The Other Side

I crouched in front of a formidable wall of garbage in a weedy lot in Germany, waiting for my two friends to catch up. It had been years since I slogged my way through the flooded Krankenbunker for the first time, and I was trying to re-trace my steps of entry onto the property in the deep recesses of my memory. We clambered over the pile of mattresses and branches and began our search for a second set of tunnels that were partially completed, and all I could remember was the sole ingress: a small, nondescript pipe protruding from the side of an embankment. After about half a mile of searching, I surprised myself by finding the drainage pipe that lead into a world of sparkling stone in this long-abandoned civilian bunker complex.

The pipe was a bit of a squeeze, and knowing this, I brought some rope to tie to my backpack so I could drag it behind me as I crawled inside. This particular set of bunkers seemed rather untouched after it was sealed after WWII, even as the Russians took over the latter portion of the bunker complex (as seen in the other gallery). Left unfinished by concrete, these rough-hewn walls allowed straw-like stalactites to form en masse along the ceilings, creating a beautiful cathedral of calcite. They are probably the most beautiful tunnels I've ever seen.