Germany - 6 to 11 May 2008

Guten tag!

Although this huge country dominated the last century with the 2 world wars and the holocast, the German states were only really unified with the rise of Prussia under Von Bismark in 1866. We toured through many picturesque towns along the Rhine in Western Germany bushcamping our first night along some tributary in the forest just outside Cocehm.

The next day we explored the Moselle Valley, criss-crossing the Moselle River en route to Trier and dropped into Luxembourg to fill up on the cheaper fuel, before heading back east for a 2 night stay at Bacharach Campsite. With white sands and the Rhine almost lapping at the vehicles wheels and vistas to die for, we settled in absorbing this historic town founded by the celts. Rather magical, the colourful half-timbered buildings and fortifications dating back to the 14th century. But Bacharach's fame is the valley vineyards that were first planted by the Romans, so savouring a few glasses with authentic wurst and bread had to be on the agenda, but the blutwurst was a bit much though! Two intersting sites were the richly decorated Posthof founded in the 11th century and formerly a seat of the Knights Templars and the 1294 ruins of the chapel of Werner named after a murdered boy that sparked anti semitic accusations.

Then south, along the Rhine Valley lined with mountains and punctuated by scores of castles to charming Heidelberg on the Neckar River - with its imposing romantic red sandstone Schloss (castle). Just south, Baden-Baden was our overnight bushcamp spot before exploring the Balck Forest - really a picturesque mountainous region with evergreens and dotted with open slopes and farmlands with enormous traditional house-barn combos! Jewels en route were towns like Schiltach and Triberg with its famous cuckoo-clocks that traditionally signifies the advert of Spring when this bird cuckoo's! Titisee with its iconic glacial lake nestled between the mountains, was our last stop en route to Constance when we again had to bushcamp along the highway as darkness settled in around 9pm. Lake Constance which is along the course of the Rhine offered a splash of refreshment. After viewing its namesake from both the German and Swiss angles, we spent the day relaxing at Lakeside Camping Bodensee with the Alps beckoning in the distance.

Deutschland was surprisingly beautiful and we elected to do the scenic heartlands, missing the major industrialized cities on this leg and we'll return in about 3 weeks to experience a bit of the eastern aspect.

Auf Wiedersehen!

3 to 7 June 2008

Guten tag!

Yes! - we're back into Germany from the Czech Republic , this time exploring eastern Germany . The former GDR had vestiges of its past in the 1960's blocks of buildings, mixed with historic and modern architecture post WWII's devastation.

From the Czech Republic we entered Germany through the town of Altenburg , on our way to a picturesque area known as ‘Saxon Switzerland' and its capital, Dresden . Our first night was spent in the forest just south of Dresden which straddles the river Elbe , with tall trees and enough paths for the kids to explore.

Dresden , previously, famous as 'The Florence of the North' was devastated during the carpet-bombing of WW2, but has been under restoration ever since. In spite of the modern rebuilding, the city remains a great place to visit, with impressive buildings and fine 'palaces'. The pastel coloured interior of Frauenkirche ( Church of our Lady ) originally built in 1726 best demonstrated this transformation, but the old town is attraction-studded. Like Augustusstrasse with a stunning 102m long porcelain mural, the procession of princes of Saxony from 1123 – 1904 on the old royal stables outer wall. The neo-renaissance opera house, churches and palaces on Schlossplatz and museums in the Zwinger Fortress are more heavyweights. Dresden also has a long tradition of creativity – from the birthplace of Pilsner Beer, the bra and the toothpaste tube to SLR cameras!!

Northwest of Dresden we drove past Meissen with its 15 th century palace to Potsdam , bush-camping for 2 nights and spending a night camping at Sanssouci on the banks of the Templiner Lake. GR3's fridge blew a fuse during the night and had to be fixed straight away. With the help of a great receptionist, they were referred to Auto Andreas a few kilometres away and within a few minutes were sorted - once again illustrating some German efficiency. The rest of the day was spent fixing odds and ends in the van, washing clothes, filling water tanks and cleaning toilets. Time flew by and eventually we got to see Potsdam after five o'clock, but at least there were still 4 hours of sunlight left for the day.

Potsdam (famous for the Potsdam Conference of August 1945 which set the stage for the division of Berlin and Germany ) has as its main attraction, the Sanssoucci Park , with a myriad of palaces and outbuildings. Friedrich Wilhelm made this the Prussian royal seat and subsequently Frederick the Great commissioned the ornate palaces of Sanssouci and the New Palace in the mid 18 th century.

GR1 opted to drive around, while GR3 decided to walk through the park and what a walk it turned out to be! Attractions are all sprawled across several kilometres and include the Church of Peace , the Picture Gallery, the Schloss Sanssoucci, the Historic Windmill and the New Chambers, the New Palace and finally, the Chinese House. The walk took GR3 the better part of four hours (kids did well, with no carrying on the shoulders) and thereafter, they were rewarded with a fantastic Indian meal in the town - EXCELLENT!!!

For GR1, Potsdam 's history and sights proved so captivating that they missed the 10pm curfew and ended up sleeping outside the campsite! Thank goodness again for the convenience of our vehicles.

The next day we parked the vehicles in the train station's parking area and used the public transport for the rest of the day visiting Berlin . Berlin proved why it has the reputation as a buzzing capital that continues to reinvent itself despite being divided just 2 decades ago. The free new Berlin tours' entertaining guide Maria, educated GR1 for 5 hours on a walking tour through the history and sights – from the Brandenburg Gate with its quadriga statue that Napoleon kidnapped, to museum island on the river Spree where the communist needle-shaped ‘Frensehturm' dominates the sky-line. In between, they saw and learnt about events surrounding the Berlin Wall, the Reichstag where Hitler started a fire to gain absolute power and thereafter to his suicide bunker which is now filled with wastes from the swamp. It was a moving experience to see the wall victim's memorial commemorating the 191 people who died trying to cross to the west and especially the Holocaust Memorial, a grid of 2711 differently shaped grey concrete blocks symbolising coffins. It was startling to learn that 130 years earlier it was written that ‘when you start by burning books, you end by burning people', and in 1933 at Bebelplatz 20000 books were burnt that did not conform to Nazi ideology. Maria ended the tour with a fantastic display of the complete story leading to the falling of the wall.

GR3's first visit was the SA Embassy. The new embassy building is the first new building that SA has had constructed for 27 years and thus also the first overseas representation the country has erected since the collapse of apartheid in 1994. They were met by Mr. Pieter Bouwer (Political Head), who proudly relayed all this information and he politely accepted our NMB pamphlets and listened to our story. With this task completed, GR3 were ready to explore Berlin . They visited the Holocaust Memorial site first, where they enjoyed brunch (Schwarma….not that good), Hitler's so-called Bunker site, the famous Check Point Charlie, the Gendarmenmarkt, (with its Deutscher Dom, Franzosicher Dom and the Hugenotten Museum), the Bebelplattz (Site of Nazi first book burning), the Historical Museum and Altes Museum, the Berliner Dom, Brandenburger Tor and then, finally, enjoyed doughnuts in the Tiergarten, while waiting for GR1.

We all met up in Pariserplatz where Celine Dion was spotted opposite the hotel where Wacko Jacko ‘dangled' his baby, but we behaved rather discreetly and decided not to 'impose'. After a 2 hour train-bus-tram trip, we were back to our base in Potsdam . The journey home seemed to take for ever as we first got off at the wrong station and then moved from one tram to the next (with the help of a very kind fella) until finally arriving at our vehicles totally exhausted.

The following day was even more spine-chilling. We all met Maria at Sachenhausen concentration camp which was opened in 1936 as a 'model' for the other 200 major camps. This was primarily a work camp, but by 1945 more than 200 000 people from 22 countries were imprisoned here. Initially the Nazi regime imprisoned its political opponents, then by 1939, people classified as biologically or racially inferior – gypsies, homosexuals and Jews, who were treated the worst with forced labour, torture and medical experimentation until they systematically murdered thousands. To our surprise, the kids were on their best behaviour and took a great liking to Maria. They ended up being the leaders of the group, with Maria holding their hands as we went from one sight to the next. We felt very proud that they even asked pertinent questions at the crematorium!! A little known fact is that this concentration camp was also used to murder 12000 people after 1945 under soviet rule – mostly political undesirables!

With heavy hearts and reflective minds we drove northwest and bush camped 20km outside Hamburg . An early start to Germany 's maritime city saw us hit the famous Fischmarkt that has been going since 1703. The experience of the boisterous market criers hawking their wares at full volume and the range of appetising goodies convinced us to sample the fish and fruit – all at give away prices! We capped our morning with a visit to the live-music session at the Fischautionshalle. Of course photo stops at architectural icons such at the Rathaus and Chile Haus that's shaped like an ocean liner had to be made before we headed due north and our border crossing near Flensburg into Denmark – the ‘ Land of Vikings .

We felt that we really had a good taste of Germany by now and were very impressed with the efficiency and the amount of building and growth everywhere. This made us think that there will be a fourth Reich (Empire), but today's German-folk generally appear to be an open, tolerant, proud and forward-thinking nation.

Auf Wiedersehen!