Switzerland, Germany and Denmark

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The first week in July saw us heading back to Switzerland for Kathrin and Martin’s wedding - straight after the Big 60th Birthday Bash - but that’s another Blog!!
We flew in to Zurich on the Wednesday and were very kindly picked up by Sheila and Julio who also gave us a bed for the night - thanks guys. The next day we took the tram into town then caught the train to Solothurn where K and M picked us up - they were, understandably, doing all of the last minute running around including signing papers to buy the family home. However, it was a nice time to catch up with them (hadn’t had much of a chance at the party!) and later that night Kathrin went into town to pick up Brendan and Renee who had flown from London and caught the train down. The next day was the wedding so we kept out of everyone’s way while the make-up and hair was done - until Martin and the rest of the boys arrived to pick the two girls up. It was a big surprise when they came in a Stretch Limo because they had told Kathrin that they were all booked that day and they would be having ordinary cars instead - so she was certainly surprised but we felt very privileged to see her tenderly wiping a tear from Martin’s eye as he first saw her looking absolutely beautiful for her big day. Our transport had been arranged and the four of us were taken to the church (and a bit later to the hotel where we caught the shuttle to the reception venue) by the two fathers - so it was a nice family arrangement.

The church wedding was just lovely (even though we didn’t understand a word of the service!!) and after the service there was a meal provided outside - just in case we were hungry and couldn’t wait for the formal dinner a little later. Kathrin’s neighbour owns a restaurant and provided the feast - it was supposedly a snack but there would have been enough for the full reception meal so everyone tucked in. We had some nice family photos taken and at the end everyone wrote messages which were then tied to red balloons and released en-masse - very colourful sight. The courtyard by the church was next to a busy road and everyone driving past tooted a greeting - I thought it quite amusing that the first to do so was a garbage truck!!!

After a few minutes rest at our hotel we were taken to the reception - which was at an old Saw Mill (called the Old Saw Mill, of course - but in German!) - and the surroundings were just stunning - complete with the old water wheel which I studied and worked out that the chain supposedly being driven by the wheel was actually from a small motor driving the wheel at a steady pace. These Swiss leave nothing to chance! We were honoured to be sat at the “Top” table (Brendan and Renee were close by and seated with some English speakers who kept them up with the play on the proceedings) and were each seated next to one of Kathrin’s brothers who kept us up with the play. It was a very enjoyable celebration; Kathrin’s brother Christian was the MC, keeping things moving; there were speeches - Martin’s parents had made a photo-record of Martin’s life and a commentary in verse; there was entertainment - her brother Michael juggled 3 balls, danced with another larger ball, played the Pan Pipes and blew the Flugel Horn; games - if you got caught with one of the clothes-pegs attached to your person you drew a mystery “forfeit” which was something you did for the couple (like mow the grass, wash the car etc) and there were 12 - one for each month of their first year together. The cake had 5 separate cakes arranged on a beautiful old trolley and was wheeled in complete with lots of candles and afterwards the happy couple led off the dancing (they had been practicing a bit before hand). The party was still going when we managed to share a taxi back to the hotel at about 2am - I think the last of them got back at about 6!

So . . . it was a terrific wedding and the next day was spent just lazing around and relaxing. I had got caught with one of the clothes pegs and my forfeit was to buy meat for the BBQ so I provided the meal that evening and Martin prepared the fire - needless to say it was not a late night. We were taken to the station on Monday to start the next phase of our journey - Fred (the German) had bought us cheap tickets to get to Berlin then to Frankfurt Oder. The journey took more than 8 hours and the cost? - 100 Euros for both - First Class!! Wow, that’s cheap. After a small delay we arrived late in Berlin where Fred and his girlfriend Clara joined us to catch the next train to Frankfurt Oder which is where his Mum lives. We arrived there quite late but enjoyed the meal which was waiting for us. We spent the next day looking at the local sights and seeing where Fred had grown up - it’s right next to the Polish border so in the evening we walked across the bridge (past the now defunct border control buildings) and had a Polish meal and some beers - all the while fighting off the extremely savage German/Polish mosquitoes who seemed to just love Kiwi blood. It turned out to be rather later than planned because we had attended an Organ recital which went on longer than expected and then Fred got talking to some old friends (he is learning to play the Organ and also sings in a choir so he knew lots of people). It was definitely past midnight when we walked back but was an enjoyable experience.
Wednesday saw us taking the train back to Berlin - Fred picked the one which came from Warsaw so we could eat Polish for lunch (and sit in the dining car for the journey rather than fighting for a seat in 2nd class). Once in Berlin we bought a 3 day travel pass (train, bus, underground all round the city) and were taken on the bus to our boarding house - with complete instructions on the way for which stop to get on and off at and where to change to the train etc. The room was nice (and the landlady too even if she did not have much English) and best of all it was only two stops from Fred’s apartment. He also gave us an old mobile phone which only had one number stored in it - his mobile!! He had a couple of things to finish at Uni so we spent some time by ourselves over the next couple of days visiting sights in Berlin - The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was our first destination as we had seen this during construction on our earlier visit in 2004. We both got the impression that it had been more striking and unsettling when we had peered at the stone blocks through the wire mesh of the construction safety fence - more prison like. The one aspect we did not enjoy at all was the activities of the young people who were running through the memorial treating it as a playground - did they really understand why it was there we wondered? However, we found the underground visitor centre very well presented and respected by the visitors there - a very sobering time for all.
Having been put off visiting the Reichstag last time because of the huge lines of people we were happy to see a very short queue so went in - to find that the dome was closed for maintenance! However, the views were still great from the deck at the base of the dome and it is certainly an impressive building. We went to the Story of Berlin for one afternoon and could have spent the whole day there - it is very well laid out with great displays and a lot of information absorb. Less impressive was the tour of the nearby Nuclear Fallout Shelter - this was meant to demonstrate the governments preparedness for nuclear attack but could only hold 3000 people for one week. It was in the basement of a large parking building and the contractor had apparently made a handsome profit by combining the two. We visited the Museum at Checkpoint Charlie and once again could have spent a lot longer as there was lots to see and also some great displays of the ways people escaped to the West. And always of course there were little pieces of the Berlin Wall for sale - there is probably a small factory somewhere painting concrete blocks and breaking them into small pieces for the tourists to buy!
On our last evening we joined Fred at a church service where his choir was singing and he was playing the organ. We commented afterwards that we had enjoyed the service and his response was “Did you enjoy the sermon” - all in German of course so we didn’t get a single word! He then took us to have supper at one of his favourite places - a curry sausage stall where we had sausage with ketchup (and chilli) with chips and mayo (very colourful) followed by a Kebab from next door washed down with a beer or two. We then walked to the hill-top Monument in a park and joined all of the other young folk who gather there on a summer evening to drink and talk. It was soon time to leave Berlin and take our train to Neustadt where we stayed with Bibi and Haribo.

Fred had once again organised the train for us so all we had to do was change trains at the right places - we arrived exactly on schedule and were met by Bibi and their friend Ralf who is a teacher at the local high-school. We spent two days with Bibi and Haribo - one day we took ourselves off around town and along the harbour to the beach and the next day we were treated to a tour of nearby Lubeck with Ralf the tour guide - and an excellent tour it was. We learned a lot about the history of this old market town, including the street which has a house from each of the last 10 centuries and that it was the first German town to be bombed by the RAF in WWII - in direct retaliation for the bombing of Coventry (luckily for Lubeck it was early days and the bombers didn’t get many of the bombs on the intended targets - most of the beautiful churches were able to be repaired after the war).
We were treated to dinner at a lovely fish restaurant on Timmendorfer Strand where I got a little extra - they apologised that my portion of fish was too small and they would bring another but what turned up was another full meal. Very nice - but I couldn’t eat it all. After the meal we went for a walk to look at the nearby Beach - you pay for parking, pay to go on the beach then pay to hire the deck chairs. You can also buy sunscreen, sunburn cream and insect repellent as well as the usual range of food and drink. We will think of all that when we are next having a Pizza Picnic by Browns Bay beach. It was a very nice couple of days with Bibi and Haribo and then we were again on a train - this time to Denmark to catch up with Rita and Bent.
We had good communication with Rita - the mobile was working just fine so she would be there to meet us off the train. So we waited in the sun and it was very pleasant - she arrived a little later very flustered as she had got lost and couldn’t find the station! Never mind, we were soon on the way to their house to catch up with Bent - who had to stay home because he was expecting a machine to come and bale his barley. The machine actually arrived just before dark which was just as well because it rained overnight which would have been bad news if the crop had still been lying on the ground. Once again we were shown some lovely parts of their country and had some very nice times together. The outdoor Folk Museum was fascinating - from the wood-turner to the bakery to the horse-drawn transport, dancers wearing clogs and miniature railway, penny-farthing bicycles to try and all of the old buildings depicting life in times gone by. We were taken home via the road on the coast with the sea-wall on one side and the low-lying farms on the other.
It was nice to see Raz again after 5 years (he had been our AFSer in 2004 and was still in NZ when we last visited his parents) and to meet Malou his girlfriend - even if they were only there for our last day. We managed a BBQed leg of lamb (grown on their farm of course) with veggies straight from the garden - Yum. We visited the local agricultural show to look at the animals and nick-knack stalls but had miscalculated the opening time - we were too early but were still able to browse around the tents and watch everything getting ready for the grand opening - 4 hours later. It was still very entertaining. After two days we were on the train to Copenhagen for our last two days of this adventure.
We managed to find our way from the train to out hotel without getting lost - or having to take a taxi - so were rather pleased with ourselves. For the next two days we walked the city - shopping streets, canals, old buildings, waterfront, statues, churches, carnival and Tivoli gardens - and of course post cards and fridge magnets. Part of the square down from the hotel had been blocked off for a concert and in another part there was a great pile of sand set up for a beach party - it was the week of an international Gay Celebration and yes, there were some grand sights. We caught a fleeting glimpse of the NZ flag parading past and it was the only time I have ever seen the British flag with a bright pink background! We could hear the music from our room but it stopped about midnight so that was fine. We were very close to Tivoli gardens and could see some of the towers and the tops of some of the roller-coasters - we spent a couple of hours walking around the park looking but were not tempted by any of the rides - I’d quite forgotten how much squealing gets generated!
We Easy-jetted back to Stanstead on the Sunday morning and spent the next few hours getting home - missed one bus to Baker St and the next one took almost 2 hours to get there but it was an interesting ride, taking us through some parts of London we would otherwise never have visited. A 30 minute Tube ride out to where we had left the car and, after a welcome cuppa with Faith and co we drove home - sort the bags, do the laundry so back to the same-old, same-old. Until the next adventure!

Here are some more photos from our trip (just scroll down) - hope you enjoy them.

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Photos

Kathrin and Martin's Wedding
Martin was so overwhelmed when he saw Kathrin he couldn't help shed a few tears - ain't they so sweet?

Balloons to go!
All ready to release the messages to the happy couple.

Reception at the Old Mill
Very effective - and nothing left to chance with the wheel actually being driven by a motor (as well as the water from the sluice above!)

Wedding Cake
What a fantastic cake - Yum.

The Day After
Nobody was doing very much the next day.

Fred on the boat.
We went on a river cruise in Frankfurt Oder.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
Very peaceful but disturbing - apart from the teenagers running through it like it was an amusement park :-(

Reichstag
View from the front. Note the lack of people waiting to get in - we were just lucky.

Sausage and Chips - Berlin Style
Very colourful with the Ketchup and Mayo - tasty too!

Lubeck Church
When the Church was rebuilt the bells were left where they had landed . A stark reminder.

Timendorfer second meal
I was only expecting another piece of the fish but this is what arrived - and I had already eaten all of the first meal. Bit of a waste as I could only make a token gesture at this - but it sure was nice.

Baling the Barley
At the 11th hour the machine arrived - well, maybe it was about 9pm. The palstic-wrapped bales were safe from the rain which fell overnight.

Tovili Gardens
Yes, they sure do scream a lot at this point!

Waiting for the car to arrive
And she thought that there was no Stretched Limo available - hehe.

Limo
They don't come much more stretched than this! She was impressed of course.

Food
This was just the "Appetiser" to keep us going until the main event.

Planting the garden.
While they were getting married, some of their "friends"!! planted a garden for them - in their bedroom! Moving it somewhere more suitable was a nice Sunday afternoon job.

Frankfurt Oder
Fred's Mum lives in the oldest street in the town - it is right by the river and we had nice coffee and cake in the garden. We ate the cake while the mosquitos from the river ate us.

Not what it seems.
Looks like a nice extension on the end of the block - see next photo.

Now you see it . . .
Now you don't. A very clever mural.

Comments

[Martin]

Your trip
I find it hard to believe you are having such a great time. Sounds unbelievable but you have done it at the right time in life. So keep going as long as you can, Martin