Germany Part 2

The rest of Germany

After a nice lie in we got up and got on the bikes to cycle around Calw and soon realised it was a very small town so we cycled to the remains of an old Cloister which was a couple of kilometers outside of the town. After a good walk around we headed back to the van for some lunch. We had decided to eat outside the van but it soon started to snow so we headed in and finished up so we could head onto our next destination, Bobingen.

The following day we got up early and we drove towards Stuttgart, to a small park and ride, before getting on our bikes and cycling the rest of the way. We first went to the Mercedes Benz museum where we spent a couple of hours learning about the brand, their formula one history and the effect of the war. Rich also had a go on the F1 simulator and before we knew it, it was lunch time and we were hungry so we headed into the town centre to get some lunch. We ended up in a food market in the town were we got some falafel. We then traveled by bike around the town hall and centre square before heading to the central train station which is currently being totally rebuilt but there is a tall tower that can be climbed so we did and got some good views over the city. After that we headed back to the van and headed out the city before the traffic got too bad. We were heading to Ulm for the evening but made a stop at a garage to get a special emissions sticker (Umwelt) for the van which would mean we could go into towns (we have already been in a couple of the towns which require the sticker but we hadn’t realised we needed it).

The following morning we got up and decided to explore Ulm which contains, apparently, the crookedest house and one of the narrowest houses in the world. It also has a stunning cathedral and a leaning tower, although it is no match for the tower in Pisa. After seeing all this, and avoiding the tour groups who seemed to congregate outside each attraction, and managing to find the Albert Einstein statue (he was born in the town and therefore the statue is near his original house) before heading back to the van and driving to Sulzemoos. This was a camperstop at a large Motorhome showroom and service centre and we were surprised by how many visiting motorhomes there were. It was a bit of a luxury night especially as someone was leaving not long after we arrived and therefore let us have their leftover electricity which was enough for the whole evening for us.  

We were up early again in the morning and drove to Munich and managed to park in the English garden which was very close to the city centre and meant that we had a lovely cycle into the city. Once there we first saw the old cathedral which we also went back to see at lunch time as when the clock struck twelve the figures moved and danced while a tune played (and this one worked unlike the one in Vienna). We also went to see the old lion statues, the Nymphenburg palace, the food market and the stunning Assam Church (which appeared to be surrounded by visiting Thai monks). While exploring the city we also stumbled across a statue which appeared to have been taken over as a tribute to Micheal Jackson as there were pictures, candles and flowers everywhere. It was quite an odd thing to see and did appear to have been there, yet maintained, since the singers death. After this we headed back to the English garden for a cycle around. It is a huge green expanse within the city with so many things to see and do, including naked sunbathing (which we saw, despite the cool temperature), some surfing on a river (it seems like there is a natural area where there is enough current movement to surf on, but only for those experienced surfers) and many lakes and paths for us to explore. Afterwards we headed into the city again to get another too good to go lunch which this time was a German lunch of some type of meat, a potato salad and a vegetable pattie. It was very nice and filling an gave us a bit more energy to finish riding around the city before heading back to the van and on to Wolznach for the evening.

It turns out there is nothing to do in Wolznach so the next morning we got up and drove towards Colditz which was a long drive and took about  hours which meant there was little we could do once we arrived.

The following morning we headed to the Colditz castle and had decided to go on the 2 hour English tour but it turns out no one else had decided to do this so we had a personal tour with the guide. There were some awkward moments during the tour, especially as it became apparent that we had very little knowledge of Colditz (I had more than Rich but it was still very limited); however we learnt a lot and the tour was very interesting. After the tour we headed back to the van to warm up, the cold weather seemed to have made a return, and headed north to Berlin. We arrived at the camperstop, which was essentially a side road next to an old airport which has been converted into a park. The area looked a bit dodgy and we weren’t sure about the location but it was dark and late so we hoped it would look better in the light. What we hadn’t realised it that a storm was heading our way which was why the weather had been worse today. The storm hit that evening and the wind picked up speed and the van was shaking all night (meaning we got very little sleep). The wind speeds hit over 50km per hour that night in Berlin but they were stronger up north by the coast.

In the morning we got up and decided not to go out on the bikes as planned as it was still atrocious weather and we were worried about being blown off them. We walked to the metro station, feeling a little more reassured about the parking area (although not fully reassured) and we got the metro to an indoor flea market where we were able to have a little shop and see some of the german antiques and rubbish that they sell. The first section of the market we walked in was a complete mess and looked like the house of a hoarder! We couldn’t make head nor tail of anything and we were worried about the rest of the halls. However we went into the second hall and it was full of much nicer items and we could actually walk around the hall, unlike the previous one, and see different items. There were many different things for sale including some amazingly retro items from the 50s and 60s including fondue pots, glasses, children’s toys and kitchen equipment.  We had planned to go to a couple of other markets but due to the bad weather they were all closed so instead we headed into central Berlin and to the GDR museum which showed how life was under the GDR and we went to the Palace of Tears museum which gave the history of the checkpoint between the East and the West of Germany. We also got another Too Good To Go Lunch, this time from a nice buffet place. After the lunch and museums it started to get dark but so we headed for the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichtag which looked great lit up in the dark. We also saw the Holocaust museum. Finally we tried to find the fountain we had frequented last time we were in Berlin but we didn’t manage to find it so we headed for dinner at Curry 39 where we could get a good Currywurst and beer before heading back to Pierre, hoping he was in one piece.

Pierre was fine when we got back and so we felt assured that we could leave him here for another day and we headed back into Berlin the following morning. Again we decided to leave the bikes on the van and get public transport and we first headed for Checkpoint Charlie which is the most famous checkpoint between the East and the West (and now the most commercial) but it does provide a good timeline of the conflict and the building of the wall. After spending some time here we headed to the Typography of Terror which was the main Gestapo headquarters and again this provided a good history of the conflict and the power and terror caused by the Gestapo. Next we headed over to the fountain we tried to find yesterday (having done some googling we had finally found it) luckily it was drained (and too cold) to get in it like we did when we were last here. After that we headed to East Side Gallery where there is a very long strip of the Berlin Wall which has various murals all the way along it. The first section was crowded with tourist but soon as we walked a little way it soon thinned out and then we really got to appreciate the artwork. Afterwards we headed back to the van and headed to Potsdam for the evening. We found a nice camper stop a couple of kms out of the town centre but walked in for a nice cocktail and dinner as a bit of a treat.

The following morning we got up late as the last two busy days had tired us out. After a lazy morning we got up and drove to Helmstedt which was a 3 hour drive away, we didn’t manage to do much else this day as we had lots of admin to do for selling the house and sorting out the next few days.

The following morning we went to the local town Brunswick as they had a launderette and we were running short on clothes. The launderette also had Wifi which we took full advantage of while waiting for the clothes and then we carried on the drive West to Stadthagen camperstop.

The following morning we headed to Dusseldorf and managed to park close to the centre before jumping on bikes and cycling the rest of the way.  We did a bit of shopping around the town and cycled along the River Rhine where we could see the tallest tower (it was a bit too cloudy to go up), we went to a food market. The weather started to close in so we went for a beer in a traditional beer hall where once you find a table a small beer arrives (you don’t have a choice on the type of beer) and once you finish it another one arrives until you put your coaster on top of your glass to signal that you have finished drinking. Each time a new beer is given to you the waiter marks your coaster and at the end they use the markings to add up your total. We had a couple of beers each and Rich decided to order some snack food, unwittingly though he ordered a local delicacy. It was described as minced pork and onion on bread but what it hadn’t stated was that it was minced raw pork and onions on bread. I refused to try it but Rich did eat it but wasn’t overly keen on it and wouldn’t be making that mistake again. We then headed back to the van and onto a camper stop not far outside the town in a village called Neuss.

The following morning we drove to the small nature park, after a long walk to get in due to walking the wrong way, we walked around and saw the deer, wild boar and a very cute racoon before heading back to the van and onto a camper stop on the outskirts of Cologne which was on a large lake and 10km from the centre. From here we cycled part of the way into Cologne to find another Beer hall for a couple of drinks (to celebrate the house completing finally) before finding a very friendly south Indian restaurant for dinner. The restaurant was small and to start with we were the only people in there (we walked in by mistake as we were trying to find a different restaurant which was now closed but had the same number) and felt compelled to stay. It was a vegetarian restaurant and there was only one choice, the menu of the day but it was very good food and the chef/waitress/owner was all too keen to tell us what we should see in Cologne the next day. We were glad when other people joined us so she had other people to talk to and entertain for a little while.

We were up very early the next morning and on the bikes to cycle the 7km to the local market where we had a little look around before we cycled the next 7km to another market where we had a little shop and got to chat to some locals before heading into the city centre. There we managed to see the large and famous Cologne Cathedral which is huge and stunning before heading across the bridge covered in padlocks as this is one of the first places that the new craze of locking padlocks as a symbol of love started. Afterwards we crossed another bridge and headed back to the centre and had some lunch before heading to a museum showing another old Gestapo headquarters where they had converted the basement into a prison to hold suspects. The museum let you walk around the cells and even into some of them so that you could see the tough condition they were held in. Many prisoners were even executed in the courtyard of the building.  Afterwards we started the 10km ride back to the campervan stopping for another beer in a different beer hall this time. There were a lot of people out in fancy dress, some were stag dos and hen dos but there all were also large groups of mixed men and women in the same outfits and we couldn’t figure out what they were celebrating.  This is our last night in Germany as tomorrow we plan to drive to the Netherlands tomorrow.