We had a great holiday in Germany (17-28 July '13). We drove via Euro-tunnel and stopped over in Gent for the night, a lovely city with a number of canals before continuing to Troisdorf (see link below) to stay with friends - what hospitality - we were spoiled rotten! Both Cologne and Bonn had too much to do and see in 4-5 days.
One impressive thing was the custom of having a small padlock engraved with you and your partner's name, locking it to the bridge over the Rhine and in a demonstration of your undying love you both cast a key into the river, thereby locking your love together for always.
 |
| Us with Alli and Andrea on the bridge |
Another thing we liked was the way far greater importance is placed on cycles and pedestrians, particularly children, in their town planning - the car was noticeably demoted with many 'child streets' where cars must give way.
Then we moved on to Schwarzburg (see link below) a little village near Erfurt in the old East - good to see more old (young) friends. This area is completely missed by UK travelers - hence no one speaks English. Under communist rule Russian was the second language taught in schools, though it is now English - so, if you get stuck, ask a youngster.
This was our B+B. The first floor, right-hand window was our bedroom with the balcony overlooking the river - out of which we had our lunch on a couple of occasions - brown trout - No, not caught by us! Another local dish is Wild Boar with Thuringian Dumplins - potatoes - excellent!
We spent one day by the pool, a community run project everyone uses, at 2 euros for all day who wouldn't. It has a kiosk for beers, ices and the biggest Thuringian sausages you've ever seen.
 |
| the pool before it got busy |
We borrowed Sabine and Tino's bikes one day, rode 20km to Bad Blankenburg (Bad means Spa) along the river - all on bike paths! and on the way back stopped for lunch. Within 2 km of home it started to rain, now when it rains here it really means it - no UK drizzle, in 2 minutes we were wetter than if we had been in the bath! it wasn't worth stopping - we couldn't get wetter! so we just peddled on home. At least it was warm rain!
We reluctantly left Schwarzburg on Saturday morning after another of Anna-Rosa's breakfasts and with a stopover in Aalst, we got home on Sunday afternoon. 1400 miles in all - well done Carina - never missed a beat!
