Hidden Treasures of NRW: Paderborn (1/2)

I realised last week how I had taken an immense responsibility on my shoulders, that of talking about something ordinary in an extraordinary way! I was pretty nervous until I realised that no perfect place seems extraordinary unless you make the ordinary come alive. With this ode to Paderborn, I try to celebrate the calm town that is tucked away in the lap of Eggberge Hills. I realised that I have many beautiful photos that ought to be seen. You can find them here, and I sure hope they do justice to the beauty of Paderborn!

Paderborn is extremely ordinary, and quiet. But we often fall in love with the most ordinary things and gestures. I fall in love with “good morning” messages from special people, voice notes and so many other little things done across timezones to express love. There is magic in the ordinary! I still remember the petrichor that mingles with the air in monsoons in India, or the chai and pakoras on a rainy evening!

As the birthplace of German Computer Scientist Heinz Nixdorf, Paderborn perhaps has a reputation to maintain. It succeeds by having an excellent Computer Science Department at Paderborn University and is probably the place to be at if you’re a computer nerd! Paderborn Labs and Technology Park host various new startups that encourage innovative research collaboration. Also, the largest computer museum (Heinz Nixdorf Museum) is in Paderborn (actually right beside my office)! Exciting, right? I haven’t visited it yet (hey cut me some slack, I work from home most of the time) but I hope to visit it very soon!

Left to Right: Heinz Nixdorf Museum and Heinz Nixdorf Institute (my office)

Since I live in the town (or as Paderborners call it, a city), I walk around the Town Hall almost every week. It’s a very unique little building which (like 80 percent of Paderborn) was almost destroyed in the World War II. A short walk from the Town Hall leads you to Warm Pader, which is actually about 4-6°C warmer than the other arms of the Paderquell. Due to the higher temperature, the people of Paderborn used it in the past to wash their laundry. I discovered this statue of women doing laundry very randomly on one of my walks. I think it is an ode to the tiring job women were expected to do in the past. An ode to the world we claim to have left behind, but it is worth introspecting whether we have REALLY left it behind!

Left to Right: Town Hall and Warm Pader

While some places in Paderborn awaken the overthinker in me, some others awaken the child in me! The beautiful Paderborn Cathedral is straight out of Harry Potter, and I usually stare at it with the longing eyes of a witch who never got her letter to join Hogwarts (I am convinced it got lost in the mail, no more arguments!). The majestic Cathedral was reconstructed after the second World War left Paderborn in debris, and it certainly has an air of mystery around it! The farmers’ market takes place in front of the Cathdral on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and my new favorite thing to do on Saturday mornings is buying fresh fruits and vegetables and grabbing fresh käsebrotchen (cheese bread) from the bakery on way back home. Wait, is this what the world calls adulting?

Paderborn Cathedral

I like to follow Pader when I go for walks. Numerous springs in the town center birth Pader, it plays around for a while but then promptly flows away from the town. There are old half-timbered houses along the river and I always wonder how amazing it would be to live there. Pader is just 4 kms long! It is the shortest river in Germany, and yet is long enough to have all of Paderborn wrapped around its banks.

Due to the versatility of Paderborn and my expertise in beating about the bush, I have barely scratched the surface of Paderborn. Please join me in the coming weeks as I continue to write this love letter to Paderborn, the most beautiful home I could have ever found!