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Published: June 21st 2015
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The Black Forest
En route to Bad Worishofen Friday 19 June 2015
What an exciting day Friday was. After five weeks touring France it was au revoir from us. With the car packed - the laundry, the kitchen and pantry, and the wardrobe, we asked Polly to take us to Bad Worishofen. Leaving Mulhouse was easy, just take the highway east. Soon we crossed the Grand Canal. The significance of this didn't dawn on us until a few kilometres down the road.
Some years ago crossing borders from one country to another meant there would be the usual formalities of passport control and customs. This still happens in Eastern European countries but not between France and Germany. On this occasion we thought all of France and Germany would know of the significance of this day and have flags flying and bands playing as the Intrepid Duo crossed safely from one country to another. It wasn't until we passed a 120 speed sign and some German words on a warning sign that we realised we were in Germany. What a let down. No photo ops, although the camera operator was at the ready, no fanfare. It was then that we realised Polly had taken us over the Rhine
The Black Forest
En route to Bad Worishofen - Rhone Canal and not told us.
We had given Polly instructions to take us through the Black Forest. The drive was very scenic with sweeping zigzag corners as we climbed through a mix of deciduous and conifer forests. Once out of the real hills we made a stop in a little town of Hufingen. The town appeared to be a quiet spot although on this day a wedding was taking place at the Rathaus with drinks, nibbles and speeches in the carpark outside. We noticed one of the gifts was a pine log set up on a sawing frame and a hand saw beside it. A German tradition? Rather than be the wedding crashers we tried our very limited German on a very helpful lady in a cafe and cake shop.
The rest of the drive continued in bright sunshine with a mix of good country roads, motorways, autobahn and deviations. At one point we crossed the Donau River. It only took a few seconds to cross. Hard to believe it ends its journey in the Black Sea. Twice today we experienced police random check points, one in a town the other out in the country. At
Bad Worishofen.
Is this the winning garden? No it is not us. both stops there was a heavy police presence ready to write out the citations. But the magic of the red number plate meant we got a reasonably friendly wave through. The same happened in Spain four years ago. There is certainly something about the red number plate. Might try and bring them back with us and use them in Central Otago. Until now our average speed in France had been about 45 kph. On this day our average speed was much higher, everything is 10 kph faster.
Bad Worishofen doesn't seem like your typical German village. Walking around the centre of town we realised the rich and famous come here for holidays. We chose well. The average age of the people we saw seemed to be about our age. The pedestrian area beside a delightful stream was the setting for a garden competition. The judging was taking place as we wandered along. If they knew two eminent NZ gardeners were in town we could have been part of the judging panel. Oh well perhaps next year. Dinner was in a very well patronized Pizza Restaurant and we got quite a pleasant surprise when the bill arrived. The small amount charged did not reflect the quality of the food, service, surroundings or clientele.
So ends our first day in Germany.
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Whiskers
Grahame and Gretchen Benvie
Excusing you because of your red number plates
Those red number plates have the opposite effect in Romania so do not stray there with any ideas of immunity!!!