During my visit to Vogelsang, the surrounding forest was quiet, at times too quiet. The blanket of snow muffled the sounds of my footsteps, the mid-winter cold seems to have kept the birds in their nests, and the terrible Deutsche Bahn's route cancellations kept other explorers back in Berlin. I had the whole place to myself, my foot prints in the snow were the only ones around. Usually being the only one at an abandoned location is free-ing, but I couldn't quite shake a feeling of unease my whole visit.
Vogelsang is an old military garrison, once home to thousands of soldiers, hundreds of buildings, and if rumors are to be believed – nuclear weapons. Today there are only a handful of buildings left and certainly no nuclear weapons that I could find. Notable remaining buildings include a school and gym, both pictured below, in surprisingly good shape for having been abandoned since the late 90's.
The highlight of the whole visit was the two main bunkers, one yellow and one green. Hidden in the forest at the south end of the complex, these huge steel doors are firmly welded shut. Most likely very little still remains inside, but I wasn't able to check myself. Braver explorers have, and still could, squeeze through the air vents into each bunker. I tried, but not very hard, since I didn't want to get stuck in a pipe all alone in the forest. Likely a challenge for another day.
