Romantic Germany and Naturism

Today we took a bus into Dresden. Our first impression was that it’s a very modern city, quite different to any other European cities we’ve seen. It turned out that there is also a large old centre as well. Unfortunately it was targeted and very badly bombed towards the end of WWII.

There are some obvious repairs to some buildings; like a modern dome on an old stone church, as well as gaps along the waterfront which have been replaced by modern architecture.

It’s been really well done so that Dresden now has a really nice feel to it, the modern and the old living congenially alongside each other. The modern parts have also probably grown since the fall of communism; as Dresden was part of East Germany. It’s also not as busy as most cities we’ve been to, so much easier to get around.

There are lots of beautiful old fountains and new ones too. Among the many statues, my favourite was this one of a woman with a cherub trying to hide in her skirts, must have been modelled on a real child I think.

Today we’ve fetched up at a lake near Plauen, called Talsperre Pohl. Actually I suspect from the number of Talsperres on the map, it must be German for lake - no that is 'See', oh well something similar. We found a good ‘park’ – we’ve found a few of these on our travels – you pay 10 Euro and get power and a place to park. No facilities, but it’s still a good deal for us, much cheaper than camping grounds; which are 20-30 Euros. The lake’s got a wall at one end, presumably has been a hydro dam but not sure if it’s still used. The dam wall is also a bridge and is decidedly slumped on one side – a bit of a worry, hope the whole thing isn’t about to go! We also found it surprising that the swimming is so popular, there are hundreds of people on the grassy slopes and in the water but there’s no beach as such – looks like a bit of a grassy/muddy bank, probably wouldn’t be so popular in NZ. We’re obviously a bit spoilt.

We decided to go for a bike ride around the lake, it’s not huge and we figured the ride would be 2-3 hours. The weather’s being very kind to us so we thought we’d go for a swim afterwards. We got to the far end of the lake without incident and, looking back at the camp, figured we were about half way. That’s when it got interesting, we passed a man at a table taking money from cars, who just waved us through, and found ourselves in the middle of a nudist beach. At first they were just bodies on the beach and we could cope with that, but then as the track went on there were people wandering all around us, lining up for ice creams from a van, just going for walks, thankfully not playing volleyball although we did see a net! It was all a bit much for a couple of shy kiwis like ourselves, and we’re not talking lithe young bodies here but real people, mostly a good 10-20 years older than us, women with wide hips and men with large guts – although I do have to confess that most had a very even tan – none of those unsightly strap marks to worry about. A couple of times when men were walking towards me along the track, I took an inordinate interest in the workings of my front wheel!(There's no photos for this part, for obvious reasons...) After we eventually passed that beach – (it took a good 10 minutes of very determined pedalling), it was a long beach and a lot of people – we got onto a very dodgy track through the forest. It was obviously not designed for bikes, even Gus couldn’t ride anymore and we had to get off and push the bikes, it was quite steep in places too. We realised the cycle track had probably turned before the beach. Anyway we eventually came across it again, we weren’t going back! The second ‘half’ was also a lot further than the first due to the many arms of the lake we had to go around. We ended up crawling back into camp about four hours after we set out – by which time I was completely stuffed – maybe we can go swimming tomorrow – tonight it’s just cooking, reading and sleeping on the agenda.

We are now officially on the ‘Romantic Road’. It runs from Würzburg to Füssen, the River Main to the Alps, and is Germany’s most popular tourist route. Lots of medieval towns, great scenery and a fairy-tale castle or two are promised so watch this space. We will end up back down at the Austrian border but this trip was never about going in a straight line... We started today by exploring Würzburg; this is a really nice small city with, once more, great architecture and loads of character. We were able to get around easily on our bikes and walking, lots of cycle tracks and pedestrian-only streets. This is another city where the trams dominate, and you have to watch out for them because they’re so quiet – much nicer than rowdy trains or buses though.

The highlight was the former Prince Bishop’s Residence – a palace that was built from 1720-1744. A Prince Bishop is apparently a Bishop that pleased the king so much he was crowned as a prince – the bishops then had political as well as religious power and ruled this area for hundreds of years. http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/t/tiepolo/gianbatt/5wurzbur/index.html The palace suffered severe damage in World War 2 – seems such a terrible waste that so many beautiful and historically important buildings all over Europe were destroyed or damaged so wantonly and so quickly after having survived so much for hundreds of years. What remains is still spectacular though, and you wouldn’t know from the outside now that any damage was done. One room that remains in original condition is decorated by a sculptor and a painter working together. Apparently they didn’t get on (can’t remember names) but they worked so brilliantly together that a lot of paintings around the ceiling seem to come out from the surface – a foot or an arm was sculpted to blend so perfectly with the painting that you can’t see where one ends and the other begins. Unfortunately this was another palace that photos weren’t permitted inside. The gardens were also lovely, and had loads of statues. I was quite intrigued by this one of a child (or nymph?) fighting with a child/goat character – not sure what’s going on there.

We also visited Tauberbischofsheim (try saying that after a beer or before one for that matter) today. It’s a unique little village that made us feel a little like we’d stepped into a Hansel & Gretel story.

We stayed the night at Rottingen, this village’s main claim to fame (apart from the usual medieval village thing) is its sundials. We were quite amazed at the variety of them. We saw about 10 but I think there are about 25 all together. Unfortunately it also had a very loud village clock – took me a while to work out the system as it rang so much but eventually I did – I got plenty of time before I could get to sleep! It rang once on the ¼ hour, twice on the ½ hour, thrice on the ¾ hour then four times on the full hour; then in a different tone rang out the hour. So at midnight it rang 16 times!

Quite an effective alarm clock, especially with the help of the heat which has come back (not as bad as Italy but close), and the large tractors going past until about midnight, then starting again at 5am. Lucky this park only cost 5 Euros. It’s full-on harvest time here; Gus has been quite fascinated to see that they cart all the grain with tractors and trailers on the roads (including autobahns) to local grain-dryers. In NZ we use trucks and trailers, much faster and more efficient we would have thought. There is an amazing amount of cropping in this area, very few animals - I did see some cows in a barn today. They also have a lot of big areas of solar panels, acres and acres of them, and a lot on houses as well; lots of wind turbines too.

During the day we visited Rothenburg ob der Tauber. This was a lovely town; we were fortunate enough to get to the square just as the clock struck the hour – not quite Prague’s performance but cute nonetheless. Two windows open, a figure appears at each one and raises a beer as the clock strikes. Gus pointed out that at least we could tell the time on this one too.

The town also had a fabulous Christmas shop; we felt like kids in there and it’s not even Christmas, makes Kirkcaldie & Stains display in Wellington seem a little lacking.

It also had beautiful medieval houses and a lovely original wall; the flagstones were so worn it’s easy to imagine the number of watchmen who must have walked those walls, and what they must have felt when they spotted enemies approaching!

We stayed that night at Nördlingen; a village that was built in the crater of a huge meteor. It’s therefore very round! The wall is still complete right around so we walked most of it. Not in as original condition as Rothenburg’s wall, obviously been re-stored in a lot of parts. Apparently it was the town that you saw from the glass elevator in the 1970’s version of ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’; so fans may recognise it... They also had a loud clock which was joined from 10pm-12midnight, every half hour, by a bloke who goes round yelling “So, G’sell, so!” (All’s well, fellows, all’s well). It shows how tired we were that I only heard him once; and Gus not at all. We were also close to a busy road so the white noise helped drown him out... The park here was free so things going in the right direction in that way. We stopped today at Rottenbuch; not the most exciting of villages, but quite cute and had the most ornate church interior we’ve seen yet, and that is really saying something. We are staying tonight at Schwangau, near the end of the Romantic Road and right next to a lovely lake and mountains. There are also not one but two castles in the town so I’ll drag Gus along to those tomorrow. Unfortunately, just as we have reached this lovely lake, the weather has cooled, even a bit of rain, so we’re not swimming – some hardy souls are – but will certainly make for easier sleeping. We’re in a 5 star camping ground so back up to 25 Euros but nice and quiet – no traffic, or loud clocks, or town criers for that matter.

Scary Stuff

We are now in Germany, just – about 20kms from the Czech border, at a little town called Bad Schandau. I’ve since discovered that Bad means spa – not bad, most disappointing, I had wondered what was so bad about it. Today we did something really mad I never thought I’d do – we went rock climbing at a place called Bastei. It was something Gus really wanted to do and you needed at least two people; and I’m here for new experiences so I thought “What the Hell”. The rock formations in the area are incredible. It’s part of a national park called ‘Saxon Switzerland’, apparently the phrase was coined by a visiting Swiss person.

I was assured I’d be perfectly safe with a rope tied around me all the way. Gus was belayed up first by the guide and then he belayed me up, with instructions from the guide. They even had a guy climb up beside us to take our photos and give instruction as we climbed. It was the most frightening thing I’ve ever done but what a rush getting to the top! I hadn’t thought about getting down again, that was even worse, especially going over the side to start with. Once back on solid ground my legs almost gave way from shaking; and we repaired to the nearest pub for a stiff drink or two...

The road that goes past our campsite has a tramline running down one side – when you’re driving up the road, you could easily have a tram come down the same side of the road as you and you have to get out of the way as well as avoiding oncoming vehicles – very tricky. It’s a reasonably busy road too.

The Elbe River runs through this area, it’s the second longest river in Europe after the Rhine. It’s 1100kms long and eventually ends up in the North Sea.

We stayed a second night in Bad Schandau and today drove to Dresden. On the way we stopped at a fortress called Konigstein Castle. There’s no castle there anymore but the fortress is still very much intact. Like a lot of other places we’ve visited that have been around for hundreds of years, it has been used for a lot of different purposes. Over recent times it’s been a prisoner of war camp, and a place to store precious artworks to keep them safe from the bombing in Dresden. It had amazing views from the top. I had a very amusing ‘conversation’ with an older German man. He asked me a question – probably thinking I would have more information as I was wearing an audiophone to tell me about the place in English. I just said “Sorry, English”. He then asked “London?” I said “No, New Zealand”. This pleased him enormously and he made a gesture like a small animal and said “Baa”. I said “Yes, lots of sheep”. He then rubbed his stomach and said “New Zealand lamb gut”. Just goes to prove – who needs a common language. Everyone seems to know about our sheep and our All Blacks, some of the younger ones also know we have snowboarding and surfing...

By the way, I hope none of my nearest and dearest believed for a minute that I really went rock climbing, what nonsense – I’d never do that in a million years!! (Gus didn’t do any climbing either; we just thought a bit of fiction might be fun)

I walked in the middle of this bridge watching them, no point taking any risks by getting too close to the edges :-)

Austria and Bohemia

We are now in Vienna, Austria. We’re staying with a cousin of Gus; Swen, and his wife Barbara. They also have son, Marc, who is 20. Once again we are being very spoilt with a nice bedroom and ensuite – this camping lark isn’t too bad... The house is in a village close to Vienna, but also backs onto the bush and is at the end of a road so very quiet – we like it! We’ve been into Vienna itself twice now – yesterday Swen took us in and we had a bit of an overview; then today we went back on the tube to have a better look.

Our first stop was the Schonbrunn Palace. We were thinking how beautiful it is, and how like Versailles when we discovered that it is the birthplace of Marie Antoinette (who lived and died at Versailles). If anything it’s more tastefully decorated than Versailles itself, not quite so over the top. Poor girl never really had a chance – she knew no other life! We also discovered that royalty resigned from government and Austria became a republic in 1918 – no beheadings though, I think there may have been a deportation but that was all.

Vienna itself is amazing – the architecture is stunning. We couldn’t get over the variety and beauty of the buildings.

The library was something to behold – we were speculating as to where the returns bin might be.

The city also has a really nice feel about it, not too big or too busy. There were lots of interesting things happening in the streets – street performers and horse & carriages; neat little old cafes and restaurants; as well as opera of course.

Have now crossed into the Czech Republic, formerly Czechoslovakia (about 20 years ago became Czech and Slovakia – I’m sure you all knew that); and before that again this region was Bohemia. I really like the sound of Bohemia... The contrast as we came over the border from Austria was immediately obvious by the condition of the road – in the Czech Republic there were no white lines and the tar seal is a very patched surface. This changed the next day as we got close to Prague, however, and we even got onto a modern motorway. On the way through the back roads I saw two horses being used to pull logs in the forest; and an elderly lady turning over a paddock of hay with a pitchfork – the Czech is apparently ahead of the rest of Central Europe in development but I guess twenty years isn’t all that long for such big changes.

We visited Cesky Krumlov, a cool little town on a bend in the river, almost an island. It was founded in 1253 or thereabouts. The castle was once owned by King Wenceslas – now I know nothing about him except that he’s the subject of the Christmas Carol - Good King Wenceslas, and it turns out it is the same guy. I would have had no idea what country he came from.

The garden layout was also inspired by the garden at Schonbrunn Palace, which we’ve just visited. All the European royal families obviously had lots of connections. The royal family here also were deposed in 1918. We were amused to see that all the bricks are painted on the plain walls - we thought this was just an attempt to make it look original; but apparently this is how they were originally done. The tower was very high and had very scary stairs leading up it but I did get myself there; I then stood at the top with my back firmly against the inner wall while Gus took photos of the view.

There was a very large, loud bell that sounded just as a little girl behind us was passing, she completely freaked out and screamed – poor thing.

Today was Prague – this would have to be our number one city for architecture. We walked into the main square of the ‘Old City’ and just didn’t know where to look first. There is so much variety and so many beautiful towers and buildings. The Old City was built in the 10th century, the ‘New’ City in the 15th century. We travelled on a tram to get into the city – these are still the most common form of public transport here.

The clock on the Old Town Hall is something else. It’s the oldest astronomical clock still working in the world. We couldn’t work out how to tell the time but apparently it displays astronomical information, like the relative positions of the sun, moon, constellations, and major planets. I’m sure it does all that but not so as we could tell! Every hour, on the hour, the little skeleton on the side pulls a rope to strike the bell; the other three characters move; different saints appear in the windows at the top; and to finish off this performance a man standing on the viewing tower at the top blows a song on his trumpet. I heard an American voice say “Wow, they really make a big deal out of it don’t they” – you have to imagine the accent for that.

The castle is the biggest castle complex in the world – it’s not one building though, and not a fortress like other castles we’ve seen; more of a group of buildings around a central cathedral. The cathedral had some of the best (ugliest) Gothic gargoyles we’ve seen. Apparently these were originally designed to keep evil spirits and the devil away.

The clock on the cathedral is also quite unusual. The top one was built first and tells the hour. The lower one was added much later, when an Austrian was in charge, and tells the minutes. The Czech guide reckoned that exact time isn’t too important to the Czech people.

Another interesting(?) feature of the city are these cages, some just cover wells but others are where witches were burned. It's hard to imagine that this really happened... and right here.

The infrastructure of the Czech Republic is still improving; even the campground we’re staying in leaves a little to be desired. The bathrooms are the first really unclean ones we’ve come across in a campground. I’m opting to use our own ones in The Enterprise. We’ve met two kiwi couples in this camp though, so that’s been a bonus. We had a book swap with the first couple – exchanged about 5 books each, so will keep us going for a bit longer. It’s quite cheap for us here – they don’t have the Euro but have their own currency, the Krona – 1000 Krona is roughly equivalent to 35 euro. Makes it very tricky for us to work out but mostly things are cheaper than we expect. Apparently wages here are very low too, about 900 euro a month, but it is possible to live on that here. Minimum wage is only about 500 euro a month – I promise not to complain about my wages again – for a while anyway...

We enjoyed an inexpensive lunch at the market at a long table - with people who were speaking a huge variety of languages. Gus had a big sausage sandwich and we both had a round pastry thingy - not sure what but tasted good. We also had freshly squeezed orange juice, for about $5NZ total. It’s a really beautiful city, and really to be recommended if you’re anywhere near this region. We are very pleased that we have visited – quite different to Western Europe. We’ve talked to people who have been to Hungary and Croatia and really enjoyed them too – maybe another time...

Switzerland - scenery, salamanders & strawberries.

Ok it has to be said, Switzerland scenery is stunning! We drove from Lake Maggiore to Interlaken over a mountain pass that just got more amazing with every turn. There was plenty of snow still about – bit of a change from the heat of Italy!

Was a beautiful day so we saw numerous waterfalls, hanging glaciers and stunning craggy mountains. The scenery would have to compare favourably even with the road into Milford Sound.

The road itself turned back on itself up and down the pass – and had numerous tunnels including one that went under a waterfall.

We are staying at a camp near Lauterbrunnen, a small village near the Eiger Mountain. It’s in a valley that has 9 major waterfalls. Both sides of the valley are steep cliffs, with mountains behind. We’ve been fortunate to find a small camping ground (Breithorn) for about $40 NZD per night – one right next to the village is about double that.

We’ve decided Switzerland is expensive but not too bad if you shop around. Also the expensive camp had a couple of Kontiki buses parked there, so we were pleased to avoid that... We’re staying right next to a swift little river, we’re one of only two campervans in the camp; the rest are caravans and tents. When we got here we went for a bike ride back towards the village and found a waterfall you could walk right under.

Today’s exploit was to catch a gondola up to the top of one of the cliffs behind the village, walk along the top and catch another gondola down again. The walk along the top is called the ‘mountain view walk’ and it was quite an understatement. I’m so glad we caught the gondola up because there was plenty more up after that but the views were incredible. The three mountains are the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau. We’re not sure why the Eiger is the most famous one, it’s possibly something to do with its steepness and therefore challenge to climbers.

There were also cows grazing on the pastures as we walked, each one wearing a bell – they made quite a racket between them that we could hear from a distance away. Gus is introducing himself to one of the locals here.

And I couldn’t resist this photo of ‘supercow’ with the mountains as a backdrop.

At the end of the walk we had lunch at a restaurant – still up in the hills, the Swiss are so civilised in that way! Then I caught the gondola almost back to camp but Gus decided to walk/run back down – a beggar for punishment (he’d already been for a run in the morning too). I didn’t feel the need for the extra exercise and I’m quite shattered enough as it is. The gondolas were quite different to any I’ve been on; instead of having room for a family inside, and there being lots of ‘carriages’ going at the same time; they can fit about 30 people and only one goes up and down at a time. They have a timetable on the wall and stick to it to the minute, Swiss precision timing.

Today we went first to see the Trummelbach Falls. This is a series of ten waterfalls inside the mountain. You reach it by going up in a lift into the mountain – very like the reverse of going down into the Welsh mine. Once there you walk up and down stairs to see thunderous waterfalls that come down from the snowmelt of the three large mountains we saw yesterday. The noise is so incredible you can’t possibly hear another person talking over it. I found it quite frightening with the movement of that force of water. I had visions of the NZ headline – “Tragedy in Switzerland, 2 New Zealanders killed when mountain caves collapse”. (These thoughts never occurred to Gus – he has no imagination!). Anyway apart from that wee niggly naggly fear, it was an incredible spectacle and well worth seeing.

We then drove across Switzerland to Davos and tonight are staying with my ex-brother in law and his wife – Alfred & Heike. We have our own room with an ensuite and an amazing mountain view, complete with beautiful wee villages of course. We are being incredibly well looked after and looking forward to staying here for a few days and exploring the area.

We went for a lovely walk through a nearby gorge – the walk was along a disused road so made for easy walking. At the end of it we caught a train back to the beginning, something you can’t usually do after a walk in the bush in NZ! Along the way we saw Salamanders and Edelweiss and large snails. Apparently the Salamanders only come out after rain (which we had plenty of in the night) and only live in the Alps so we were lucky to see them. We also visited an alpine village which has been there since medieval times – Alfred and Heike pointed out the path they originally would have taken out of the valley with their donkeys to trade with neighbouring areas. It looked very precipitous and I’m glad it’s not still the main route!

We are quite taken with the way they stack their wood here – every piece placed perfectly so that the ends are perfectly flat and there is very little gap between them – very tidy! I gather it also helps with insulation of the house. I’m not sure whether this still applies or if they just like everything neat and tidy...

There is a lot of traditional farming here still. The hay is cut with a large mower; then raked by hand. After this it’s thrown or blown directly into the barns without being baled. The cattle spend the summer up in the mountains. Each farmer may only have 6 cattle each but between them they employ ‘Senn’ – people to milk and generally care for the animals up in the mountains. Two Senn may care for about 60 cattle at a time. In the meantime, in the low country, they make hay and also keep goats.

We had two very active days – the first day we went to see the silver mines. The guide only spoke Swiss German but luckily we had our own personal interpreter. Alfred does a bit of tour guiding too, so we were very well catered to and we learnt a bit of history of the area – the silver mines were not overly successful – they mostly ended up getting zinc and lead from them. The second day we went trekking up to the alp village behind Alfred and Heike’s house, over 2000 metres up. There we were able to see the cheese-making process and meet the two Senn that I mentioned earlier.

We also got to see Marmots – these are large rodents, very cute, a little bit like Meerkats in the way that they stand up on their hind legs to keep a lookout. The flowers on the alps also have to be seen to be believed – there is such an incredible variety. It seems as though life bursts forth here in the summer because the season is so short. All the flowers, marmots, frogs etc are rushing to do their thing before the next snows arrive. We picked wild mushrooms of a great variety - apparently all edible...

We were also able to eat wild strawberries on all our walks - they're very small but the flavour is so intense they make up for their small size. I've put our small drink bottle lid into the photo for a comparison.

All in all we've loved Switzerland - thank you Alfred & Heike - now off to Austria.