I begin to understand the high standards they set themselves.'
0:51:44 > 0:51:49My Bradshaw is about 2% of the size of me.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51So this is quite a small target.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57Not bad. You know what, Michael?
0:51:57 > 0:52:00I can tell you did neither party last night
0:52:00 > 0:52:02or drink coffee this morning.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05Is that right? Does my Bradshaw look big in this?
0:52:06 > 0:52:09Eagle-eyed tourists in Wunderland can now spot
0:52:09 > 0:52:12a brightly-coloured fellow clutching a red book.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16He's marooned in perpetuity in the middle of Hamburg Station.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19There are uglier places to spend eternity.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33Although I could quite happily linger with my alter-ego,
0:52:33 > 0:52:37the tracks are calling, and the scent of the Baltic Sea.
0:52:39 > 0:52:41At the time of my Bradshaw's,
0:52:41 > 0:52:45Kaiser Wilhelm's Germany sought colonial and naval power.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49Locked in a naval race with Britain,
0:52:49 > 0:52:53he'd already built a fleet of 39 warships based at Kiel.
0:52:54 > 0:52:58And as tensions grew, the Kaiser's navy needed a quick and safe route
0:52:58 > 0:53:02from the Baltic to face the British in the North Sea.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05To sail north round Denmark's Jutland Peninsula
0:53:05 > 0:53:10was dangerous and a diversion of 250 nautical miles.
0:53:10 > 0:53:14But the Kiel canal was too narrow for warships.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17So the Kaiser undertook a massive widening,
0:53:17 > 0:53:20all along the canal's 100km.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24And today, that feat of German engineering is still in use,
0:53:24 > 0:53:30with close to 35,000 ships a year passing through.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34Now to test my sea legs.
0:53:35 > 0:53:39- Ahoy, skipper. Happy to receive boarders?- Yes, please.
0:53:41 > 0:53:42What a wonderful vessel!
0:53:42 > 0:53:46Yes, a racing yacht from the turn of the last century.
0:53:46 > 0:53:50It's absolutely beautiful, thank you so much for having me on board.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56With Andreas Neubau, president of the Kiel Sailing Association,
0:53:56 > 0:54:00I can experience why the Kaiser was so captivated by yachting.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06So, Andreas, we've left the British Kiel Yacht Club behind us.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10- Where are we now?- We are right in the middle of the Kiel Fjord.
0:54:10 > 0:54:15And, of course, it's one of the most important sailing areas in the whole world.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18So this is very much the equivalent of Cowes.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21You have a Kiel Week as we have a Cowes Week.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25Yes, and the Kaiser had a special interest in Cowes Week
0:54:25 > 0:54:27and so he really copied it.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32This international racing attracted some impressive competition.
0:54:32 > 0:54:37The Kaiser's biggest rival was his uncle, British King Edward VII.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40But the yachtsmen couldn't have failed to notice
0:54:40 > 0:54:44the significance of the growing presence of warships.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48The navy built two battleships a year,
0:54:48 > 0:54:51so in the end they had 39 battleships.
0:54:51 > 0:54:54So it really was a tremendous fleet.
0:54:54 > 0:54:58Now declassified documents show that by 1913,
0:54:58 > 0:55:02British intelligence was already monitoring the growing threat,
0:55:02 > 0:55:06using British yachtsmen to do the surveillance.
0:55:06 > 0:55:10I feel a little bit like Carruthers in that novel,
0:55:10 > 0:55:13you know that novel The Riddle Of The Sands,
0:55:13 > 0:55:17which is about a couple of guys who go spying on the German navy.
0:55:17 > 0:55:20Oh, there were many spies.
0:55:21 > 0:55:25For instance, the Sunbeam from Lord Brassey came here one year.
0:55:25 > 0:55:31And the old lord let himself row into a submarine pen.
0:55:31 > 0:55:37Of course, they didn't make much of it but this was, of course, a little spy tour.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41The intelligence conveyed the stark news that by 1913,
0:55:41 > 0:55:45Britain faced an ambitious rival with a formidable navy.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51And as the yachts gathered for Kiel Week a year later,
0:55:51 > 0:55:53Europe was slipping towards war.
0:55:54 > 0:55:58The spark was the assassination by a Serb in Sarajevo
0:55:58 > 0:56:00of Archduke Franz Ferdinand,
0:56:00 > 0:56:03the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09And the Kaiser heard the news aboard his yacht.
0:56:11 > 0:56:16Over the fjord came the little boat of Admiral von Muller.
0:56:16 > 0:56:21He said, "I have an urgent message here."
0:56:21 > 0:56:27He put it into his cigarette box and threw it on board.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30And there, the Kaiser had it.
0:56:30 > 0:56:32That was the last weekend in June
0:56:32 > 0:56:36and by the beginning of August, Europe was at war.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41Events in the Balkans set off a chain reaction.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44Germany encouraged its Austro-Hungarian ally
0:56:44 > 0:56:47to strike back against Serbia.
0:56:47 > 0:56:49The alliance of Russia and France prepared for war,
0:56:49 > 0:56:51as armies mobilised across Europe.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57Germany marched through Belgium to strike at France
0:56:57 > 0:56:59and Britain was obliged to act in her defence.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05British Foreign Secretary, Lord Grey, lamented,
0:57:05 > 0:57:09"The lamps are going out all over Europe.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12"We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."
0:57:18 > 0:57:20Over the next four years,
0:57:20 > 0:57:24Europe squandered the benefits of peace and progress
0:57:24 > 0:57:26in a savage, mechanised war.
0:57:27 > 0:57:31During the 19th century, the railways helped to bring together
0:57:31 > 0:57:35the culture of Dresden, the musicality of Leipzig,
0:57:35 > 0:57:39the trading power of Hamburg, and the economic might of Berlin.
0:57:39 > 0:57:44The new Germany was an industrial, scientific and artistic giant,
0:57:44 > 0:57:48elbowing Britain aside in the European league tables.
0:57:48 > 0:57:51Sadly, statesmen did not appreciate
0:57:51 > 0:57:55that the enviable prosperity and civilisation of Germany
0:57:55 > 0:57:57depended on the absence of war.
0:57:59 > 0:58:03Next time, I lose my inhibitions in a Swedish sauna...
0:58:03 > 0:58:07On the whole, I don't take my clothes off with people I don't know.
0:58:07 > 0:58:10..ride one of the world's oldest fairground attractions...
0:58:10 > 0:58:12Ohhhh!
0:58:12 > 0:58:15..have a Highland fling, Scandinavian style,
0:58:15 > 0:58:18and brave a white knuckle ride
0:58:18 > 0:58:21based on a winter sport invented by Norwegians.
0:58:25 > 0:58:28One of the great experiences of my life!
0:58:52 > 0:58:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd