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Published: April 23rd 2011
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…That’s what we won! At a raffle, in a village hall in Swabia, southern Germany.
Not only that, we were tempted by the infamous
Eisbeer, saw houses that needed no heating and found another plastic Alsatian dog: yes, dear readers, just like the one floating on a Polish lake see
A kayak in a storm, and a boatload of bairns, or the one that was guarding some bikes in a Rhineland village: see
A Plastic Alsatian to guard your bike .
So how did we end up with that?
Well, with a working trip to Poland in the offing, I decided to add some interesting diversions to the trip with a fact finding tour of some of Germany’s developments in renewable energy, for which it is famed. I also enticed our friend David to join us with the prospect of a North Sea Ferries all-you-can-eat dinner and breakfast, as well as a few days in Germany.
So a quick train trip to Hull, and then once aboard the ferry our objective was to capitalise on the blow out opportunity, but to gauge it right so as to not to jeopardise the superlative freshly made Belgian waffles on offer at Bruges station. We managed it, possibly due to the walk through Bruges –
A Passivehaus
one of the show homes near Memmlingen the ferry bus helpfully now does not drop off at Bruges station, so allowing passengers to walk off their ample breakfast. Assuming their luggage is not too heavy, of course.
Anyway we changed in Brussels and Koln and as we were waiting for our connection we strolled down the lower concourse of the main station and there found some strange heaps of soil. There were two plastic pigs in one, and then, splendidly, in the next, a plastic shepherd complete with Alsatian dog and sheep on display.
We hopped on our high speed ICE train which then hurried on along the high speed line down through Mannheim to Stuttgart. We were bang on time, until we hit the steep banks of Geislingen when the PA announcement announced ominously that there were some “technische Probleme”. So we missed our connection in Ulm, and that gave us chance to sample the great spicy fish butty on offer at the Nordsee chain. An hour later, back on the rails again, we made the short hop to Biberach. The train was going to split later on, so I thought it would be good to ask some fellow passengers to check we were
still ok for Biberach. It was a brilliant opportunity for me to try out my German on several deaf people each in turn, who hadn’t a clue what I was on about. So after a bit of mild consternation, involving a quick trip to the map of the front of the train we reckoned were ok – our friend Werner was driving some miles out to meet us!
Indeed we were met by Werner, and it was quite a reunion - we have not seen each other for over seven years.
Then – straight into a party – Werner’s cousin was celebrating her 40th in style at a village hall. We tried some rather nice local beer, and then mindful of the need not to mix drinks, just a few sips of the orange/champagne mix. Then some liqueurs made an appearance, including the seductive Eisbeer. Feeling quite lucid in my German, but not quite so with it in terms of accuracy, I ventured (well… it had been a long trip from the Belgian coast) a question asking if it named after the Polar Bear – much hilarity resulted and oh dear – more Eisbeer liqueur. In the meantime
Bruges
...or Brugge the party was in full swing, including a fantastic act by a couple of cyclist acrobats. And then came the raffle, cost - 50 cents a ticket. So among the prizes was a “quick feel” which turned out to be a couple of shoelaces; cream for down below was, understandably, shoe polish; we got, alarmingly, a half naked manly house-help, which turned out to be a bottle of Mr. Muscle. It was pretty late by the time we finished and so….
Disaster…..we’d lost two hours, with the hour going forward added onto the hour going forward by travelling onto the European mainland. So it wasn’t the most freshest of starts – but then adequate hydration meant I got off fairly lightly.
Next day was a tour of Werner and Sissy’s house that they have spent many years renovating. Whilst David and I got a tour of the house, Kasia got a tour of the ducks: Sissy and Werner have three runner ducks in the garden. Werner and Sissy have recently installed solar panels on the roof – 73 of them to be exact, with the result that the house would in effect reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by
A plastic Alsatian!
...Next to the shepherd. This charming rural scene is on the lower concourse, Koln Hauptbahnhof. 7 tonnes a year.
In fact, because of the payments on offer for solar panels, many people have got in on the act in this part of Germany, as they are now doing so in Britain. Touring the countryside shows farm buildings frequently covered by solar panels taking advantage of the sunny climate of southern Germany. Though when we were, there it rained: typical.
We took a trip to have a look at some Passivhaus (passive house) show homes – homes that need no or nearly no heating at all, such is their level of insulation and draught proofing. With this sort of spec for homes, the looming energy crisis need not be such a problem. Passivehaus architecture tends to be very modern, so your classic furnishings might look out of place there.
We had a tight schedule, so could only spend Sunday with Werner Sissy and the kids. The very same day saw a big change in politics of Baden Wurttemberg – for the first time since the 1940s the conservatives had been ousted in favour of a red/green coalition the winds of change (sorry for the Scorpions reference) were blowing.
That evening, we were
on the train again, to Freiburg via Basel in Switzerland. I’d thought to check up on regional cheapy tickets and we got a good deal, all the four hours to Freiburg plus tram thrown in for €30 for all of us (in fact, five of us could have done the journey): thanks to the Baden-Wurttemberg ticket. The train was a crowded two car unit – (a dodgy British trend there), which at least did manage to go like a bat out of hell on the fast sections. We staggered into our hotel pretty tired, but everything had worked well and we got a very friendly welcome. Next day we were going to find out what the fair city of Freiburg had to offer.
The next few days we did some tours about the city and spoke to some people in the solar energy research business. We had a look at Vauban, the eco-friendly district of Freiburg, which was very peaceful and springlike. "Nuclear power no thanks" signs were definitely the thing to have on your house/flat.
We also checked out the thermal baths just out of town. That afternoon the bus info wasn't what it should have been
Werner's house
complete with solar panels PV and thermal so we ended up on a bus which passed the baths but didn't stop - for another two bloody miles! Then we found the bus route had been diverted, some bus stops were tastefully covered up with some plastic yellow bags and had to use our initiative and street map to guess where the bus would return from. We went back (but driver didn't want to stop on the return either, despite passing the exit road to the baths) and devised a nice walk through the woods to the baths. Which were excellent, and swimming by the trees and daffodils outside was rather relaxing.
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