Kaltenkirchen

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Kaltenkirchen (nicknamed KaKi) is a small town located on the outskirts of Hamburg, Germany. It is part of the Segeberg district in Schleswig-Holstein. It has about 20,000 inhabitants.

[edit] History

First mentioned in the 14th century, it flourished during the Industrial Revolution to accommodate the large number of workers in Hamburg. During the Second World War a temporary airfield protected the northern towns from bombing raids, but during the raids on Hamburg the airfield was destroyed and never rebuilt. Only open fields remain where it was.　There was talk of moving the Hamburg Airport to Kaltenkirchen in the 1970s, but this did not materialize.

[edit] Attractions

Kaltenkirchen is famous in northern Germany as being the central node of the AKN (Altona - Kaltenkirchen Neumünster) train line, which links many of the smaller southern Schleswig-Holstein towns with the Hamburg Underground network. This makes Kaltenkirchen an attractive home for commuters.

Kaltenkirchen is renowned for its Saturday Market and its annual Christmas Market. Like many towns in Germany, Kaltenkirchen is constantly being rebuilt by creating new living areas in and around the town. A brand new railway station has been built to accommodate Kaltenkirchen's ever growing supply of workers and tourists to and from other parts of the north.

As for the economy, the city relies heavily on commuters to Hamburg. The southern parts of Hamburg include the industrial area where, for example, boiled sweets are produced. Kaltenkirchen has a few schools and is planning a shopping center around the new railway station.