globalising nonviolence. Practical information for Germany, Paderborn, and the conference venue

General

The language in Germany is German, of course, but English will often be understood and spoken.

The currency is the Euro, as in Portugal, Spain, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Ireland, Austria, Italy, Greece and Finland. You can exchange money at banks in airports and city centres. 1 Euro is equivalent to approximately 1 US dollar and 0.65 British pounds. Major credit cards are often accepted.

If you have a mobile phone, there is coverage in most areas. There are also public phones (both cards and coins) in cities, but not in villages. The same applies for internet cafes.

Electricity runs at 220 Volt AC. European-style plugs (round pins) or an adapter are necesary.

Health insurance is usually necessary for people who require visas; if not, it is still possible.

There are some places of interest in Westphalia. Paderborn is a city of Catholics and Computers. On the one hand it is the site of the Siemens Corporation including the Heinz Nixdorf Museum. On the other hand there are e.g. the public festival of Saint Liborius, the historical exhibitions on the journey to Canossa, and the monastry of Dahlheim. Around Paderborn and Geseke there are two interesting places related to Fascism and World War II. Wewelsburg has been a place of cult and terror of SS then, and is a museum and youth hostel now. Stukenbrock has had a camp for prisoners of war then - and has a safari and leisure park now. To the west you have Hamm-Uentrop, the site of a shut down nuclear power plant and still active nuclear power resistance. Further to the west you come to the Ruhrgebiet, an area of coal mines and steel works - as well as labourer and migrant culture. Not to forget the Football World Championship taking place all over Germany. Further information: www.paderborn.de, www.nrw-tourismus.de.

Visa information

There are visas valid for 30 and 90 days, for single or multiple entry, for Germany only or all Schengen states (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Portugal, Sweden and Spain).

There is visa information, and an application form for download in English, French, Spanish, Russian or Chinese with the German foreign office website.

www.auswaertiges-amt.de > welcome to germany > entry into germany

There is a list of German missions, too: federal foreign office > headqarters and missions abroad

You have to apply for a visa only with the German mission for your country.

The visa will cost approximately 30,- Euro.

If you need a visa, please contact the WRI office after your registration, and we will send you an invitation.

Travel

Plane

There are many international and regional airports as well as cheap and more expensive airlines in Germany. Warning: Airports of budget airlines often will not be as close to the next city as they seem!

• Frankfurt, the biggest airport with 130 airlines and 260 daily connections, directly to and from all continents: www.frankfurt-airport.de
  
  If you fly Lufthansa, it may be cheaper and/or faster to have a flight connection to Düsseldorf, Hannover or Paderborn, which costs only the airport fees. But it may be as cheap or fast to take a train from the airport station. You have to check... www.lufthansa.com
• Hahn (www.hahn-airport.de) is what Ryan Air calls "Frankfurt" with cheap connections, but two to three hours by bus or car away from the next city train stations in Frankfurt or Köln.

• Düsseldorf (www.duesseldorf-international.de) is closer to Paderborn and also has many international connections and an airport train station. Besides Lufthansa and similiar airlines there are some international budget airlines like Air Berlin (www.airberlin.com) and Germania Express (www.gexx.de), too. The local train from Düsseldorf to Paderborn is almost as fast as the express train (ICE), but cheaper.
• Weeze/Niederrhein (www.flughafen-niederrhein.de/) is what Ryan Air calls "Düsseldorf". Ryan Air (www.ryanair.com) flies to "Düsseldorf" (or Berlin) from Milano, Jerez, Glasgow, Bologna (Forli), Montpellier, Rome, Pescara, Tampere, Alghero, Gothenborg, Venice (Treviso), Kerry, Stockholm (Skavsta), Oslo (Torp), Shannon, London (Stansted), Girona (Barcelona), Pisa (Florence), Reus (Salou). There is an airport shuttle bus to Weeze rail station, from where you can get local trains to Krefeld or Düsseldorf proper. From there you can get other trains to Paderborn.
• Hannover is almost as close to Paderborn as Düsseldorf, but not so big and so well connected by train: www.hannover-airport.de
• Besides there are some other convenient international airports like Köln/Bonn (www.koeln-bonn-airport.de) and Berlin-Tegel or -Schönefeld (www.berlin-airport.de).
• Dortmund (www.flughafen-dortmund.de) and Münster/Osnabrück (www.fmo.de) are even closer, but have less airlines and connections, though some very cheap ones (EasyJet: www.easyjet.com, Air Berlin: www.airberlin.com, Eurowings: www.eurowings.de). You have to take a bus or a taxi to get to the next train station.
• Paderborn/Lippstadt is of course the closest, but has the least connections (including London). You have to go on to the venue by taxi (8 km only): www.flughafen-paderborn-lippstadt.de

Train

If you are coming from London, Amsterdam, Brussels, or Paris, you can go to Cologne with Thalys, an international railways service: www.thalys.com/.

In any case you should see the very good german railways service website www.bahn.de including a query form in english, french, spanish and italian. Reference: Regular one way express train ticket from Frankfurt to Geseke costs 63,- € via Kassel, and 83,- € via Cologne (longer distance, but higher speed and same time)!

There are different prices for local trains (RB, RE) and express trains (IC, ICE) and different offers:

Express and Local Train Ticket Offers

Local Train Ticket Offers

North Rhine-Westphalia includes the cities of Cologne, Dusseldorf, Dortmund, Munster, and Paderborn.

Within NRW it may be almost as fast to go to Geseke by local train as by express train.

If you come by express train via Kassel, you have to go to Paderborn, if you come via Hamm, you have to go to Lippstadt. Then you have to go on to Geseke by local train. Trains leave appr. every 30 min. and take appr. 10-15 min. There will be a connection to the venue in Eringerfeld by bus (during working week buses leave appr. every 60 min. and take appr. 20 min.) or mini-van (at weekend on demand) or taxi (at night; 8 km only).

Car

You have to get on the highway/motorway/autobahn A 44 between Dortmund and Kassel.

You have to get off at exit Geseke and go on in direction of Steinhausen.

In Steinhausen in front of the Volks-Bank you have to turn hard right in direction of Eringerfeld.

In Eringerfeld pass the castle, cross the side street and then turn right onto the parking. (see maps)

Venue

The venue is guest house 'Dicke Birken', Schloss Eringerfeld in Geseke in Westphalia. It includes an assembly hall, a canteen, workshop spaces and guestrooms for up to 800 persons. There are a swimming pool, a gymnasium, a sports ground, a small zoo, a park, a cafeteria and some exhibitions in the castle, too. For the gym you need sports shoes with light coloured soles. From midnight on you have to be silent in the guestrooms (but not in the assembly hall). You are not allowed to bring your own food to the venue.