Ludwig van Beethoven conquers the birthplace of musician Udo Lindenberg. The special exhibition ‘Ludwig is alive!’ (running until 3 October) in Gronau's Rock ‘n’ Pop Museum looks at the classical composer's influences on today's pop culture in text, sound and images. Traces of Beethoven can be found in bands like The Beatles and the Toten Hosen as well as in the cartoon Peanuts. Due to corona, the museum at Udo-Lindenberg-Platz 1 developed hybrid presentation formats early on and some of these are being retained: On 28 June (7pm) there will be a discussion on Instagram about Beethoven's influence on literature, and on 21 July (7pm) curator Thomas Mania will explain on YouTube “Why Beethoven was already a pop star during his lifetime”.

Website (also in English): rock-popmuseum.de

Weeds do not fade, they say. “There are no weeds at all,” says Josef Mangold, the director of the open-air museum in Kommern. “We call such growth wild plants.” The fine differentiation does not contradict common parlance at all. On the contrary: Wild plants end up at times on red lists and vanish, but there is a chance that they will return. The open-air museum addresses this topic area with two exhibitions. The reopened show ‘Stadt, Land, Garten’ (Town, Country, Garden) in the Sechtem barn explores the cultural history of the kitchen garden. Historical information and equipment are presented. The museum's expert staff explain the working methods on guided tours, and modern developments such as urban gardening are also included. The new supplementary section of the show is called ‘Wild Diversity in the Museum’. The background: Due to the ecological conditions on the site, more than 20 lost plant species have been able to re-establish themselves over time.

Website (partly in English): kommern.lvr.de

A city like Koblenz, where the Moselle river flows into the Rhine, is easy to explore on your own. Stroll along the river banks, walk through the pretty old town to the Deutsches Eck, perhaps take a detour up to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, which can be reached by ferry or cable car. The Koblenz Tourist Office is supporting the individual city tours with a new offering: The so-called Weinstadt-Wanderpaket (Wine City Hiking Package) in a practical jute backpack contains a bottle of local wine including a bottle cooler, wine glasses, tour suggestions as well as a digital and an analogue hiking map. The package is available (in German) for 19.90 Euro at the Tourist Info in the Koblenz Forum Confluentes.

Website (partly in English): koblenz-touristik.de

Gerd Wehkamp has decades of experience. As a specialist in rewetting projects, he can even “read” the peat. The Emsland native guides his guests through the Bourtanger Moor Nature Park near Meppen and explains the renaturalisation of the peat-covered areas. His colleague Anita Beermann has the best Moor anecdotes in her repertoire. As a hiking area, the nature park does not stop at the border; a 400-kilometre network of hiking paths tie in the Dutch nature reserve Bargerveen.

The signposts are the same, and numbered junctions help with orientation. A new map lists 27 walking routes from three to 26 kilometres in length. New maps are also available for cyclists who can plan their tours according to the numbered hub system.

Website (in German and Dutch only): naturpark-moor.eu

Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen (1818-88) was born in Hamm near Altenkirchen, and a building in the neighbouring community of Heupelzen commemorates the forward-thinking social reformer. The Raiffeisen Tower, built in 1990, rises 34 metres into the sky. The Eifel, Bergisches Land, Siebengebirge - on a clear day, you can see for miles. And the elegant wooden truss tower is also easy to spot. For example, on a hike around the village of Fluterschen. The name of the route is no surprise: The six-kilometre-long ‘Panoramaweg Raiffeisenland’ not only focuses on the tower, but also offers views of more than 20 villages in the surrounding area.

Website (also in English): westerwald.info

(Original text: Heinz Dietl, Translation: Caroline Kusch)