DAYS 8-12. THE CUCKOO'S NEST, GNOMES AND FAIRY TALE CASTLES

Cute little mosaics on Freiburg's pavements

Second day in Freiburg and we attempted to "explore" the Blackforest, but that entailed jumping on a short cable car ride up to a steep summit and going to a lookout. As if that wasnt enough exercise for one day we decided to use the region´s excellent (and well-valued) public transport system to go further afield and explore.

Is it just me or is every single train ride in Germany utterly beautiful? Heading slightly southeast from Freiburg takes you through the Höllental ("Hell's Valley", and ironically the first tiny town on the way is HimmelTor, or "Heaven's Gate"). This is a dramatic steep valley where at times the light struggles to reach the bottom. Legends abound of deer leaping from one peak to the other to escape hunters. Stopping at the beautiful Lake Titisee (no jokes please), we went for a romantic rowboat ride out into the lake. Chivalry is NOT dead.



Lake Titisee, Blackforest


I like ducks anywhere in the world

A famous icon of the Schwarzwald area is the humble cuckoo clock. At lake Tititsee is a souveneir shop with an entire wall covered in cuckoo clocks, all busily ticking, tocking, clanging and cuckoo-ing in hilarious unison. I could have stayed there all day laughing like a maniac waiting for the next cuckoo. It was strangely addictive and amusing.

So that's it then. When I am old, demented and senile, I will live in a house full of cuckoo clocks cackling like a fool. There's your Christmas gift idea for me. A cuckoo clock (or a straightjacket)


Hee hee hee hee heee!

Then back on the D-Bahn to a town called Breisach, where we saw another magnificent old church (rebuilt from being pummelled in WWII) and waved to France across the Rhine. We know they were French because of their outrageous accents. From there, France didn't look that special.

France. Wow

As I said, the public transport system for tourists is exceptional. You can get a "day pass" for travel anywhere on the local network (excluding the superfast ICE) cheaper than a one-way ticket. And, it covers up to five people. On the way back from Breisach we sat across from a group of uni students. One of them was obviously being fined for not having a ticket. Sharon lamented that we could have offered her a place on ours. It seemed such a waste having a ticket covering five people but it's not like you can tell who needs it until it's too late, so we made a mental note that if anyone asked, we could help them (and meet someone new!).


Another steep hill to a big church, Breisach

Rathaus, Breisach. Just look at those windows!

Back in Freiburg and anxious to eat out in the beautiful cobblestoned market squares, we teamed up with Jess from the USA again. I was reminded that the Brazilian GP was on (at a better hour than 3am). The only pub that had a TV had meals way too expensive but I ducked in there occasionally to see Alonso clinch his first F1 crown. Again, in Australia, a cafe won't mind a freeloader having a quick look at the TV without buying anything. In Germany, I got stared at like " he obviously doesn't know the rules".

Day 9 and 10, goodbye Blackforest and back on the D-Bahn (3 changes of trains, accomplished without a hitch) to the wonderful Lake Constance region, bordering Austria and Switzerland.


Who doesn't like trains?! Leaving Blackforest, heading to Lake Constance



Hard to read with those views, but the book DRESDEN by Frederick Taylor was compelling


Landlocked southern Germany flocks down here to enjoy the only large body of water they can shake a stick at. We escaped some of the tourist hordes and stayed in the (cute little) village of Meersburg (pronounced "Mairz-borg" as we discovered from grumpy bus drivers).


Lake Constance and Switzerland

Gorgeous Meersburg...


...and more steep hills

Altes Schloss, Meersburg, supposedly 7th century Merovingian


On the first day here we enjoyed a boat ride to Mainau Island. Mainau Island has a castle (naturally), acres of amazing gardens (where Sharon took photos of every single flower) a 30 foot tall lying-down garden gnome made from flowers, and a butterfly house. Next to the butterfly house was a car that looked like it had been attacked by Triffids. It was basically a big, amusing novelty garden bed. I videoed myself standing in front of it quipping something about forgetting where I had parked, but later discovered I had taped over it. Pity that, it was probably the funniest thing I had done on my whole holiday movie collection.



Teutonic Knights Palace, Mainau. With big Gnome.

That Big Daddy Gnome must have had a Mummy Gnome around somewhere

In fact it was quite the predominant garden-gnome theme on Mainau Island. There were gnomes everywhere, and none of the brochures explained why the excessive gnomeology. I asked one of the locals, but he didn't even answer me. He just sat and stared straight ahead, with his white beard and funny pyjama hat.


You're not from around here are you?



just a snippet of Mainau's extensive gardens


On the ferry back to Meersburg, I found a German newspaper and attempted to read about Alonso's F1 championship but gave up after the headline.



Spooky busker at the Altes Schloss, Meersburg


We stayed in a private room with a lovely old lady who made us killer breakfasts. Luckily we asked her where was the best point from which to catch a train to Fuessen, Bavaria. Had we not asked I expect we would have ended up in Switzerland. She advised that we catch a bus to Friederichschafen and get on a train from there. With an hour to spare in Friederichschafen we we able to catch the Zeppelin museum. There, is a replica of what the interior of the Hindenburgh looked like before it discovered the perils of static electricity and dropped out of the sky like a big burning piece of paper.

So it was DAY 11, on the train again (3 changes, including one in the total middle of nowhere). But this time, we left the state of Baden-Wurttemburg, which had been our home for 9 days, and crossed into beautiful Bavaria. Destination Fuessen, a little village (extemely cute, naturally) squeezed in between massive Alpine peaks, and the best spot to see the most famous castle in the world; Neuschwanstein, the never-finished toy project of the young, neglected King Ludwig II, and the icon used by Disney. It was always intended to look like a "fairy-tale" castle, and that it does.

They say the journey is half the fun. Whoever said that must have taken a train ride through the Bavarian Alps on an Autumn day. It was the most gloriously beautiful train ride I have ever been on. Bavaria is like one, big, mountainous golf course.

Arriving in Fuessen late we chilled around for a bit. Needless to say, Fuessen in a beautiful little village, probably a little more colourful than most and wedged in a small plain next to massively steep Alpine slopes. Our (rather expensive) hotel was directly below the town's castle, lit up at night. Fortunately they showed some consideration and turned the lights off at around 1am so we could sleep.


View from our hotel window, Fuessen, Bavaria

Twighlight

On the morning of Thursday Sept 29 (DAY 12) we woke to the unusual sight of rain. Fortunately, whilst wandering around some old ruins we found someone's colourful umbrella. Now, Germany does have some tight social protocols and heavy-handed regulations so I had some concerns about the possible jail term for umbrella theft. But the owner was clearly long gone so we quietly thanked the owner and God that we were able to stay dry for a while.


15th Century Hohe Schloss (high castle). Note the three-dimensional painted window treatments. They aren't some tacky modern addition, they were painted like that in the 17th century

Our first contact with one of the "Melbourne footynight 2003" Germans was today at lunchtime: Marko and girlfriend Betti made the trip down from Munich. Marko is a fit, intelligent and good-humoured young man who had kept in good contact with me for the last two years. It was great to see him again and meet the lovely Betty.


Betty spoke English so well she was correcting MY grammar

So we all made out like Tourists and did the castle tours. Words will fail me (gasp) to describe these castles. Neuschwanstein looks like it was built yesterday. Okay, it kinda was built yesterday and is heavily touristed, but by golly it is PRETTY SPECTACULAR.


Neuschwanstein Schloss peering out of the gloom

A glimpse of Austria, from atop Hohenschwangau, King Ludwig's Mum and Dad's house


It's nice when the kids don't move far from home

Marko and Betti spoiled us by taking us across to Austria- five kilometres away, to get petrol 20c cheaper. We sat in a service station queue for 15 mins, and just about every car in the queue had German plates. So, we've been to Austria. It seemed nice. Just like our last overseas trip nine years ago- we only went to one country, but got to step into a couple more incidentally.

Bye bye to Marko and Betti, we will see them again in Munich on Sunday. Well, that is presuming no other disasters occur to thwart our troubled Munich weekend. At the time I was looking through Ludwig´s Richard Wagner-inspired concert hall, Claudi texted me to tell me she couldn´t come to Munich. Not surprisingly, the chemotherapy is knocking her around. Now I have to cancel a night in Munich (which will increase the cost of the remaining night) and book a train to Dresden a day earlier. At this point I was getting a little stressed.


Beautiful Bavaria

See ya all soon! Yeah, as usual, photos are a lost cause, but I will try again on Claudi´s pooter in Dresden.

DAY 7. INTENSE NEGOTIATIONS

FRIDAY 23RD SEPT

Goodbye Karl and Susan. It wasn't just a "work visit", it was a case of being well looked-after. Even the leg to Stuttgart was taken care of. Since Karl sends regular parcels there we hitched a free ride with the taxi. It's like catching a taxi from Bendigo to Melbourne so I dreaded to think what the fare would have been. We were driven by an interesting lady who didn't speak english and kept offering to stop so we could take pictures of cute little villages and churches. The car was a late-90's Mercedes 190, which is the standard German Taxi in the same way HQ Holdens used to be in Oz.


Neues Schloss Stuttgart


With the exception of our brief look at Frankfurt this was our first stay in "big-city" Germany. It felt like we were on our own now, no help from nice locals. Here the adventure begins, as do the strained relationships and occasional mishaps.



For some reason I think this is a "Nazi-looking train station"

It wasn't too difficult to get a crappy hotel room near the train station, so as to be able to spring off the next morning (Saturday 24th Sept) to Freiburg, in the BlackForest.


We tried to get a simcard for Sharon's mobile so as to enjoy local call costs. The Vodafone shop sold us one for 20Euros, but it didn't work on account of the phone being purchased in Australia. I went back and began my first intense negotiations with Germans. I figured that "we're from Australia" was enough of a clue that they should have known to tell us that these things don't work. So, I made an Aussie-style fuss about seeing the manager, who was naturally too busy for us. So I waited, impatiently.

The good news was we got our 20 Euros back. The bad news, it took 40mins of intense negotiations and sightseeing time, and no chance of having a local mobile.



The big columns of Koenigsbau

Stuttgart's centre is spectacular. I had a special reason for wanting to see the huge park adjacent to the big (nazi-looking) train station. In 1945 my Uncle Frank, an unwilling Hungarian recruit in the German army services, saw the war end from a basement in Abensburg (Bavaria). To this day we thank God he was received by the Americans and not the Russians in the East. As a refugee he then spent the next few months wandering from Munich to Stuttgart, hitching rides on trains, travelling on tracks that he helped repair, scrounging food and trying to find work.



Punks at the King Wilhelm Jubilee column, Neue Schloss


In Stuttgart some time in winter 1945-46, he thought he'd hit the jackpot. A school had been converted to a hostel. It was warm, with soft beds and blankets. After one hour's sleep, American soldiers came in inspecting papers, and kicked all the Hungarians and Italians out. After all, they were the "enemy". So he found the Mittlerer Sclossgarten, adjacent to the train station and slept on a park bench, etching his initials into it.


Since emigrating to Australia in 1950, his first time back to Europe was with Aunt Judy in 1979, to see his family in Budapest again. They made their way through the Iron Curtain after first visiting Germany. They stopped at Stuttgart, found his park, and found his bench. His initials were still there.

Sadly, I did not. There wasn't much around that looked like it had been there since 1945. It was naive to think there would be, but I softly cried to myself anyway as I tried to imagine what this city would have looked and felt like in 1945 for a young Ference Baki.


So we wandered around the centre for a while, until I decided on another near-fruitless search for a little-known section of park on the outskirts of the CBD. It's called the Lapidium. It's barely half an acre of little stone structures. They are sections of walls and doorways left after WWII bombing. So, that's probably what this city looked like in 1945.


Lollies, Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof. I can't remember why we took this picture??


So onto Freiburg. The old city was even more cute than Heidelberg, and the 13th Century Munster (Cathedral) was absolutely massive and impressive in a scary gothic kind of way.

Menacing Muenster!

Probably the most amazing thing about it when climbing the (approximately 20-storey high) spire was the grafitti etched into it, presumably by the builder's workers, from as far back as the 1500's.

It's nice to know the folks who built it were literate


We got bumped from our Hostel's double room for Saturday night, which meant sharing with other travellers. But was this a problem or opportunity? That's when the fun begins! Finally, some "forced liason" with other travellers. So Saturday night was spent in a Freiburg Uni pub with Rob from Brisbane, Stacey and Andrea from Canada and Jess from the U.S. of A. swapping tales and talking about fomer East German politics.


Can we go back down now??


Sharon retired early but I kicked on for a while, trying to remember what it was like to go out with people in their 20's. Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea. We were simply begging, borrowing and stealing a four-week adventure after farming out three children to babysitters. These guys were travelling by the seat of their pants for months, no commitments and no plans. Sometimes I hate being sensible.



Still no luck with piccys. Even when I can insert a CD, like in the computers here at the Hostel, it is sooo painfully slow and times out. And that's time I could be off looking at Munsters and drinking Lowenbrau. Sorry folks. But you're all sophisticated enough to read things and not just look at the pictures.

DAYS 1-6. THE 'RING, THE RHINE, and THE 'BERG

Well, my love-hate relationship with flying continues. The flight to KUL was "sue-poib", two hours in transit in a spectacular (and cheap) airport, then the midnight leg to FRA. The first four hours was a shocker. Nobody believes me because I´m a wuss, but even the stewards looked worried when the turbulence hit.

Starting to look, feel (and smell) like travellers. KLIA.

But you take the good with the bad. When things calmed down, we had a cloudless sky, and we saw a full moon reflecting off the Caspian Sea and what I am sure were Bedouin fires in Azerbijan. Just breathtaking. There is a magic about travelling. I'm glad I don't do it all the time, otherwise you lose the magic.



We landed in FRA at 6 am and the beginning of aiport peak hour- queues of planes landing for miles. Killing some time in the airport (the hire car was not vailable until noon) we met Sam, a US soldier on leave from Iraq, on his way to Ireland for two weeks. He told us horror stories and sounded like a guy who needed to get stuff off his chest. We swapped emails, I hope we speak again sometime.

First sights...Frankfurt am Main

So we stashed our backpacks and jumped on the S bahn into Frankfurt to kill more time. As we emerged from the tunnel into daylight...wow, we´re in Germany. At last. Frankfurt on a Saturday morning was surprisingly quiet. It was just waking up. Into the historic part of Römerberg, just gorgeous. Even some Roman ruins to boot. Heaps of video and pictures.

Roman ruins, Romerberg, central Frankfurt

Back into the airport, we were greeted by the sight of military police everywhere, stopping access to the terminals to anyone without a boarding pass. Fortunately one soldier spoke english and told us they were dealing with a mass demonstation outside and were trying to stop demonstrators getting in. We explained that we needed to get our bags and our hire car and all was good.

Big city Germany- as big as it gets. Note the interesting building billboard on the left

Now, on the hire car booking I was told it was a Volkswagen Golf, with option to a free upgrade. Since I mistakenly assumed "upgrade" meant "better", I took the option of upgrading to a Renault Megane. From memory, the Megane was an allright kinda car, compact, short wheelbase, buzzy little multivalve engine, perfect for non-threatening but fun laps of the Nurburgring.

After trudging up to the hire carpark in the city that is Frankfurt International airport, I saw, to my abject horror, a Renault Megane "Scenic"- so named because it was so tall you had a scenic view of everything. Since we were too exhausted to hike back to the desk and I was too embarrassed to ask for a "downgrade", we were stuck with the little Reanult Scenic. I grizzled about it for a while but soon got over it.

I won´t go into detail but escaping the airport and finding the A3 to Koblenz was, well, fraught, and invoked many dirty looks from airport staff and other motorists. We even caught a glimpse of the abovementioned demonstration. It looked so well-behaved and orderly.

I hit the autobahn with much zeal. At the risk of sounding cocky, it was a breeze. All the warnings from previous travellers and German friends were a little over-cautious. Any self-respecting revhead should relish the chance to share a high speed road with drivers who actually know what they are doing. I loved it. At one stage, 160kmh from our little Renault and we were still being passed by Audis, Bimmers and Mercs fast enough to suck our eyeballs out.

1 hour later we found the town of Nurburg. Fellow rev-heads, I cannot go into much detail here but the whole complex, with the new circuit and old circuit spliced together, the surrounding countryside...was stunning. This is the most spectacular purpose-built racetrack in the world. The track doesn't interfere with any public roads. It is it's own, self-contained piece of real estate. Yet it goes for miles and miles and miles, and four villages are contained within it. The sound of punters revelling in their beloved cars echoes perpetually.

Our hotel at Nurburg...from atop the castle. Note the traffic heading down the road to the main attraction

We were there on one of the busiest "Tourestfahren" (public driving days) the locals had ever seen. The cars......wowwwwwwwwww. Exotics I have never seen, and more Porsche GT-3´s than you could poke a stick at. Saturday afternoon we explored the track surrounds. Without a map, it's a little hard, but you simply drive around the region in eager anticipation until you spy off to the right or left, or on a bridge overhead, a strip of bitumen seemingly hiding in the bushes, a glimpse of red and white kerbing, then a loud, fast blur of some exotic car being driven as it was designed to be driven. We stopped to rubberneck at a section known as "Flugplatz" (literally, "flight path"), where the cars dropped into a frightening, downhill fast right hander, brushing the armco barely a few feet in front of us. It was 6.30pm, and they were going until the sun disappeared.

Best spot for photos (and bratwurst)...Pflantzgarten II. Nice little clubby

A good nights sleep and Sunday dawned- perfect weather. My early start was foiled by some track testing going on, so I couldn't enjoy any track solitude- by the time I could go out it was 10am and the carpark was chockers. 3 laps throughout the day...the little Renault was surprisingly adept on handling and brakes, but NOTHING prepares you for this amazing circuit. The undulations are astonishing, steep up and down. I thought I knew some of this track, but in the flesh it looks so different, my brain was scrambled and I forgot everything I knew. Which wasn´t much in the first place.

At the risk of offending insular, Aussie V8 Supercar devotees- it makes Bathurst look like a go-kart track.


Now kiddies, don´t try this at home. I am a trained lunatic. But I wasn´t stupid. My first lap I used Sharon as a talking rear-vision mirror, so I could look ahead, size up the corners, go as fast as possible (for a Renault Scenic...actually, with 40 pounds in the tyres it wasn´t so bad) so as not to baulk people too much, and Sharon could warn me what was coming behind..."Porsche coming...headlights on...coming up FAST...MOVE OVER....NOW!!!" and so on. The trick is to practice the protocol of turning on the right indicator to show that you´ve seen them, keep right and hold your breath. Also, to remember to NOT have your indicator on if you intend helping yourself to the racing line on the next corner, in case they think you´ve seen them. The bikers were particularly difficult, their approach and exit speed was incredible.

Attitude!

The other trick, being a left hand drive (or, as Sharon calls it "driving a back-to-front car on back-to-front roads") is to make sure you turn on the INDICATORS and not the WINDSCREEN WIPERS.

But, all in all, the other track users all acted like they´d done it before. I did two more laps (solo, no talking rear view mirror) and managed okay. Saw two accidents, nothing serious, and nothing to do with me, I think.

The speeds of the cars and bikes passing us were full racing speeds, no question. Some Porsches carved me up, diving for the apexes in front of me on the frightening downhill left-right-left- rollercoaster past the Fuchsröhe. I was trying so hard to keep right I was climbing all over the kerb, and they missed my front left corner by inches. But it was all part of the rush. The sound of a black BMW M6 accelerating past us out of the little chicane at Adenauer Forst, I will never forget. He outbraked me into the deceptively tight left hander, then opened up that glorious V10 and disapperared. There were too many experiences to list here.

Oh, and later- the ´Ring Weekend was made complete; I met Sabine, the Ring addicts' auntie. Sabine Schmitz drives one of the famous "Ring Taxis". A 400hp BMW M5, costing 120 Euros per lap, booking required several months in advance. She set the lap record around the 'Ring at the age of 19, in a Ford Sierra Cosworth, and races in the two big yearly 'Ring races, the VLN 4-hour and the ADAC 24 Hr. For some footage of her driving a very potent Porsche 997 in the 2005 4-hour, run the week after we returned home (in the wet,), go to

www.renn.tv

You have to be lucky to meet the drivers of the RingTaxis. They circulate all day, come in, drop off, pick up, and go. Fortunately there was a track closure so I went up to her and blubbered like an idiot until she talked to me. Auntie Sabine!

Of course I did get to see her a couple of other times... blasting past me on track like I was going backwards. I've been overtaken by Sabine Schmitz. Don't touch me.

Even at this rev head utopia, we still had a castle to visit. Poor Castle Nurburg...it only costs a couple of Euros to get in, but nobody comes to this region to visit the castle...

Bits of Nurburg castle

Our hotellier, Stefan, told me that if the liability issues ever get too much and they cease the Touristfahren days, he may as well shut down his hotel and bar. Stefan is building a car or two for the 24 hour (yes, they race on the OLD circuit AND the new one). He is even considering building some "Ring tools"- cars that can be hired by guests for the ´Ring. I presume, he is talking about something more potent that a Renault Scenic, and perhaps a little lower to the ground. I believe one of them may be a Clubman.

So, I suggest to like-minded motorsport nuts, perhaps you should think about getting over here soon and just DOING IT. It may not be around forever. Providing you are sensible you will leave with a big smile. But if you are hiring from (****) don't, repeat DON'T take the UPGRADE, free or not!!

On the morning of Monday 19th, I performed the ritual of removing the evidence from the hire car. Nothing says "Hey (****) I destroyed your tyres and brakes" quite like a ´Ring circuit access sticker.

DAY 3- Rhine

I am writing this at Lagler and have to run for a factory tour. This is the first blog-capable computer so I´ll try and post some more later. Sadly, it looks like getting photos on line is going to be difficult but I´ll see how we go.

Believe it or not, the ´Ring is now a distant memory for me- since then, we have seen the Beautiful Rhine, and amazing Heidelberg. It has all been just... "perfect".

Leaving the amazing Nordschleife and legendary surrounds, we drove through some of the most idyllic little villages. Since the trip to Nurburg from FRA was mainly autobahn, this was our first glimpse of country Germany and we spent the whole drive ooh-ing and aaah-ing like kids. Sharon made the mistake of declaring within the first few kilometres "We could live here!!"

In hindsight (this comment added after the trip) it was a miracle we got to our destination without SatNav and with our marriage intact. It was remarkably easy. On the way, we stopped in what seemed to be a quiet, remote area to take a picture of a "deer crossing" sign, the way tourists in Australia take the obligatory "kangaroo crossing" picture. The moment we did, traffic appeared out of nowhere and drove past, staring strangely at us. Yeah, we'll do the same to you one day.

Beautiful Bacharach am Rhine

We drove to the little town of Bacharach (do not try the correct German pronounciation unless you have lots of phlegm to expel) on the beautiful Rhine. It was utterly and totally gorgeous. I wanted to stay all day and wander around. But Sharon for some reason wanted to go for a River Cruise on the Rhine, and see some of the other villages dotting the banks. Oh, and see a castle, naturally.

We cruised up to St Goar and walked up the side of a sheer cliff to visit the old castle. Just spectacular. The conflicting holiday dramas began as I wanted to relax, on account of the fact that I am lazy, and Sharon wanted to see everything, on account of the fact that she is not.

In the Liebfrauenkirche, Oberwesel am Rhine

But we managed without major conflict. Next stop, Oberwesel (big old church and another castle but I was all castled out) then back to Bacharach for a nice pizza. Those cobblestone streets are nice and pretty but very hard on the bunions. I soon realised that my deformed feet were going to be in for some torture over the next four weeks.

So far my internet-sourced accomodation has been great, at least the location. The little guesthouse (gastehaus) or "pension" was smack bang in the middle of the cutest part of the town. The room was small. There was a door that I thought was a wardrobe, but it turned out to be a bathroom and toilet that was as small as a wardrobe.

Downtown Oberwesel

DAY 4 & 5- HEIDELBERG

Okay, things were going way too well. First, we had to get to Heidelberg to meet a) the deadline for dropping off the hire car, and b) the deadline to reach the guesthouse before the guy has the afternoon off so we´re stuck lugging our backpacks around Heidelberg until he returns at 5pm. We gave ourselves 3 hours to do a maximum 2 hour trip. We got to Heidelberg in record time. But we chewed up all that spare time getting lost in the outer ´burbs of Heidelberg trying to find Avis. Okay, we got the hire car back with 5 mins to deadline- very little time for the sad goodbyes (that little car and I...sniff...we´ve been through lot together...sob..). But we missed the guesthouse deadline. So, grumpy as all heck and stuck with heavy backpacks, we then found a tram stop to work out tram numbers, ticketing, etc...

Now, in our family, there is a tradition that when overseas you invariably bump into somebody from Australia who knows someone who knows you. I´ll keep it short; at the tram stop, we met David and Jenny Johnstone from Brisbane. David is a retired Anglican minister who was doing "exchange" locum work in a church in Heidelberg. After chatting for a while we discovered they knew Jonathon Ewer (Matthew´s Godfather, now in the UK).





Wasting time, lazing on the banks of the Neckar. What a life.


Now looking in the other direction!


Freaky. Anyways, they caught the tram with us, took us to the old city and found our hotel.


Sure, we had a wasted afternoon going nowhere with heavy backpacks. But I don´t call it wasted when you laze on the banks of the River Neckar, with the stunning city of Heidelberg , the Alte Brucke (old bridge) and the massive castle in full view. Once the guesthouse was open, we dumped and ran. More stairs (325 according to Sharon´s count) up to the huuuuge castle, some of it a ruin, and breathtaking views over gorgeous Heidelberg Altstadt. Forgive me if I repeat the words "stunning" and "breathtaking". I may run out of vocab (gasp)




In the Markstrasse (bustling centre of the Altstadt) I had my first bratwurst and Bitburger (beer). Very nice. No heartburn (yet). Although, here we also discovered how we could save money on eating out...buy nothing but German pastries. Yummeee!

I was starting to wonder if I could ever tire of these colourful, classic and at times spectacular old towns, with their standard "Altmarkt" squares and obligatory huge cathedrals, cobbled paving and al-fresco dining. I would later learn that it actually gets better.

Well maybe just a little tired

Next day, up early and up to the castle again to see the bits we missed the previous day. Most of the nicest bits were built by King Freidrich V for his 19 yo wife. The things we do for love. As with all German castles, it is atop a high hillside. Great for conquest and ruling peasants, crap for tourists with deformed feet.

From high above the town, in this magnificent castle looking out over the river, red roofs and steeples, Sharon mused "what would it have been like to live in those times!". I assured her that, had we been living in those times, we would not have been up here. More likely we would have been down there, toothless and yelling "bring outcha dead..."

That's quite a keg

No, I couldn't possibly tire of this


1400 hours was time to be collected by our German contact, Karl Lagler. In very typical Germanic style he appeared on the dot of 2pm at our rendezvouz point in his brand spanking new Audi A8, where we became acquainted with SatNav lady for the first time. We then hit the Autobahn (at 200kmh) to head towards his little collection of villages in the Swabian valley near Stuttgart.

On the way we stopped at a museum at Sinsheim, that Karl thought I might like. He thought correctly. Let´s just say they have cars galore, F1 cars including Ayrton Senna´s 1985 JPS Lotus, a collection of massive antique pipe organs, some Hitlermobiles, and a Concorde and Tupolev on the roof. Real ones. Yes, you read correctly. Just Google "Sinsheim" and "Museum" and "Concorde" and you will see what I mean.

Just a tiny piece of Sinsheim Museum, grown from "a small private collection"

So Mum, now WE have been on Concorde too!

A brief stop at a castle built in 930 AD, climbing stairs that looked like they were'nt built much later, then off to our little village and to the cutest, elegant little hotel organised by our friends at Lagler.

Hotel in Gueglingen, Swabian Valley, courtesy of Lagler

DAY 6- LAGLER

Don´t worry, no need for big long stories here. Today I looked at Floorsanding machine manufacture, I´ll save that for work discussions but even as a tourist it is still fascinating to see the investment in German industry. Karl could have sent the whole operation off to the Czech republic for $2 labour, but instead built a brand new multi million dollar factory and kept the same loyal staff. As I write, Sharon and Suzanne Lagler are cruising around the Swabian valley in her Bimmer, looking at old castles. I think, perhaps, I can cope with missing a castle or three...

In fact, they went to Ludwigsburg, just north of Stuttgart. The highlight was the magnificent baroque Residenzschloss, built 1704, with its 450 rooms inspired by Versailles. Definitely prettier than floor sanding machines.

Residenzschloss, Ludwigsburg


Bluehendes Barock (Baroque in Bloom), Ludwigsburg


Fingers crossed we can upload some photos soon. Sorry if that doesn´t work out. And please excuse the occasional "Y" where there should be a "Z". The computer keyboards are back-to front here, like the cars. (note post-trip: obviously sorted!)

On this evening we dined again with the Laglers in this undiscovered German treasure of an area (these towns are 1200 years old). Joining us was Jeff Fairbanks from the US office, along with one of his salesman and a customer.

"You'll notice Karl that at this stage of our journey we like to take lots of photos.."

It´s nice being off the tourist trail. But tommorrow we go back onto it- next stop is undecided. We planned on a little uni town called Tuebingen, south of Stuttgart, but it´s off the public transport route so we may cancel it and go to Stuttgart, as it will be easier to springboard from there to the Blackforest and our next main destination Freiburg. After all, from tommorrow we will be without our elegant bahnstorming Audi taxi and local guide (Karl) and on our own with backpacks, travelling wild and free and pretentiously acting young.

Besides, I am determined to go to a little park in Stuttgart and find a park bench my Uncle Frank told me about, a little place he slept after WW II..