Germany

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!

Troisdorf -  https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=schwarzburg-rudolstadt&ie=UTF-8&ei=nfb3UYfBLcmX0QXlzoDIAQ&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAg

Schwarzburg - https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=schwarzburg-rudolstadt&ie=UTF-8&ei=nfb3UYfBLcmX0QXlzoDIAQ&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAg

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!