VIII. Gay Games Cologne 2010

Do elephants really like travelling on public transport in Wuppertal?

With around 350,000 inhabitants and 4,500 historic monuments, mostly from the 19th century, the university city of Wuppertal is situated around 40 km northeast of Cologne. Wuppertal came into existence in 1929 through consolidation of numerous cities including Barmen and Elberfeld. Wuppertal’s name is due to its location on the river of the same name, which flows in a very narrow valley through the city for well over 30 km. In order to deal with the difficult situation of public transport in the city, a cable railway was opened in 1901 that is 13 km long and up to 12 m above the river. The cabins hang below and operate as if you are floating over the water. 23 million travellers use the cable railway annually. Recently, the cable railway reopened after extensive renovation work. In 1950, a circus elephant named “Tuffi” caused unintended comedy. As a promotional gag, the elephant was led into one of the cabins. The elephant then started to panic and broke through the door and landed in the Wupper. Thankfully, the elephant was barely injured and the gag was seen as successful, although not as planned. The Wuppertaler cable railway is renowned worldwide just as the Wuppertaler Dance Theatre is, which was under the direction of the late Pina Bausch, who died in 2009.

http://www.wuppertal.de/