Der Schwebebahn
The Schwebebahn is one of Wuppertal's unique claim to fame.
Apparently the engineers were looking at the design upside down, so they
built the cars hanging instead of running on top of the tracks. The
system was put in before there was even a Wuppertal, as back in those
days it was basically still seperate towns of Elberfeld and Barmen. It
merrily weaves it way through the city, mostly over the river, but also
high above the streets when needed, as you can see in the picture below. The
car that der Kaiser rode on still runs on the system. Perhaps one
of the more interesting bits of trivia is that on the reopening in 1948,
they had a promotion by bringing a baby elephant from the local Zoo on
for a ride. Bad idea. The squirt panicked and did a swan, err, elephant,
dive into the Wupper river. Well, at least they named a yogourt after
him, Tuffi...
