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Published: September 17th 2007
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It's All About The Food!
Bern with her first pretzel in Cologne Germany (12th - 19th June, 2007)
This was just the beginning of our 5 week Western Europe Trip through Germany, Austria, Italy & Greece and featured;
* Me
* My Mum
* Bernadette
* Elizabeth
* Tom The Tesco Tent - Bern & Elizabeth's tent which cost 15 pounds and was very mishapen by the end of the trip. It was farewelled in Santorini, never to return to London.
* Sammy The Salewa Tent (definitely not from Tescos supermarket) who managed to be uprouted 2 more times than Tom. I am claiming that Sammy was protecting Tom or holding him up!
* Terry The Terribly Slow Tranjia which we cooked on.
* Hubba Hubba our Hire Car with the number plate HHBB
* Sally the Satiellite Navigational System who saved us from getting lost a few times! We were very pleased to have Sally and even more pleased when we realised that she didn't just speak German!
Berlin & The Brandenburg Gate
From London we flew to Berlin and spent a couple of nights in a Youth Hostel (mum had to sneak in!!). Our first night in Berlin we had to have a bratwurst/sausage with currywurst sauce
and a stein of beer. Over the next couple of days we explored the city and even got ourselves on a free walking tour. Our guide was an Aussie girl who showed us the Brandenburg Gate, the site of Hitler's Bunker, the remains of the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. The Holocaust Memorial was amazing to walk through. It is difficult to explain but the whole memorial takes up an entire block in Berlin. The ground in undulating and is filled with black concrete blocks that are varying heights and there are narrow passageways between all of them. You can certainly become quite cosumed by what it could mean as you walk through and I think that is the idea.
We also enjoyed a beer or 2 at a Pub Crawl around Berlin. By the 3rd pub we were on to green beer. Mum was sent home at an appropriate time! The following day we picked up Hubba Hubba and headed to the site of one of the Concentration Camps in Sachsenhausen. Quite a guesome place full of lots of history.
Hanover
Found a great little campsite on a lake. Explored the Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen and
sampled our first strudel during our picnic lunch in the gardens.
Cologne
Another great camping spot but this time on the Rhine River. Mum was 'helped' over the fence to reach the path running alongside the river. It was a beautiful evening as we watched the sunset behind the huge Dom (cathedral) and then we set up our own moonlight cinema (watching a DVD on my laptop). The following morning we climbed the 509 steps to the base of the spire of the Dom. The 24 tonne Peter Bell is the oldest working bell in the world. Mum is starting to count all these steps she has climbed. Mum found some cologne perfume for my grandmother and we found some pretzels.
Schwarzwald (The Black Forrest)
Our first campsite in the Black Forrest was in Buhl. Again on a lake and we cooked our own German sausages/bratwursts and then watched as a teenager attempted to do a wheelie on the edge of the lake and then toppled head first in to the lake, bike and all. I don't think that was supposed to be part of his stunt. It was definitely one for funniest home videos!
After a morning swim in the lake we headed to Baden Baden and wandered around this lovely little town. And we found Black Forrest Cake at last! The Black Forrest is also home to the Hansel and Gretel story and Cuckoo Clocks. We headed deeper in to the Black Forrest through Mummelsee where we walked around the lake and had our daily quota of sausage and salami sandwiches with currywurst sauce. We camped in Freudenstadt by a stream and enjoyed a walk through the forrest before dinner.
Morning swim in the pool at the campsite then our drive through the Black Forrest took us through the towns of Schramberg, Triberg and Furtwangen where we had a look in the Cuckoo Clock Museum. Then on to Titisee which is a very beautiful spot set on a huge lake. We had a prime camping spot on the lake and after a hard work out in a paddleboat across the lake we had a well deserved stein.
Stuttgart
Some really big beautiful parks around the city of Stuttgart. Explored the city centre and square and then Bern and Mum braved the German hairdressers. I don't think their attempt at
Herrenhausen Gardens
Royal Gardens in Hanover requesting a 'quick' trim got across because they were both gone for a few hours and mum came back with a new hair colour! It was very brave of Mum and thankfully she was very happy with the colour.
To Austria...
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