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road from the Town Hall and to the right of the small public gardens. The building is still in use as a court house, and so access is allowed but only as far as the entrance hall.
Along Hu Bei Road from the Town Hall we found the former German Police Headquarters, again still in use as a police station. Compared with the vast majority of other German buildings in Tsingtao, this delightful and typically German small town-hall-like building is now looking a little dilapidated, with broken windows and peeling plasterwork. Outgrown, like the Town Hall, the police station also has an extension - but little effort has been made to match the design of the original.
The end of Hu Bei Road led us into Railway Station Square. The old German railway station building serves as the main entrance to the present-day station and is a lovely example of its kind. Unfortunately, it has been added to by a ghastly and enormous blue glass thing that has nothing whatsoever in common with its illustrious forebear.
Across the square from the southeast corner is the former Bahnhof (Station) Hotel. Impressive from a distance, but rather run-down when seen at closer quarters. Perhaps this is a project that some German hotel company might consider taking up one day - to restore it to its former glory.
The flavour then changed from the secular to the religious, with a visit to the two main churches in Tsingtao. The Protestant (Lutheran) Church, near the junction of Long Jiang Road and Su Jiang Road, again is in excellent repair and is clearly treasured by the city authorities. Built partly of granite and partly of rendered brick, the church contains a plaque that records that the foundations were laid on 19th April 1908 and the church opened on 23rd October 1910. A trip up the commanding clock tower is worthwhile, if only to inspect the wonderful mechanical clock and bell-striking mechanism.
The Catholic Cathedral of St Michael is an imposing twin-towered structure just to the west of An Hui Road. On any visit to China, one must always be prepared for odd things to happen. We arrived to find the cathedral was "closed for lunch"! Our inspection was limited
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road from the Town Hall and to the right of the small public gardens. The building is still in use as a court house, and so access is allowed but only as far as the entrance hall.
Along Hu Bei Road from the Town Hall we found the former German Police Headquarters, again still in use as a police station. Compared with the vast majority of other German buildings in Tsingtao, this delightful and typically German small town-hall-like building is now looking a little dilapidated, with broken windows and peeling plasterwork. Outgrown, like the Town Hall, the police station also has an extension - but little effort has been made to match the design of the original.
The end of Hu Bei Road led us into Railway Station Square. The old German railway station building serves as the main entrance to the present-day station and is a lovely example of its kind. Unfortunately, it has been added to by a ghastly and enormous blue glass thing that has nothing whatsoever in common with its illustrious forebear.
Across the square from the southeast corner is the former Bahnhof (Station) Hotel. Impressive from a distance, but rather run-down when seen at closer quarters. Perhaps this is a project that some German hotel company might consider taking up one day - to restore it to its former glory.
The flavour then changed from the secular to the religious, with a visit to the two main churches in Tsingtao. The Protestant (Lutheran) Church, near the junction of Long Jiang Road and Su Jiang Road, again is in excellent repair and is clearly treasured by the city authorities. Built partly of granite and partly of rendered brick, the church contains a plaque that records that the foundations were laid on 19th April 1908 and the church opened on 23rd October 1910. A trip up the command- ing clock tower is worthwhile, if only to inspect the wonderful me- chanical clock and bell-striking mechanism.
The Catholic Cathedral of St Michael is an imposing twin-tow- ered structure just to the west of An Hui Road. On any visit to China, one must always be prepared for odd things to happen. We arrived to find the cathedral was "closed for lunch"! Our inspection was limited
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