Berlin, Germany

One of the things that we have enjoyed whilst travelling has been meeting people along the way. Sometimes we only meet them for a short time, like when we are staying in a campground and sometimes, they invite us to visit them as we continue our travels.

When we were in Norway, visiting the Lofoten Islands, we met a couple (Torsten & Rosie) with the most beautiful black Labrador (Benny) and they invited us to visit them when we were passing through Trier. Well, this month (October) we finally made it to Trier and spent a great weekend with Torsten & Rosie. They live very close to the Mosel River, which is a popular walk with their dog, and they are only a short drive from Luxemburg with it’s cheap fuel.

We enjoyed a lovely walk along the Mosel, watching the harvest of grapes from a small vineyard – it used to take 6 workers 10 hours to harvest the block by hand, but it only takes two men 90 minutes using machinery! It was fascinating to watch the super-skinny tractor going between the vines and shaking the grapes off. We also had the chance to visit Trier, the old Roman city and see some great buildings, like the Cathedral which was started in something like 500AD! Have I also mentioned that Saturday is cleaning day – when you go to the cemetery to clean the plots where family are buried. And when it is Springtime, you will go there to plant out new flowers for the season!

From Trier, it was up the Rhine towards Bonn for two very important visits – to the Birkenstock Factory Shop and the Haribo Factory Shop! We reached our campground with 3 new pairs of shoes for MJ and lots of Haribo. We sampled our first German Stellplatz (free roadside camping) and then drove down the river to Remagen (think WW2 movies, “The Bridge at Remagen”) and Nick was looking forward to seeing the Bridge, which was apparently a major access for the US when they crossed the Rhine into Germany.

After a great lunch in a little Italian Restaurant, with some Aussies that we met at HUBB-UK, it was time to head south to Crailsheim to visit some other friends, Tobi & Christine, and see how much Lena has grown since Christmas last year.

And boy! Has she grown!! She is now walking & talking and turning the charm on like a trooper!

But I digress. Whilst driving south, we took the B9, which is the Rheintal (scenic drive along the Rhine River, and then joined the Autobahn around Mannheim. As we were driving towards Crailsheim, we suddenly noticed a couple of Concorde Jets which were parked on a roof. What was this? Where were we? Sinsheim?? Hmmm, must look this up later when we aren’t driving.

So we arrived in Crailsheim and had a great catch up with Christine and Lena, who is going into a delightful little Minx! Christine was telling us about a trip they did with Toby’s parents to a Thermal Spa at a place called Sinsheim. Wait! Didn’t we drive through there? Isn’t there some sort of museum there? It turns out that there is one of the biggest Auto & Technical Museums located in Sinsheim, with the partner Museum at Speyer. But we decided that we would have to drive back to spend at day at the Museum, especially when we discovered that there is a great thermal spa in the same town.

But before we headed to Sinsheim, we spent a day at Musweise, which is a nearby village with one of the biggest farm machinery exhibition/fairs in Baden-Wurttemburg – a bit like the Royal Easter Show but without the animals or competitions. Anyway, we had a great day walking around looking at the tools they have here in Germany – we identified a similar log-splitter to the one we have at the farm, but we also had a great time looking at the building displays, to see the sort of ceiling/wall insulation they use. Boy, have we got a lot to learn! And, yes we don’t get the cold that they do in Germany, but improving the insulation against heat wouldn’t go astray! We also bought some great little knick-knacks from some of the stands.

Friday was Sinsheim day – which meant a 90km drive in the direction of Mannheim and then several hours walking around an amazing museum. I even thought it was pretty amazing! Lots of lovely old cars, motorbikes, tanks and military stuff, locomotives, helicopters and planes, as well as heaps of other stuff. And when the displays were set up, they were done with some great background stuff, like the American cars had fashion, etc from the 50’s and the military stuff was set out in context, eg Afrika korps, etc. Outside, they have an Air France Concorde and a Russian Tupulov 144 (copy of the Concorde) on display and you can walk through the various planes on display.

After an exhausting morning, it was time to relax at the Thermal Baths, which were on the opposite side of the Autobahn. We bought a 3-hour pass in the Palms Paradise which gave you access to several thermal pools (indoors and outdoors) as well as a range of saunas, including the largest sauna in the world! We sat in a pool, outside, overlooking some beautiful farmland, drinking wine & dunkel bier, and had a totally relaxing time. I’m sure that I’ve mentioned it before, but we have become big fans of saunas, but the best thing about German saunas is that they are “textile-frei” (or naked). Now, don’t go getting the wrong idea – Germans are very relaxed about naturism and no-one stares or gawkes, and it is surprisingly relaxing to sit in the sauna and not feel constricted by your swimming costume.

Over the weekend, we had a great time with Toby & Christine, as well as catching up with Ursula & Rudi (Toby’s parents). On Sunday, we drove down to Brombachsee, which is a large lake and met some of Toby & Christine’s friends for lunch in a typical Frankish restaurant. We had the most amazing meal of Schäufele and Knödel (Pork shoulder with crackling and dumplings).

As it is now Autumn, small farming communities are holding their traditional Harvest festivals, and we went to see one in Onolzheim – the Onolzheimer Hammeltanz. This is a small village and all the businesses and community groups put a float together, for the parade. And they have the Hammeltanz Koningen – which is a sheep! But we had heaps of fun and were kept very active keeping little Lena under control.

I was working it out the other day and since my first trip to Europe in 2000, I have been to Berlin six times, and after making a slight detour to catch up with Geraldine & Ray, you can make that 7 times! Have I mentioned that I love Berlin, which is probably a good thing!

Geraldine and I first met in 1973 when I was a student at Marist Sisters College, Woolwich. I was in 5^th Form (now called Year 11) and Gee was in 3^rd Form. And I have suddenly realised that Gee is also the only person whom I keep in contact with that I met when I was at school!

Nostalgia aside – we had a great day walking around Berlin. We drank copious quantities of coffee and then walked along the Spree until we found the Thursday Food Market where we had the most delectable lunch of Pork Belly, Pulled Pork and Beef Brisket with rolls, sauces and sides. The meat was melt-in-your-mouth delicious! And then we rounded off the day by visiting the Ritter Sport Shop in Berlin to get a few essentials! Don’t worry Tyson – I’ve posted home your Care Package!

Time to head to a new country – for Nick, at least. On our way to the Czech Republic, we went via Dresden, so that we could a little bit of Santa shopping! But Nick will have to wait until Christmas to find out what he is getting. I’m sure that with his bad memory, he will have forgotten all about trying on and buying a pair of motorbike boots!