Germany

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Blog 2 - Germany

For Bernie ...

Something I love to do when I’m OS is going food shopping. I just find it facinating to see all the different types of stuff available, as well as familiar ones in different language packaging - yes Bonnie and Finn, they have Nutella over here too! However, the one thing that really gets me annoyed (jealous, actually) is seeing good Aussie wines selling at prices that I could only dream of back home. Can you Aussie readers imagine paying only €2,25 ($3.75A) for a bottle of (obviously good) Aussie red? It’s outright sacrilege! Although something that struck me as strange is that you have to ORDER cold beer in advance - imagine that!

My mate Willem reckons that Aussie wine is so cheap here in Germany that he could make a tidy profit by buying it up in bulk and selling it back to Australia. He’s right but, the practicalities of doing that aside, I reckon something’s got to be wrong somewhere in the Oz business stratosphere!

Tour de Deutschland (Germany):
Spring in Germany is just wonderful and Willem and I cycled around some of most picture-post-card country you could imagine. With saddlebags full and camera ever ready I captured a lot of rural Germany at its best. Although Willem reckons that only a (mad) Aussie would cycle in Germany in Spring, where the temperature struggles to get into double figures, in shorts and five layers of clothes on top including gortex gloves (pic).

Things are much slower in these rural areas where quaint traditions still prevail; like one that the pic shows of a birthday for a 25yo (unmarried) man. His family and friends consider him an ‘old soc’ if unmarried at that age and so they set out to publically embarrass him accordingly.

A few other interesting things I learnt on our little adventure: you can incur a fine if your bike doesn’t have a bell and a light; not a single rural sign was decorated with bullet holes; garbage bins along bike trails are tilted especially so cyclists can dispose of their rubbish without getting off the bike (see pic) and nobody appears to wear bike helmets.

Our tour however ended rather prematurely when yours truly discovered that (probably) 400 year old stone posts are not very flexible and I came off second best. Approaching a lovely little village via a narrow bridge I swerved around the first stone fixture (obviously there to discourage anything other than bikes and bodies from crossing) but I was too busy gawking around to miss its mate on the other side. Consequently I’m now a temporary invalid at the mercy of my friends, swollen foot and bruises in places that not too many of you will ever see. The bike however was still okay so, in the true tradition of the Portarlington Peddlers, I hobbled back into the saddle and cycled another 10kms to the nearest town and a ride home.

Ah well, at least I have a week to get back into dancing mode before I move on to Naples and my Italy wanderings.

Oh yes, I didn't mention the volcanic dust fiasco. I don’t know what media coverage the Icelandic volcano dust has been getting back in Oz but let me tell you that it’s a big deal over here. It is unprecedented that over 300 airports were closed for days on end across the UK and Europe and some seven million people stranded across the world. I arrived only two days before and I’m hoping that it will all settle down before my flight next week from Amsterdam to Naples.

That’s all folks. Ciao for now.

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Photos

Germany's version of a rail-trail
Willem and Dennis hard at work pushing a half tonn of steel down 16kms of rail.

Quaint customs
Family custom of embarrassing a man if unmarried by his 25th birthday.

Saddled up
Saddled up and cycling along one of the many canals that run through the rural countryside.

The worlds biggest piece of art
This artwork is the map of the world painted around the side of a huge power gerenating cooling tower, recognised as the biggest piece of artwork in the world.

Garbo bins especially for cyclists
Note how the bin is tilted so the lazy cyclists don't have to stop to get rid of their rubbish.

Comments

[Ann]

How did you get your story up?
Hi, Dennis, How did you get your story up? Did Willem help you on our computer? Hope you get well in no time. Cheers, Ann

[Ann]

first comment?
Hi Dennis, I try a public comment. Perhaps that will show. Get well soon. Cheers, Ann

[juz]

ouch!
Sounds painful Den, Hope you recover quickly and get back on the bike. Kids are all well...Finn is firing on all cylinders on the footy field and Bon finally has her tap shoes to dance up a storm! She has also joined the girls soccer group at school ( Sarah will be proud!) Have fun!