For car buffs

Digging up bones near the Cathedral

Out the door at 10, we explored central Zwickau on foot for 90 minutes, stopping at the Cathedral and doing a meandering walk through the central town and along the river.  The area around the Cathedral is undergoing much underground reconstruction.  We noticed two archaeologists uncovering some bones while work continued around them.


Our main interest today was the August Horch Automobile Museum, housed in his original factory. Horch started the Horch Automobile Company in 1901, moving it to Zwichau in 1904.  He left the company after a dispute in 1909 and started another company, also named Horch.  When he was legally forced to drop that name, he renamed his new company Audi.  In 1932 both companies, along with DKW and Wanderer, joined to form Saxony's Auto Union. Did you know that in the early 1930s Zwickau produced 20% of German automobiles?

The first Audi

The long history of car design and manufacturing in Zwickau made this fascinating museum well worth the 2+ hours we spent here.  The audio guide supplemented the limited number of English plaques and greatly improved the museum experience.  Rob took lots of photos and perhaps will have time to add captions.


We ate a late lunch at McDonalds and took the autobahn (which we usually avoid, but time was pressing) 150 miles to Berlin. At 7 pm we settled into our upscale Seminaris CampusHotel at Berlin Frei University for two nights, so Rob can attend two days of math lectures.