Nuremberg: Sustainable, organic and eco fashion

Apart from the omnipresent fast fashion stores of H&M and C&A where it is, according to Greenpeace's Detox Catwalk, morally acceptable to buy cheap organic clothes, Nuremberg offers a selection of concept stores of smaller independent fashion labels with sustainable approaches. Although very different they have something in common: awareness for the environmental and social impact of fashion right from the start, durable products eco-consciously made in Europe, and slower fashion cycles. Of course, all of them sell online as well.

For streetware and young designer labels opt for Glore north of Weißer Turm, on your way downhill to the river Pegnitz. This is the place to look for fresh, exciting styles and vegan fashion, both, for men and women. All items on sale are certified, bearing trustworthy organic and fair-trade labels. They also have a small range of organic bodycare on sale.

Colourful ethno-inspired clothes for women, predominantly made from organic materials can be found at Gudrun Sjödén at the eastern end of Josephsplatz. The Swedish designer is an eco fashion pioneer, and presents her collections on models of all ages. Apart from clothes you will also find home textiles.

A few steps away in north-eastern direction, south of Karlsbrücke you'll find Deerberg, a concept store of a family-run business which started as a mail order firm for sustainably produced shoe-wear. Since they have been extending into clothes for women sustainably made in Europe which is the focus of the store. Unfortunately there are still few organically produced textiles, and the styles are comparatively boring, but the shoes are worth a look as long as you do not shun leather.

For children step by Lysu, a cosy specialised shop offering fairly traded clothes, toys and accessories made from organic and natural materials for babies, toddlers, pre-school and elementary school kids. The shop is tucked away in Obere Wörthstraße, on the southern shore of the river Pegnitz, opposite the Trödelmarkt island. Like many other small shops also this one is closed on Mondays.

• Glore, Karl-Grillenberger-Str. 24, Mon–Sat 10:30–19
• Gudrun Sjödén, Josephspl. 1, Mon–Fri(Sat) 10–19(18)
• Deerberg, Kaiserstr. 36, Tue–Fri(Sat) 10–18(16)
• Lysu, Obere Wörthstr. 7, Tue–Fri(Sat) 10–18(16)

Organic Malmö: A brief stop-over with a coffee break

On our summerly train travel from Munich to Trondheim, coming from Copenhagen, we had to reach the night-train in Malmö. Due to the pandemic we decided to buy provisions in Copenhagen and take an earlier regional train to Malmö, leaving us with the time for a stroll and a coffee break. And although I had not done any up-front research it turned out to be pretty easy to find a nice cafe serving at least partially organic food, just by keeping my eyes open. Having said this I am conviced that, with more than just one to two hours at hand, you will find many more places.

The first place I found was Café Holmgången in a narrow alleyway in the old part of the city, Gamla Staden, located between the Malmö C and Triangeln train stations. The cafe itself was empty at this sunny afternoon during the week, offering raw cakes, some basic vegan lunch dishes and sandwiches, and also some outdoor tables, sheltered from rain by the passage. The service ensured me that most ingedients (though not all) were organic. We had an Italian-style espresso made with a proper pressure machine, and the cakes aside turned out to be surprisingly light and fluffy compared to other raw date-based cakes. The cafe itself is self-serviced, simply step inside, order and pay, and take the plates to the seat of your choice.

Proceeding west-bound to Davidshallsgatan we found a second, 100 percent vegan day cafe, Farm2Table, currently a bit invisible due to construction work in the street in front of it. Hadn't we bought provisions for the train already, we could have ordered them here: homemade sandwiches, bowls, smoothies, coffee drinks and Belgian waffles, predominantly made with organic ingredients.

And if you happen to need a new pair of sustainable jeans (or repair your old pair of this brand), a branch of the Swedish slow fashion chain Nudie Jeans is just a few steps up the street.

• Café Holmgången, Södra Förstadsgatan 23a, Tue–Sat(Sun) 11(12)–18
• Farm2Table, Davidshallsgatan 19, Mon–Fri(Sat–Sun) 9(10)–17(16)
• Nudie Jeans, Davidshallsgatan 15, Mon–Fri 11–18, Sat(Sun) 10(12)–16

Travelling Europe by Train: Munich to Trondheim

The idea was simple: Instead of flying – why not travelling climate-friendly? Most certainly this would take some time, but travelling Oslo–Berlin–Paris took time for the famous painters, writers and artists more than a hundred years ago, too.

Upfront research showed that it would have been possible to reach Trondheim within a little more than two nights and a day during the summer 2021, but we were restricted to travel in the first half of September by the date of a family festivity, limited days off from work and the end of the Bavarian school holidays. With only 10 minutes connecting time in Hamburg and, in case of a miss, the next possible connection one week later due to change of timetables on the Swedish part, we gave up on the plan of the fastest possible route. Instead two additional nights, one in Hamburg, and one in Copenhagen, would not only give us a little leisure to re-visit these cities, it would also increase the amount of money to spend: If you decide to travel Europe by train and do not have all the time of a university break a reasonably priced Interrail ticket simply won't suffice.

Finally the travel itinerary came up to

• Munich–Hamburg in the sleeper of the Alpen-Sylt-Express,
• a day and a night in Hamburg,
• a day train to Copenhagen,
• an overnight stay in the Danish capital,
• the Öresund regional train to Malmö,
• the Snälltåget night-train to the Swedish-Norwegian border in Storlien, and finally
• Meråkerbanen to Trondheim.

Altogether four nights and about three and a half days involving six train companies – most of them not co-operating. Had we had the time and money for a return trip it would even have been possible to take bicycles on the tour (at least to the Norwegian border).

Munich–Hamburg: The Alpen-Sylt-Express

Amidst the covid-19 pandemic a new privately held German train company took the courage to re-establish over-night travel by train on the North-South line through Germany, one part of the train departing from Salzburg, another from Konstanz by the lake Bodensee to be united on their way to the island of Sylt via (among others) Munich and Hamburg. The train is operated two times per week and tickets can be booked online only. The company informed by e-mail that the departure of the train wouldn't be visibly announced at the train station, but sent time, platform and car location for all stations on the route.

With this information at hand I didn't get nervous when the display at platform 6 in Munich Ostbahnhof announced that all trains would depart from platform 11 or 12 (presumably due to the strike of the Deutsche Bahn train drivers in the summer of 2021). Some fellow passengers found out that this also applied to the Alpen-Sylt-Express, and the entire crowd moved over.

What didn't show up in time was the train by the time of arrival and not even by the time of departure, and as announced, there simply was no information. A helpful staff member of the Austrian train company ÖBB reassured us that the train would arrive here, and finally it appeared on the platform display and, by about half an hour delayed, arrived.

From now on everything went smooth (at least until we reached the Norwegian border). Due to the pandemic no strangers were booked into the former Deutsche Bahn couchette compartment which came at a price of 300 EUR for the two of us. The interior as well as the common wash and toilet facilities were clean, though a little worn. The almost doubly priced (or, in luxury class even more expensive) sleeper (with private room) is of French origin, and there's a very competitively priced seat car (starting at around 70 EUR).

On the train it would have been possible to order a pair of organic soft pretzls, organic tomato soup and organic porridge for dinner and breakfast, though no organic drinks.

Clean sheets were provided for all six sleeping places, and despite being a German train the proper way of sleeping was the Southern way wrapped into the sheet and covered with a blanket. Needless to add that in the couchette car you are expected to make your bed yourself. Complimentary drinking water to brush your teeth was not provided.

Hamburg– Copenhagen by DSB/DB

Danske Statsbanen (DSB) and Deutsche Bahn (DB) co-operatively run the city connection between Hamburg and Copenhagen via the Storebelt bridge, so buying tickets more or less spontaneously and without providing personal data, at a German or Danish train station usually shouldn't be an issue. The direct IC train runs four times a day to and fro and keeps waiting at the platform in Hamburg central station between arrival and departure. Unfortunately you aren't allowed on board more than fifteen minutes before departure – the train will be closed while the staff is having their break.

There are more connections where you have to change trains, but with almost all of them the journey takes around five hours.

The direct Intercity train is comfortable and – just as the night trains – has capacity for bicycles. Ticket prices vary, depending on whether you have a Bahncard discount card, as well as on how long in advance and where you buy it.

Copenhagen–Malmö by regional train

Effectively an urban train line over the Öresund bridge tickets for the Öresundtåg regional train can be bought from the ticket machines at København H – anonymously as long as you see away from the card payment which is the most comfortable payment method if your stay in Denmark isn't long enough to use Danish cash.

Since we travelled during the covid-19 pandemic passports had to be provided in the train which stopped but was closed during the border control.

Malmö–Åre/Storlien on the Snälltåget night train

As far as I know night trains between Stockholm and the Swedish-Norwegian border at Storlien have been running for ages, and quite recently the privately held Snälltåget has extended its network to Berlin (via Copenhagen and Hamburg).

During the summer we could have travelled Munich–Berlin with Deutsche Bahn, with four hours the fastest train connection within Germany, and taken the Snälltåget from there, but as the Swedish company changed to their autumn timetable this connection did not work out.

The ticket for two in a private couchette came at 4000 SEK (about 400 EUR) and had to be booked on-line. Due to covid-19 restrictions the remaining four beds weren't filled up, but we were given all six complementary packs of drinking water. The choice at the restaurant car dubbed "Krogen" was limited due to the pandemic, and did not include any single organic item. Washing facilities in the couchette car are limited to the common toilet. The beds are a little wider than on the Alpen-Sylt-Express which might have been the reason for that my sleep was deeper and less disturbed during that night. On this train we were given duvet covers.

The train is provided at Malmö C in good time before departure, so we were able to board almost an hour before.

By the way: The train company's name, Snälltåget, is a play on words. The Swedish word "snäll" means "nice" and is a false friend with the German word "schnell" meaning "fast". Before IC and ICE trains took over the city connections in Germany, the then faster trains were referred to as "Schnellzüge", "fast trains".

Åre/Storlien–Trondheim: The last miles

What should have been a 1.5 hours train ride with the Meråkerbanen regional train from the Snälltåget's final destination Storlien to Trondheim, turned out to be a show stopper for climate-friendly travel as well as a tedious money sink.

When planning the journey in June 2021, the timetables of Meråkerbanen were still on-line, although we expected a rail replacement bus service due to the ongoing electrification work on the route (just like on our last train journey from Stockholm to Storlien in 2017). What we did not expect was that there was no public transport service at all! Locals told us that the connection has not been operated for the entire covid-19 pandemic, mainly because the Norwegian and the Swedish side wouldn't agree on the test and vaccine control procedure at the border.

So we had to hire a cab from one of the taxi companies in Åre: Taxi Åre did not have any cars left, but Topptaxi was willing to drive us from the train station of Åre over the border to the nearest Norwegian village, Meråker, at the hefty price tag of 2100 SEK. Due to an initial misunderstanding on behalf of the taxi operator we ended up paying only 1700 SEK for the 1.5 hours ride which would have been the price from Åre to the border. Given the fact that Storlien–Meråker would have been much shorter, this was probably a fair deal for both parties.

Since it was raining (the expected weather) we asked the taxi driver to drop us in front of the Coop Xtra hypermarket in Meråker where we could wait inside the "cafe" corner for the bus to Trondheim. A little more than an hour later we were heading over to the bus stop at Meraker school from where the bus no. 670 would take us to Trondheim. (Mind you that this 1.75 hours public bus service does not run on weekends.)

Organic Leipzig: Ice-cream

Ice-cream has never been as popular as during the covid-19 pandemic when ice-cream parlours started early in the season, and grown-ups ceased to preach that it was too cold to have one. (Although, in August 2021, I accidentally listened to the conversation between an ultra-thin insta-styled woman, presumably in her thirties, with her parents at their weekend get-together at a an ice-cream parlour in Bremen -- while temperatures were about 22 degree Celsius: Mother, deciding on a sundae: "Wouldn't you like to have an ice-cream, too?" Daughter: "Oh, no, thank you, it's too cold. I'll have a water.")

As the interest for quality local and organic produce has been increasing (too slowly, but significantly) I wasn't surprised to find a new organic ice-cream spot in the city of Leipzig, while filling the time between two trains with a stroll.

With more than 20 shops within the city boundaries the family-owned conventional bakery Lukas seems to be the largest bakery chain in Leipzig -- probably not the place you might look for organic ice-cream. But in May 2021 they started to produce twelve types of organic ice-cream at their branch at Bayrischer Platz. This must have proved to be a success since I found it at their cafe am Brühl, though only the four most basic flavours (vanilla, mango, chocolate and strawberry), at 1.20 EUR the scoop. The cafe also offers organic fairly-traded coffee (on the spot or in a Recup retour cup to take with you) and a small assortment of organic soft-drinks -- check for the "bio" label. Unfortunaltey th milk isn't organic. The cafe has quite liberal opening hours although I'm not sure whether you can buy an ice-cream at 7 o'clock in the morning.

Just around the corner from the Macis restaurant you'll find the city's organic ice-cream maker, Tonis. Unfortunately I was too late after dinner and could only watch them closing. They also have a second branch in famous Könneritzstraße.

• Lukas am Brühl, Am Brühl 1, Mon–Fri(Sat) 6:30(7)–20, Sun 7–17
• Tonis, Thomaskirchhof 17, Tue–Sun 14–18

More to try

As mentioned above my time in Leipzig was limited (as was my upfront research) -- but here are a few more tips, for you to try (and tell me if you like):

• Tonis, Könneritzstr. 21, Tue–Sun 14-18
• Lukas Bäcker am Bayrischen Platz, Riemannstr. 10, Mon–Fri(Sat) 6–19(18), Sun 7–18

Hamburg: (Partially) organic restaurants

While organic lunch options aren't difficult to find (namely in the neighbourhoods around Altona station) the organic evening out requires more research, especially for Monday evenings. The list I am presenting here surely isn't exhaustive since it is the result of a two-days stay, so I'm glad for additional contributions.

Mediterranean

Italian antipasti, oriental mezze, Spanish tapas or a simple pasta dish -- the organically certified wine restaurant Piccolo Paradiso serves vegetarian food from the Mediterraneans. The intimate, organically certified place breathes the atmosphere of an Italian trattoria, the home-made food owes its taste to the quality of the organic ingredients rather than the skills of an ambitious chef. So do not expect a fine dining experience, instead come to enjoy mother's versions of vegetarian starters. Advanced booking is advisable, and you shouldn't arrive too late as the kitchen closes around 10 pm. Note that the restaurant keeps closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Burgers

A small chain consisting of two restaurants Edelsatt is not an ordinary burger place: What you get here are tasty game burgers served without bread or in organic buns from the Springer organic bakery. No smoke-ladden air as in many, also high-end burger grills, tasteful decoration and reusable cotton towels in the bathrooms -- the restaurant in the Karolinenviertel neighbourhood is most certainly a place for the extended evening out with friends or the romantic dinner. A small assortment of organic softdrinks and beer (of the Stralsund-based Störtebeker brand) are being offered to accompany your meal, and if you don't feel for a game burger you may opt for a salmon, vegan quinoa or vegetarian aubergine-mozzarella one, or for a change, a game sausage. The second (older) restaurant is located in Winterhude.

If burger means fast-food to you, head for Dulf's Burger a few minutes walk in Western direction. The burgers served here are made from organic beef, and the queue in front of the place was most impressive when I decided against waiting in the rain during the "Hamburger Dom" fun fair next door. If you come here I'd be glad to hear about your experience.

Fine dining

If your budget allows for the price tags of high-end cuisine you may opt for a dinner at organically certified Landhaus Scherrer located directly at busy Elbchausee in Othmarschen, a short walk from the river promenade. While covid-19 measures are in place the affordable bistrot is closed but its menu is available in the gourmet restaurant. It mainly consists of fish, meat and offal dishes typical for the region, everyting of course refined and made with the best organic ingredients and accompanied with high-class French and German wines (if you decide for it). If you want to familiarise yourself with the bourgeois Sunday kitchen of the German north, this place decorated in country-house style is definitely worth it. The typical audience however is probably not the crowd you may be used to mingle with: elderly and arrived in predominantly tasteless, yet expensive cars, though not necessarily dressed with Hanseatic style.

• Piccolo Paradiso, Brüderstr. 27, Tue–Sat 17–23
• Edelsatt, Karolinenstr. 32, Mon(Tue–Sat) 12–21(22:30)
• Edelsatt, Mühlenkamp 8, Tue–Sat(Sun) 12(14)–22:30(21)
• Dulf's Burger, Karolinenpl. 2, Mon(Tue–Sat) 12–21(22:30)
• Landhaus Scherrer, Elbchausee 130, daily 12–15, 17–21

More to try

Here's a list of evening-open (partially) organic restaurants and eateries I found during my research but did not have time to visit. Your impressions are appreciated!

• Mamalicious, Max-Brauer-Allee 277, Mon–Tue(Wed–Fri) 9–18(22), Sat(Sun) 10–22(19) (Canadian breakfast, burgers, uses organic eggs and bacon)
• Tassajara, Eppendorfer Landstr. 4, Mon–Sat 11:30–23 (vegetarian)
• Haco, Clemens-Schultz-Str. 18 (North-German, in 2021 kitchen closed due to refurbishment, drinks only Thu–Sun 17–23)
• Haco Popup, Bernadottestr. 20, Wed–Sun 17–23 (vegan and vegetarian, only during the covid-19 pandemic)
• Central, Lange Reihe 50, Mon–Sat 17–23 (international, serves organic meat and cheese)
• Restaurant Klinker, Schlankreye 73, Mon–Fri 18–24 (summer-closed until Sep, 20 2021, generally no booking)
• Wolfs Junge, Zimmerstr. 30, Tue–Fri 12–14:30, Tue–Thu 18–23, Fri–Sat seating 17:30(20:30)–20:15(23)

Ceased to exist

The following places shut down or were replaced by other, not organic ones, although you still find them on the web:

• Restaurant Olsen, Bellealliancestr. 45 (Mediterranean, German gourmet)
• Wakuwaku, Dammtorstr. 29-32 (Asian fastfood)
• Nat, Heuberg 1 (International)