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German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

fascinatingmaps.com

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Re: German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

#21

Post by ilamont »

There are some weird border situations up on US/Canada border, including:

* Library in Vermont and Quebec straddling the border: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-us-canada-border-r...

* Canadian train that crosses northern Maine and used to have U.S. border guards board it (can't find the resource, but I saw this on TV show some years ago)

* Thousand Islands border between Ontario and NY State, which can be easily swum in the summer and freezes over in the winter (https://www.cbp.gov/frontline/frontline-april-thousand-islan...)

* Akwesasne Mohawk reservation further east that straddles the NY/Ontario/Quebec border but tribal members do not recognize (https://www.npr.org/2017/10/28/560436303/at-u-s-canada-borde...)

* Northwest Angle attached to Manitoba, but technically part of Minnesota: https://www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/2014/02/story-behind-minne...

Re: German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

#22

Post by y4mi »

toyg wrote: post #9
FigBug wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I was expecting when I drove between Switzerland-Italy in 2016. Except I was stopped, told to park, had my passport examined with with a loupe, and then was sent on my way. Are the borders back to normal now?

Probably not. The Italian Northern border has been repeatedly “closed to Schengen” by neighbours because of the migration crisis. France, Switzerland and Austria basically keep suspending the treaty unilaterally whenever they feel like, as well as carrying out further abuses (like French Police illegally crossing the border and unloading migrants in a forest before driving back).

> like French Police illegally crossing the border and unloading migrants in a forest before driving back

Please tell me you have a source for that.

/ Edit It seems to have been a singular occurrence where two migrants were deported unofficially by French officers.

Your phrasing made it sound like a regular occurrence of at least tens of migrants... But it is technically correct, I guess.

Re: German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

#24

Post by tormeh »

OscarCunningham wrote: post #8
Faaak wrote: post #2

> There is no border control due to the Schengen Agreement, therefore daily life is not really impacted. That's the most interesting part to me. I cross the border every day to go to work. Yet, when a friend came to visit us and we we to the city, he couldn't believe that we were crossing a border that easily (France-Switzerland). It was literally an open fence with a sign welcoming you. It's really awesome when you…

People in the U.S. have forgotten the meaning of the word "state".

People who think the US and the EU operate the same way should look up the country and the union, respectively. There are also lots of YouTube videos about it, although you should probably be careful about what channels you trust.

Re: German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

#25

Post by IAmEveryone »

Which reminds me of the rather young saying: “No fences make for excellent neighbors.”

As to the bike path: that photo made my legs itch. Old train tracks are an excellent resource for bike paths, at least for recreational riding. They are flat, because trains are unable to climb anything more than 2% or so. Plus no cars, perfect width, and (because they are established rather recently) often perfectly smooth pavement.

I’ve done a thousand km or so in both Spain, and across the alps. It’s almost as breathtaking as crossing the mountain passes, if you allow me to mix the literal and figurative meaning of the word.

Re: German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

#26

Post by tormeh »

My favorite is Lake Constance. Switzerland and Austria disagree on where exactly the borders are, but both think Germany holds a part of it. Germany has no stated position on the subject. It has to be the world's most relaxed border dispute.

Re: German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

#27

Post by gammateam »

dividuum wrote: post #12

Odd borders are funny. Here's two other examples: The utter chaos in Baarle. They even have nested enclaves. So area of Netherlands surrounded by Belgium surrounded by Netherlands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Nassau https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=14/51.4402/4.9316 Between Germany and Switzerland, there's the German exclave Büsingen am Hochrhein. They have odd tax rules as Swiss VAT is applied. https://en…

The german entry for Büsingen is MUCH more detailed

https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Büsingen_am_Hochrhein

This really frustrates me about Wikipedia because its like a totally parallel site and experience thats just right there and can even have conflicting information. Not helping the world as much as we think, but its so close to being able to.

Re: German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

#30

Post by Forge36 »

gammateam wrote: post #27
dividuum wrote: post #12

Odd borders are funny. Here's two other examples: The utter chaos in Baarle. They even have nested enclaves. So area of Netherlands surrounded by Belgium surrounded by Netherlands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Nassau https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=14/51.4402/4.9316 Between Germany and Switzerland, there's the German exclave Büsingen am Hochrhein. They have odd tax rules as Swiss VAT is applied. https://en…

The german entry for Büsingen is MUCH more detailed https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Büsingen_am_Hochrhein This really frustrates me about Wikipedia because its like a totally parallel site and experience thats just right there and can even have conflicting information. Not helping the world as much as we think, but its so close to being able to.

Do you speak German? Would you mind translating parts?

I can give it a go, however my German skills aren't great.

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