Of fairytales, castles, mountains & quaint villages

Guten Tag....Wie geht's? :-)

Warning....we've just had a long weekend and done heaps, so I'm afraid this posting will be a long one. [feigned apologetic look] You have a couple of choices...just read the Executive Summary below or go and get yourself a coffee/beer/wine/caffeine tablet etc to help you get through it. [mischievous grin]

But first of all, sincere thanks to my dedicated followers who have left a comment, Allison, Jamie, Ingrid, Amber & Heather:
Allison, you asked about local beers...we have Schwarzer Hahn and Hochstift Pils...about 5% alcohol content. There are 1,300 breweries here...about 40% of the world's total. Good place to be. [grin]

Ingrid, Vielen Dank für Ihr Schreiben! The word 'arvo' is Australian slang and is short for afternoon..or Nachmittag.

Jamie, yep...my last holiday blog should have given you the clue that I have a tendency to write prolifically. :-) Its actually for my own records but if you would like to keep up, by all means just scan the Exec. Summary. Fabulous to hear from you though!

Amber, can't wait to hear about the Media-Watch interviews! :-D

Heather, yes I did pass the test [grin], and read on for what we did on the Pentecost holiday!

So....[takes a deep breath].....let's get on with it, and bring you all up to date! But first, [frowns]...I've discovered I've gained a kilo since getting here. Do you think its the different air? Or something to do with the photo above? [grin]

Executive Summary

We have picked up our hire car...a black Fiat Bravo, and Norbert is doing really well with driving over here. I haven't yet worked up the courage. :-) On Saturday, we went for a drive to Steinau an der Straβe which is where the Grimm Brothers lived for quite a while and where the fairytales that we know and love originated.

On Sunday we had Mother's Day on the Wasserkuppe...the highest point in the Rhöne area, close to where we are. The Wasserkuppe is the mecca of flying and there were gliders everywhere, taking off...landing...circling above and swooping low. There is also a couple of large areas set out for model planes. The views from the top of the Wasserkuppe are amazing!!! You can see for miles and miles in all directions!!!

Yesterday it was a religious holiday here, so we thought we'd get into the religous thing and visit a monastery just over the border in Bavaria....which is exceptionally famous for its beer brewery! [big grin] There was still daylight left to go somewhere else, so we decided to check out Aschach to see the castle there....it used to be a private home and we spent a lovely hour wandering through history.

Driving in Germany

On Saturday morning we picked up our hire car...a black Fiat Bravo, about the size of a Holden Astra. I did organise an International Drivers License before I left Australia, however I'm not quite ready to leap into a left-hand drive car right yet, and drive on the wrong..umm, I mean the right side of the road. So Norbert is the brave one and he's taken it all in his stride.

There are 2 aspects which make it challenging. First of all, you are sitting in the 'passengers' seat and changing gears with your right hand. Norbert managed this easily though and has only tried changing gears with the door handle a few times. [laugh] I think I would find this a bit difficult though as its not just a case of using a different hand...third gear is away from you, for example, and you don't gear shift toward you. All back to front.

Secondly, there is the whole thing about one's 'space on the road', and undoing decades of subconscious awareness....and this applies to the passenger as much as the driver. Norbert has taken a bit longer to get used to this but he's slowly undoing 35 years of driving experience to learn the 'feel' of a new position on the road. I'm taking longer. [rolls her eyes] I've only seriously thought I would die a couple of times (just kidding!! :-D) when the right hand wheels went off the side of the road.....but I'm starting to get used to the white posts flitting past my window at what seems like 1cm away. Well...at least I've managed to stop flinching on every corner although I still close my eyes on some of the really tight turns. [grin]

The Autobahns are fantastic...last night we were doing nearly 160k! But we've been preferring to drive on the country roads and just use the Autobahn to get home quickly. The trouble is, don't think of country roads like Australian country roads. These are not much more than the width of the car with virtually no verge...in fact there is usually a ditch or drop or cliff and its impossible to pull over. So you keep going....and then another car (or a tractor!) comes the other way, and you both slow down to walking pace and eeease around each other, ever so carefully. This is similar in the little villages except there you find cars parked on BOTH sides of the road, with cyclists everywhere and people walking! And the villages are between 1-7km apart, with an average of 3km. One can't be in a hurry! [chuckle]

Fairytales and Castles

Fulda lies on what is called the 'Fairytale Road' here in Germany as it it is the area where the Grimm Brothers compiled all the fairytales that you and I grew up with. So on Saturday, we went for a drive to Steinau an der Straβe which is where the Grimm Brothers lived for quite a while and where the fairytales originated.

I won't bore you with a travelogue as anyone interested can look up this area on Google, however Steinau an der Straβe is one of the gorgeous little villages I keep raving about, full of narrow cobbled streets and half-timbered houses. I know..I know...I can hear you yawning already so I'll stop now! [grin]

We did the 'museum thing' then just wandered the streets getting a feel for the place. The castle is amazing and I could almost imagine Rapunzel in the top tower, or Sleeping Beauty behind one of the huge doors. Its also a very green and wooded area and its easy to see how the stories of Hansel & Gretel came about, and of witches and wolves.

Thanks to Norbert's GPS (she speaks with a British accent), we found our way safely home again and went out for tea at the Rhönblick....a local hotel and guest house where Norbert first stayed when he arrived here, and is therefore on a first name basis with the owners. :-)

Mother's Day on the Wasserkuppe

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! It was Mütter Tag here also, with lots of cards and flowers in the shops. We set off before lunch, bound for the Wasserkuppe which is the highest point in the Rhöne area, close to where we are.
Now...see this photo of me standing in a flowery field? This is where we stopped for lunch along the way, just outside of a teeny little town called Kleinsassen. That's all very irrelevant but I'd packed cheese and Vegemite sandwiches (I'd brought the Vegemite from home, of course), and as we sat in the sun amidst the flowers, gazing out at the high-pitched red roofs of the nearby village and munching on our sandwiches, Norbert commented that we were probably the ONLY people eating Vegemite for Mother's Day lunch.... in Germany, anyway. Do you think? [chortle]

Anybody who is interested in flying would absolutely LOVE the Wasserkuppe, as its the mecca of flying. Last Sunday they had gliders everywhere, taking off...landing...circling above and swooping low. There are also a couple of large areas set out for model planes. AND there is an amazing museum! Now I'm not that terribly interested in flying for its own sake (except to get into a plane to go on holidays [chuckle]) however the museum was modern and really very interesting. We spent quite a while wandering around the vast interiors of the buildings.

Keep walking uphill and you get to a huuuge radar dome, the remaining one of the 5 originally part of a US installation to keep an eye on East Germany. This one is decommissioned and is still surrounded by barbed wire, but there was a big sign on it to say that it was being turned into a tourist viewing platform and restaurant as the views from the top of the Wasserkuppe are amazing!!!

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You can see for miles and miles in all directions!!! I felt like breaking into song....."The hiiiiills are alive...with the Sound of Muuuusic...." OK, OK...officially shutting up now. [cheesy grin]

Penticost Holiday - Religion...and Kitsch

Monday, and it was a public holiday here. We thought we'd get into the religous thing and visit a monastery just over the border in Bavaria. (Random fact: Did you know that in Bavaria, any beer under 5% alcohol is considered a grocery item and anyone can buy it, even kids???!!! True!!!)

Bear with me for just one paragraph of travel stuff...or skip to the next paragraph if you must. [grin] The Kreuzberg, at 927 meters, is the second highest mountain in the Rhön (the Wasserkuppe is the highest). Franciscan monks founded a monastery here in the seventh century, and a brewery was built in 1731. Atop the mountain is a pilgrimage site, and a huge antenna...but the main attraction on the Kreuzberg is the brewery! Heh, heh

The monks brew what is considered by some to be one of the best beers in the world. Here's a photo of Norbert lining up. Oh, what a pity that beer isn't gluten-free [wrings her hands in dismay]

I found a webcam of the place but if you click on the link from Australia, you would have to do so either in the early morning or late at night....otherwise it will be dark on the mountain! :-)

Anyway, we decided to have lunch and because it was busy, Norbert asked a lady at a bench whether we could share...and then he went off to find some lunch for us. Well, she was a very friendly lady and tried to start up a conversation...but spoke no English. I did the very best I could but I ran out of German in about 5 minutes flat. Then we just smiled a lot at each other. [laugh] The one thing that spoiled this place for me were the stalls and stalls of plastic rubbish and 'kitsche' stuff...very touristy and it takes away from the feeling and culture of the place. Oh well, sign of the times I guess.

Apparently its a big thing to cycle to the top of this mountain and there were bikes everywhere!!!! Bruce B, you really must make this one of your future challenges. I watched one guy arrive and his legs were shaking so much that he almost keeled over trying to dismount the bike! Personally this doesn't seem like a fun activity to me, but I've been assured that it is. [doubtful look]

We walked up to the antennae which was used to beam western 'stuff' into Eastern Germany when they were cut off. But then as there was still quite a bit of daylight left, decided to leave the Kreuzberg and drive on to Aschach to see the castle there. And glad we did! This used to be a private home but all the rooms are laid out like they would have been hundreds of years ago, and one can wander around and look at everything. Really interesting... feels like you are walking in history.

One little story.....everyone is fascinated about us being from Australia, probably because the tourists mainly go to the major cities. What also makes it interesting
is that Norbert speaks German so they want to find out a lot ie about Australia, why we are here etc. Anyway, a couple of staff members engaged him in conversation as per usual and I heard the woman ask (in German) whether or not I speak German. Without thinking I shook my head and she laughed as obviously I knew enough to understand the conversation! [pleased grin] So I said "ein bisschen"...which means, a little. :-)

So...that brings us up to date! As usual the weekdays won't generate too much news as they are pretty much routine now, however rest assured I'll let you know if
there is anything to report. You know you can trust me on that, don't you. ;-)[chuckles]

Let me know what is happening in your world!

Bye for now!