Germany - part 3 : "It's the Arctic Ocean...with a different name."

After a great week in Berlin, Mutti and Papa made their way, via train, back to sleepy Meisenheim. Heiko took the reins as pilot of the great holiday machine with Merrilee, Zachary, Luther, myself and Jorris as willing passengers. We were headed to Elmshorn, north of Hamburg, and then further on to the North Sea. Fortunately, there were no major disruptions on the autobahn and we got to Elmshorn in good time. Our purpose was to visit Heiko's sister Kirstin, (Merrilee's 'host' sister), and spend a couple of days with her and her beautiful daughters Siri and Ira. (Siri came to Australia as an exchange student last year and stayed with us in Darwin for a couple of months) A wonderful, comfortable little home greeted us on our arrival and our stay with Kirstin and the girls was truly delightful. We even had a barbecue in the back yard and then hauled the ping pong table out to the side yard where many laughs were heartily enjoyed. One of my enduring memories is of the shower. Two heads, the main one glowing with blue LED lights when you turned the water on and stereo speakers directly above. Now THAT'S the way to get clean.
Whilst we were in Elmshorn, we took a day trip on the train to Hamburg. It was a cool and drizzly Sunday, but our spirits were high and we enjoyed the day. After having a Berliner in Berlin I also thought it prudent to indulge in a hamburger in Hamburg.

Of course, I then began to worry what I might need to eat in another week or so's time when we were due to visit Worms. But I figured I'd cross that bridge when it arrived.
Being a cold, wet Sunday, we did what hundreds of other Hamburgers, (??, Hamburgians... Hamburgolians... Hamburglars..... whatever?), decided to do. We visited the Miniatur Wunderland of model trains. We entered the building and climbed the sopping stairs surrounded on all sides by dripping umbrellas connected to other Wunderland Sunday revellers. Bought our tickets and waited for the 2 hours it would take before we would be able to enter. Sure is a popular spot on a wet weekend. After wandering around the centuries old docks our time finally arrived and we made our way in toward the waiting train sets. What greeted us was quite remarkable. Then as we made our way further in and up to the next level it was beyond astounding. When one thinks of train sets, something on this scale never enters your reckoning. At current standings, they have 930 trains with 14 000 wagons spread over 1300 square metres of floor space, 13 km of track together with 215 000 hand made figurines. They have workers there full time to operate the 46 computers that run it all.

There were areas that were designed on the Swiss Alps, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Austria, Scandinavia it just goes on and on. There was even an airport where trains would arrive, fire and safety vehicles would drive out to the runways and back, and the planes actually took off and disappeared though the painted clouds on the wall. There was smoke billowing from castles and tunnels that caught on "fire" requiring miniature fire brigade vehicles to attend, tiny amusement parks with fully operational roller coasters, ferris wheels and other rides, a rock concert attended by throngs of fans holding lighters into the air, and all the while, trains would whizz by over bridges, through tunnels and even at one spot, underneath the very floor that you stood on whilst every few minutes, the lighting above it all would gently change from day to night and all of the 335 000 lights on the trains, cars, buildings, planes, boats and streets would transform the entire set to a magical night scene before gently returning to day and beginning the cycle once more. It was, rather astoundingly, absolutely breathtaking.

Half the fun, if you spent long enough looking carefully, was discovering the stories that were going on in the surrounding towns and mountains. They really were quite fascinating and often rather amusing or even slightly risqué. You could find fairy tale characters, nudists, base jumpers, hippies, cowboys, lost boyscouts, and the odd fellow being pursued in the forest by velociraptors. I even came across a crime scene with police divers finding a dead body in a small brook. It believe it would likely take months or even years to uncover every wonderful little story. It truly was a Wunderland.

Before making our way home we had what seemed to have become the obligatory stop for ice-cream. (I do believe that with all the pretzels, sausages, beer and ice-cream I may have possibly added a few pounds to my already aging frame.) After two wonderful days we said our goodbyes to Kirstin and headed for the North Sea.

Heading north west we decided to get off the autobahn and take a few back roads for a change of scenery. Wending our way through the northern tip of the Netherlands was delightfully refreshing. The long thin roads leading through endless fields of crops and passing tiny farm houses seemed quaint after the hustle and bustle of the city. Eventually, after one or two moments of backtracking, we arrived in Eemshaven and prepared to board the ferry to the German isle of Borkum.
Borkum is the largest of the East Fresian islands in the North Sea. It is oddly shaped and surrounded by very shallow waters which means there is only one way to approach it in a large vessel. The channel markers show a very narrow path with bare sandbars on either side. I would hate to be doing the hour long trip then entering that tiny entrance in a rough sea. My hopes of a quick dip in the North Sea were slightly put on hold when I discovered one of the sand banks was home to a resident pack of lounging seals. Perhaps it was going to be colder than I had even imagined. We set ourselves up at the local camping ground and walked to the main beach/town area. Perhaps it was the fact that it was overcast with a chance of rain, or maybe that it was very early in the summer yet. But the deserted beach covered in lonely huts, (all facing away from the sea view and instead toward the township promenade), was a striking but somewhat depressing image.

Of course, the other thing that I had neglected to take into account was the summer time. It was almost 10:00 pm when the above photo was taken, so there was good reason for the lack of life on the beach. It didn't get dark in Borkum until 11:30 pm and the sky would be light in the morning at 4:30. (Summer time like that would be awesome back home. You could still fit in 5 hours of surfing after work!) I can imagine though, that in the height of a summer's day this quite pretty little beach would be literally crawling with happy families. We made our way back to the camping ground and settled in for the night.
Every morning Merrilee would walk into the township to buy bread rolls and pretzels for breakfast. Sometimes one or more of us would join her on this pleasant outing and we would often take a different route just to discover more of this interesting little island. The weather whilst we were there was not the greatest. Mostly it was overcast and windy with a few drizzly bits and the odd downpour accompanied by a fairly impressive thunderstorm. This made it all the more funny when, hiding in our tent from the early rain, the campground speakers would erupt with morning greetings and a rousing rendition of a hilarious song about Borkum that loudly proclaimed "auf dort gibt's Sonnenschein" (...there, there is sunshine...) Still, it was of no matter to us. We had a very enjoyable time. There were enough dry spells to get out and about and do some exploring. I wandered to the beach directly over the hill from the camp one evening and decided to walk to the sea. I thought the tide went out a long way in Darwin but this was ridiculous. It took almost 20 minutes from when I reached the beach to make it to the water.
We had one day that was sunny with blue skies, so we hired bikes and did some longer range exploring.

There are bike and walking tracks all over the island and we covered some serious miles. Some of the tracks through the marshes and dunes were more walking tracks really which made for a few stacks between us, but that was all part of the fun. We stopped at an area where the sea reaches much closer to the land and finally managed a swim in the North Sea. Not exactly crystal clear tropical water, but certainly nowhere near as cold as expected, so that mission was accomplished and thankfully without the loss of the family jewels.

Borkum is a very quiet and friendly island that has been a popular summer holiday destination for German families for many years. (When we finally returned to Meisenheim, Papa showed us photos of him in Borkum when he's was 4.) I imagine returning here someday, it really was quite lovely.
One of the main reasons to come to Borkum was so that Heiko could take Jorris kitesurfing. Unfortunately the school was booked out for the first two days and then there wasn't enough wind so Jorris was pretty disappointed that he had missed out on the opportunity. One of the strange things about Borkum however is that it has a Flo-Rider, so this would have to be a replacement. A Flo-rider is basically a man made standing wave where a few inches of water gushes up a slope at a great rate of knots enabling the rider to essentially 'surf' upon it.

They were planning to take the centre divider out the following day which meant we could have ridden it on stand-up boards but because we were leaving the next day we had to make do with the body/knee option. (This was probably a good idea in the end given how difficult it was to get used to.) We all still had a whale of a time and were blessed with many spills and much boisterous amusement.
We caught the ferry back to Eemshaven and drove to Bremen where we said a sad farewell to Heiko and Jorris and boarded a train to head on to the next part of our journey.

This is one beer I didn't expect to be sampling in Germany.

Germany - part 2 : "I am a jam donut"

Our home base for Germanic adventure was to be Meisenheim. A typical small country village about 1.5 hours drive from Frankfurt with a beautiful little cathedral, a hand full of stores on cobbled streets and the river Glan running peacefully through it. Our hosts were Wolfgang and Gisela Doerr, Merrilee's host parents as an exchange student in 1980, so really, they were just Mutti and Papa. We arrived at their house and out came the Kaesecuchen, Mutti's well renowned baked cheese cake.

After a day of resting from the travel and enjoying the peace and quiet of Meisenheim, (also letting the many slices of kaesecuchen settle), Mutti was adamant that we see as much as we could whilst we were there. So our first day trip in Germany was put in motion and we were off to Burg Eltz. This was the first of dozens of castles we were to see on this trip, and my God, it was certainly the most spectacular. Walking down a steep road toward the valley where the castle is perched on a rocky outcrop on the bend of a small river, the first glimpse was jaw dropping. Looking like something straight out of a Disney feature, (it is apparently the best preserved of all the German castles), one expected knights, damsels and ogres to be prancing around the surrounding hills. Inside the castle itself was a veritable maze of stairwells and passages leading from room to room and floor to floor. There were remnants of old treasures, furniture, tapestries, armoury, (there are even some arrows from enemy crossbows fired against the castle centuries ago), and some of the most amazing little window nooks that would be beyond heaven to curl up in and read fairy tales.

The main reason for our German holiday was to attend Merrilee's (host) brother Heiko's 50th birthday. So with only a couple of days in Meisenheim we set off for Berlin.
Traveling in Mutti and Papa's campervan was a bit of an adventure in itself. The ability to sit at a table and play cards on a very long journey was indeed a welcome bonus. Once on the Autobahn it was fairly easy traveling.......until it wasn't! Apparently a car, somewhere ahead, had burst into flames on the side of the road. This may not have been such a problem except that the Germans do some strange things. One of these things is to block off half of the lanes on the Autobahn, apparently in order to prolong the life of the road surface!!!!????? (Perhaps there was no mention in the meeting that decided on this peculiar measure of the distinct possibility that prolonging the life of half of the road was possibly going to shorten the life of the other half) Because of this wonderful beaurocratic decision, there was no room for traffic to pass the aforementioned roadside fireball. Eventually the slowing traffic came to a full halt. And this is where we stayed for the next two hours. The offending barbequed bomb was about 6 or 7 km in front of where we were stopped so I would hazard a guess that after 2 hours, the eventual line of stopped traffic gathering behind us must have continued for at least another 20 km if not more. People talked, played cards, listened to music, played soccer, wandered into the bushes, (mostly they were probably not looking for berries.....some particular bushy areas were obviously more popular than others judging by the slowly gathering smell), but mostly they just walked around trying to relieve the boredom.

Finally the traffic began to move and people ran everywhere in a desperate bid to get back to their vehicles that they had long forgotten that they actually owned. Our drive to Berlin had stretched out and had eventually taken 12 hours, but we were there.
Everyone in our circle of German family and friends knew that we were coming to Germany, except Heiko. Our first stop in Berlin was at a pub where everyone had gathered for drinks on the night before his birthday. The meeting of Merrilee and Heiko was just perfect. He was genuinely shocked to see us and just absolutely thrilled to bits. We had a few drinks, something to eat, I finally got to meet Heiko's 16 year old son Jorris who was named after me, and our Berlin chapter had begun.
By the time we left the pub and made our way to the hotel it was almost midnight.....so they wouldn't let us in!!! A quick re-adjustment of plans and we found a hostel down the road that would take us for the night and we hauled in for a much needed sleep.
Our stay in Berlin was excellent. So many things to see, both wonderfully uplifting and frighteningly sobering, occasionally at the same time. With such a dramatic recent history it is certainly a city for contemplation.
The architecture in Berlin was something to behold. From modern constructions like the Sony Centre with its extravagant sails to the majestic old buildings that have seen so much change in this magnificent city. To see buildings that I remember from old paintings in Art History classes was pretty special. Napoleon visiting Berlin in front of the Brandenburg Gates....and there were the very same gates, although the day we were there a different tyrant was in town.

Other notable things from our Berlin stay were going to a massive slot car track and mucking around on that for an hour.

And of course visiting the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. A magical installment that I could have happily wandered through for hours, and then the harrowing museum built underneath it. I must remember to take some tissues next time.

One of the stranger things we did in Berlin was to have a game of mini golf. Not normally all that strange, but here in Germany they of course do things just a bit differently. There is no attempt, in any shape or form, to replicate, (as we do in Australia and New Zealand), the colour, look or feel of actual grass. Each hole's surface appeared to have been lovingly and carefully created with the use of that most famous of putting surfaces....... asbestos. To strike the ball, (yes...it is the size of a golf ball but that is where the similarity ends....still not sure what they were actually made of), the competitor was expressly forbidden to stand on the putting surface and therefore forced to stand on the ground below the playing surface, reaching across to the designated starting point. (Perhaps if they let you stand on it you would be entitled to sue them for getting cancer in later life?) The regular corners, mounds, twists and turns we're all there....it just felt a bit odd. A quick look into the club room, (I kid you not), revealed a wall full of trophies and pennants celebrating their success at various championships. There were people there with their own custom designed rubber-faced putters and fancy cases full of balls of varying weight, size, colour and density ready for the challenge that each hole presented. Mutti sat down and chatted to one of them and it turned out that he was qualified for the European tour of asbestos putting competitions. What next? As much fun as it is.... I thought ten-pin bowling was nerdy. Anyway, after the parties, dinners, pretzels, sightseeing, slot cars, museums, shopping, mini-golf and of course many different beers, our time in Berlin was over, and the next part in our adventure would take us north towards Hamburg.

It would seem that it is not only Asia that has some funny things on display.

Germany - part 1 : Planes, Trains and Tuk-tuk-mobiles

We have just returned from almost 4 weeks in Germany. What a fantastic experience. Meeting new family and friends, seeing amazing sights, eating a lot of food and of course drinking plenty of beer.

Our adventure began with a breezy tuk-tuk ride to the train station in Tha Nalaeng, (just out of Vientiane). This was followed by our first of many train journeys. The trip from Tha Nalaeng, across the Mekong River to Nong Khai in Thailand is, by its very geographical nature, a short one. The train was an old one. It was relatively short, only a handful of carriages with plenty of natural air and light due to its lack of windows. Board the train and take a seat....there were plenty, this is not what you would call a busy line. Then the driver started the engine. The rhythmic chugging of a large diesel engine vibrating through the seat of one's pants can be either embarrassingly uncomfortable or titillatingly amusing, (I think it depends on one's age), but it was nothing compared to what was about to happen. For some reason the gentle chugging turned into an outrageous roar. Either the driver was the railway equivalent of a bogan rev-head trying to impress the railway slappers, (sleepers?), or he thought he were piloting an old DC-10 and we were about to fly across the river. Either way, the peaceful beginning to our journey was well and truly over and the ear-piercing scream of the engine continued on for what must have been 5 minutes but felt like a painful eternity before the driver was satisfied that either all the girls were impressed or he finally realised that we didn't actually have any wings. The important thing was that the torture was over and with our hands now available for something other than ear-blocking, we were on our way. The track itself runs directly through the middle of the Friendship Bridge which means that there is only room on the bridge for the train and not much else, therefore all other traffic must wait at either end until the train has passed. Uninterrupted views of the Mekong river to the East and the West and plenty of time to take them in on our slow, chugging caboose was a pleasant relief from the previous onslaught. By the time we had cleared immigration on the other side it was time to board our next train. Nong Khai to Bangkok sleeper, first class.

OK, it said first class on the ticket, and it was certainly a large step up from the second and cattle classes that I wandered through during the trip, but first class on the Orient Express it was not. It was private, it was reasonably comfortable and reasonably clean, the beds were spacious and it was air conditioned. Thats all we needed. There was also an hilarious Thai woman moving from cabin to cabin trying to sell meals and drinks from the restaurant car. It wasn't hard to decipher that she was working on commission with her constant compliments as to how young and good looking we were. But even with her constant and random exclamations of "Happy happy happy!", we respectfully declined her offer. We had heard it was cheaper to go and eat in the restaurant car in person. Upon walking through what seemed like an endless chain of crowded carriages to check out the aforementioned eating facility which turned out to be tiny, with no air conditioning, and full of people smoking we respectfully went searching for Miss Happy-Happy. A quick delivered meal and a couple of beers and it was time to bed down.

The regular clak-a-dak of wheels on track is known to be hypnotically relaxing and sleep-inducing. Apparently that doesn't work so well for us. The night that was supposed to fly by whilst we slept turned instead into one with no apparent end. The 12 hour sleepless journey to Bangkok then unfortunately turned into 15 hours due to an accident on the track somewhere ahead. The few spare hours we had counted on at the airport before our flight to Frankfurt quickly disappeared. A swift taxi ride from the train station to the airport was to be our saviour....until the entire freeway was diverted to side streets whilst rows and rows of police and fire vehicles filed on. The previous few hours of telling myself over and over "We will make it on time we will make it on time." we're getting harder and harder to believe. Thankfully, with a little bit of driving into the oncoming traffic, (sometimes ya just gotta love taxi drivers), we did make it on time and the wait at the airport was significantly shorter than originally anticipated. Luggage was loaded, boarding passes acquired, seatbelts fastened, tray-tables in the upright position and we were on our way.

The 10 hour flight with Thai Airlines was a pleasant one. What time wasn't indulged in the many movies one could choose from was spent trying to work out where we were. With mostly clear skies we saw mountains, towns, snow covered hills, jungles and deserts passing quietly beneath us. The only place we could pick with any real confidence was the Caspian sea, but then, on a journey that only passes one piece of water that was not too difficult. After some 36 hours with no sleep, 5 movies and a bit of window gazing later, the German landscape was beckoning. The fields of crops stretching to the distant horizon, the countless villages sometimes no more than one or two fields apart and the Auto-Bahn wending its way through it all. Frankfurt at last. We were met at the airport by our extended German family, within minutes the first beer was bought, and our German adventure had begun.