diff --git a/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestEntity.java b/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestEntity.java
index 2b9c201a9..aa06cb93a 100644
--- a/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestEntity.java
+++ b/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestEntity.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package org.neo4j.rest.graphdb;
 
 import com.sun.jersey.api.client.ClientResponse;
+import org.neo4j.graphdb.GraphDatabaseService;
 import org.neo4j.graphdb.NotFoundException;
 import org.neo4j.graphdb.PropertyContainer;
 import org.neo4j.helpers.collection.IterableWrapper;
@@ -154,7 +155,11 @@ public class RestEntity implements PropertyContainer {
         return getClass().equals( o.getClass() ) && getId() == ( (RestEntity) o ).getId();
     }
 
-    public RestGraphDatabase getGraphDatabase() {
+    public GraphDatabaseService getGraphDatabase() {
+        throw new UnsupportedOperationException("No GraphDatabaseService semantics for the REST-API");
+    }
+
+    public RestGraphDatabase getRestGraphDatabase() {
         return graphDatabase;
     }
 
diff --git a/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestGraphDatabase.java b/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestGraphDatabase.java
index ac96d8a63..69345e013 100644
--- a/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestGraphDatabase.java
+++ b/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestGraphDatabase.java
@@ -2,19 +2,12 @@ package org.neo4j.rest.graphdb;
 
 import com.sun.jersey.api.client.ClientResponse;
 import org.neo4j.graphdb.*;
-import org.neo4j.graphdb.event.KernelEventHandler;
-import org.neo4j.graphdb.event.TransactionEventHandler;
 import org.neo4j.graphdb.index.Index;
-import org.neo4j.graphdb.index.IndexManager;
 import org.neo4j.graphdb.traversal.TraversalDescription;
-import org.neo4j.kernel.AbstractGraphDatabase;
-import org.neo4j.kernel.Config;
-import org.neo4j.kernel.RestConfig;
 import org.neo4j.rest.graphdb.index.RestIndexManager;
 import org.springframework.data.graph.core.GraphDatabase;
 
 import javax.ws.rs.core.Response.Status;
-import java.io.Serializable;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.util.Map;
 
diff --git a/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestNode.java b/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestNode.java
index 27bdb2a60..b0870e38e 100644
--- a/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestNode.java
+++ b/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestNode.java
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ public class RestNode extends RestEntity implements Node {
         if ( restRequest.statusOtherThan( response, Status.CREATED ) ) {
             throw new RuntimeException( "" + response.getStatus() );
         }
-        return new RestRelationship( response.getLocation(), getGraphDatabase() );
+        return new RestRelationship( response.getLocation(), getRestGraphDatabase() );
     }
 
     public Iterable<Relationship> getRelationships() {
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ public class RestNode extends RestEntity implements Node {
                 (Collection<Object>) restRequest.toEntity( response ) ) {
             @Override
             protected Relationship underlyingObjectToObject( Object data ) {
-                return new RestRelationship( (Map<?, ?>) data, getGraphDatabase() );
+                return new RestRelationship( (Map<?, ?>) data, getRestGraphDatabase() );
             }
         };
     }
diff --git a/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestRelationship.java b/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestRelationship.java
index 1ec933624..e81600200 100644
--- a/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestRelationship.java
+++ b/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/main/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestRelationship.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ public class RestRelationship extends RestEntity implements Relationship {
     }
 
     private RestNode node( String uri ) {
-        return new RestNode( uri, getGraphDatabase() );
+        return new RestNode( uri, getRestGraphDatabase() );
     }
 
     public Node getStartNode() {
diff --git a/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/test/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestTestBase.java b/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/test/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestTestBase.java
index 03851bc5f..b1e04a5bc 100644
--- a/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/test/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestTestBase.java
+++ b/spring-data-neo4j-rest/src/test/java/org/neo4j/rest/graphdb/RestTestBase.java
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ import java.util.Iterator;
 
 public class RestTestBase {
 
-    protected GraphDatabaseService graphDb;
+    protected RestGraphDatabase graphDb;
     private static final String HOSTNAME = "localhost";
     private static final int PORT = 7473;
     private static LocalTestServer neoServer = new LocalTestServer(HOSTNAME,PORT).withPropertiesFile("test-db.properties");
@@ -47,11 +47,6 @@ public class RestTestBase {
         neoServer.cleanDb();
     }
 
-    @After
-    public void tearDown() throws Exception {
-        graphDb.shutdown();
-    }
-
     @AfterClass
     public static void shutdownDb() {
         neoServer.stop();
@@ -61,7 +56,7 @@ public class RestTestBase {
     protected Relationship relationship() {
         Iterator<Relationship> it = node().getRelationships(Direction.OUTGOING).iterator();
         if (it.hasNext()) return it.next();
-        return node().createRelationshipTo(graphDb.createNode(), Type.TEST);
+        return node().createRelationshipTo(graphDb.createNode(null), Type.TEST);
     }
 
     protected Node node() {