Uelzen's railway station is the most unexpected thing in Lower Saxony. Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the Austrian artist who hated straight lines, redesigned it for the Expo 2000 world's fair, and the result is a riot of golden onion domes, wobbly floors, ceramic columns in every colour and trees growing from the roof. Walking through the building is free, and you do not need a train ticket.
Hundertwasser believed that buildings should be alive, with grass on the roof, windows of different sizes and floors that dance. The station is one of his last works, and he died in 2000, just before the Expo. Inside, the uneven floors give the odd sensation of being a little drunk, and the lavatories are famously a work of art in themselves. The town around it is otherwise a quiet, practical place of brick houses and long streets, a farming centre for the sugar-beet and potato lands of the eastern Heath.
Uelzen has fuel, supermarkets and cafes, and it is a good place to eat before heading into the heath. The region is known for its heather, which blooms in August and September, covering the sandy hills in purple, and for its heath sheep, the grey-horned Heidschnucken, whose meat is a regional dish. The roads out of town run through pine woods, over open heath and past low farmsteads, flat and gentle, with long straights and sudden bends around a village. The surface is generally good, and the traffic is light.
The Elbe-Lateral Canal runs close to Uelzen, a modern waterway built to carry barges north to the Elbe, and you can watch the big ships pass. The churches and the old centre have a pleasing, brick-built look, and a market takes place in the square. Wrestedt, seven kilometres away, is a small village with little to offer. If you have time before the train arrives, wander through the little park. Eat slowly, and let the strange colours of the station settle in your mind.