TravelStream™ news feed for member shanemhewitt on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/shanemhewitt en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:56:29 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1221260160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1221260160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1221260160/tpod.html Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:56:29 -0400 Germany 2008

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Rotterdam, Netherlands

Sorry this entry is going to be uneventful as I spent most of the day on the road. I drove from Diepholz to Rotterdam, not a very pretty route at the Dutch end, but going through some nice villages in Germany was a good way to say goodbye to the country.
The stretch bypassing Arnhem was awful, all traffic crawling, and in heavy rain which lasted all day. Not the best way to appreciate otherwise very decorative countryside. The Dutch are a tough lot though as they were still happily cycling along on their ubiquitous cycle paths, nowhere near any villages, even when being soaked by the rain.
Getting to the harbour (number 5805) for the ferry to the Uk was easy, so long as you followed signs for 'Engeland', and not the harbour number signs. A bit confusing, but I remember this from my last trip in 2006. That year I actually tried to drive through the freight gateway. The lorry drivers were very patient with me as I had to turn round. At least they muttered quietly to themselves.
Right now I am looking out from the café on deck 8, not quite managing to admire the view of the Rotterdam oil terminal. There are many more huge wind turbines here than I remember from two years ago. Mind you, it makes sense to use otherwise tatty industrial land for something instead of just growing weeds. If you want to see a prime example of this, look at the north bank of the Tyne as you leave North Shields for Norway. It's a complete disgrace, and an awful introduction to our country for the Norwegians.
The sky here is heavy with grey clouds, but there is a gap just above the horizon, with the low sun shining through at a shallow angle. As a result, all the interior of the café is bathed in lovely orange light. Considering this region is highly industrialised, the air and the water are remarkably clean. A large population of gulls perched on the crane opposite suggest that the fishing here must be good.
Tomorrow - Hull!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1221182700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1221182700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1221182700/tpod.html Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:22:26 -0400 Germany 2008

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Diepholz, Germany

Coming out of the loo block on the campsite near Uelzen I was confronted by a red squirrel. They are the sort of thing you read about, see on Attenborough-type programmes, and see pictures of on calendars. But here, for the first time, in the flesh was a real live one, the first I had actually seen. It was more of a burnt orange, than any real shade of red, and certainly not brown. It was intent on picking up bits of food no doubt shed by fellow campers, and it seemed uninterested in me. As I approached slowly, it shot up a tree. Plus of course, I didn't have my camera with me. Always the way, isn't it?
I don't normally write about urinals, my knowledge of them limited to their actual use. But this campsite has another first (for me), a set of water-free urinals. Apparently the blurb on the wall stickers above them says they are odour-free, do not use any water, and are cheap to fit. Details are at www.uridan.de. As for the odour-free bit, I can honestly say it works. Don't know how, but it's damned clever.
Driving south of Uelzen I was seeing several post mills, those windmills which can be moved around to face the wind direction. I have seen a few in Essex, where I used to live, but never anywhere else. These actually seemed to be in use, as there were piles of sacks at their bases, rather than the usual signs for tourist entrance fees. How nice to see such things still in use.
In Celle I parked up in a huge car park off Alte Bremer Weg. Now this goes to show how much better continental Europe is for users of motorhomes. There was a special area where they could all park, in enlarged areas, plus there was a dirty water emptying point and a set of drinking water taps. All free to use. At the back of the car park it went from tarmac to grass, and on this huge field were approx 30 motorhomes of all shapes and nationalities, no doubt camping there overnight. Owners were sitting outside sunbathing, washing was on the lines, and satellite dishes on the roofs were being adjusted. Again, all free. In the UK if you tried doing this, some old grump would just tell you to move on. Actually I partly take that back - things are a lot easier in Scotland.
I got involved in a brief conversation with some Germans who pulled up next to me, and we were swapping experiences of motorhome travels. They had only just bought this, their first one, so it was a case of "I'll show you mine if you show me yours". They were intrigued by all my travels to Norway and Sweden - I think they now want to go (and quite right too, so do I).
Celle was quite simply superb. Think of the gorgeous old buildings in York, Saffron Walden, Santiago de Compostela and Port Sunlight. Now double or triple their height, add a steep gable roof to them, and make the total about 500. That's what Celle has. The best collection of half-timbered 14th to 18th century houses I have seen anywhere. They were for the most part being used as shops, so if you looked above the Vodafone, Woolworth, post office and Schleker (a bit like Superdrug) hoardings, you would think you had gone back in time. One of the Apotheke shops (pharmaceutical chemists') had a great display in the front window, with many old medical books open showing 19th century surgical equipment, and many actual pieces there to see. On a street corner was an old chap using a hand-operated organ, giving the whole place a definitely European feel. There were many, many cafes with people eating, drinking and generally watching the world go by (I joined in with this myself). In fact while I was sipping my Earl Grey and watching everything and nothing, a huge green hairy caterpillar landed with a hefty thump on the table. About the thickness and length of my middle finger (and it looked like it could eat it too). Funny, I didn't know they could fly (not yet, anyway). I looked around and couldn't work out where it came from. Unless it fell from the guttering a long way above me. It seemed none the worse for the fall, and I watched it drinking (I think) some spilt liquid, possibly beer. No doubt it then rolled over in a stupour and fell off the table after I had left.
Every turning you made presented you with a row of wonderful buildings, some leaning forwards, some leaning backwards, and some that looked like they were made of coloured chocolate. Fabulous - I can recommend this place to anyone.
I got to the last campsite in this holiday, which is just south of Diepholz, next to the Dummer See. After checking in I decided to go for a mooch on the bike. Up by the lake there was a long promenade with people just strolling along in the sunshine, enjoying the scenery. Blue sky (cloudless), blue lake, and about 200 sailing boats, all in gorgeous assorted colours. There were kiddies playing on the impressively large sandy beach, oldies sunning their flabby white bodies, and almost everyone eating ice cream. What a gorgeous afternoon. I decided to cycle round the lake, but nobody told me it was an 18km journey. Still it was worth it. Along the way by the lake I saw hundreds of ducks, bright orange and black butterflies, a cat (it looked lost), two enormous furry St Bernard dogs (they looked bored and very hot) and a few billion midges. All very pleasant, and when I got back to the van I engulfed a load of water.
So tomorrow will be my last day, as I have to drive to Rotterdam for 7pm tomorrow night. I'll make an entry on the ship, then make a final entry when I get home on Saturday, probably in the evening. If I get my act together, I'll put some photos into these blogs during the coming week.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1221095700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1221095700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1221095700/tpod.html Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:15:05 -0400 Germany 2008

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Uelzen, Germany

Picture this. It is 6am, the sun just rising. You are in a forest, full of tall upright birches and oaks, the canopy way overhead, and all the floor covered in a dense green lush matting. Now the sun comes through the trees, at a shallow angle, making the shadows stretch out for seemingly miles. The slight amount of dew on the floor glistens in the light, like a thousand tiny LED lights, and the moisture starts to heat up and evaporate, so there is a fine white mist rising. Add to all that the sound of a woodpecker high up. That is how I started this morning. And that is the reason why I like to camp offsite sometimes, and wake in the forest. Attempts to photograph this though were futile, as it was all so transient. But I can honestly say, I was there, and experienced it all. What a great way to wake up.
I stopped at Tangermünde this morning as I had heard it was a picturesque town with an attractive old centre. I must say I wasn't let down. The centre was all cobbled, and almost every building had some fabulous feature to make it photogenic. Some were a bright colour, such as pink, yellow, orange or lime green. Some had old wooden beams visible (thankfully not painted black), or plasterwork with attractive features. Some had wooden carvings such as eagles, owls and geometric patterns. Some had inscriptions saying who built in, and when, and some fable or local saying, written in the old Gothic script on the beams. And some had all of these. In fact this place had the most attractive Woolworth I have ever seen, the interior all ultra-modern being so incongruous compared to the medieval exterior. Plus in the centre were a couple of impressively tall redbrick towers. Not too sure what they were for, but by the fact that the only windows were thin and well high up, defence must have been an important factor. In fact I later discovered driving out of the town that there are some substantial redbrick town walls still visible. Not as high as those in York, say, but equally as impressive.
The place seemed to have only two types of people. Groups of retired people with their tour guides, and the shopkeepers. Well OK, plus me. I didn't see anyone who looked like they actually lived there.
What a fabulous place. On a banner across the main central street it said that the town is 1000 years old in 2009, and there is to be a week long festival in September. Guess who is going to that?
By the way, two silly things. One, I parked on a street called Arneburger Strasse. Arnie-Burger - good eh? Also I saw a sign for a builder or Baumeister, whose surname was Schitthelm. Thank goodness he doesn't try to do trade in the UK. A bit like a British Mr Fick trying to live in Germany - look it up in a good dictionary.
Other smaller places well worth another visit were Stapen (not even on my atlas) and Apenburg. This place had one shop, one school, and rows of fabulous biscuit-tin houses. That is not to say, of course, that they were made of biscuit-tins.
This area is remarkable for the number of apple trees growing along the sides of the roads. The fields may contain wheat, root crops, cattle or sheep. But the apple trees are always there. Big juicy ripe red apples, some just falling to the roadside. I saved myself a lot of money by picking up about 20 of them.
Also the area has a lot of wind turbines, which is a bit strange really as this area is not particularly high up. But it is good to see them all the same. In the UK their construction is thwarted by claims that they adversely influence bird flight patterns. Here they are much more sensible about the whole thing, and just put them up anyway.
Heading west towards Uelzen I stopped in a huge parking place, all concrete and with lots of markings on the ground. Unmistakeably, this was an old east-west Germany border crossing. It was now all covered in weeds, nobody particularly bothered about keeping it tidy, and rightly so. Any possible souvenir had long since been ripped out, but there were still three rusty and stripped out metal sheds, and a huge concrete base with steps which obviously was the foundation for a substantial building of some sort, now dismantled. The markings on the concrete were lines for vehicles to park in while waiting for their journey to be processed and approved. Which goes to show the attitude of the old DDR border patrols - make them wait, and make them as uncomfortable as possible in their dealings with the "other half" of Germany. Some of the poor sods must have had to wait for many hours to have their papers processed. Now the only evidence of activity was a Polish lorry parked up, the driver asleep, and graffiti on the smashed-up huts.
I am now staying at a gorgeous campsite just a few hundred metres from this border crossing, a little to the east of Bergen. You can tell we have moved into the west. Facilities are excellent, showers are unlimited and free, the toilet block is impeccably clean, and the owners actually speak English, of a sort. But I am glad of my experiences in the east over the past week, and it is obvious that most of them want a better standard of life, and are gradually getting there. Like I said on an earlier entry, most east Germans I spoke to seem to regard the whole DDR thing as a bit of a bad joke, now only good for raising a bit of money from tourists wanting a DDR car sticker, or flag, or the like.
Tomorrow - west to Celle, a place I last visited in 1991, and which I am really looking forward to.
Oh yes, the fluorescent dog collar thing. I was coming out of the loo block when it was getting dark, and I felt something brush against my legs. I didn't see the black dog, only the pink fluorescent dog collar. You can imagine the start it gave me. Are these common? I have never seen one before. Certainly you come across them at outdoor music concerts and so on, but never on a dog. What a sensible idea!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1221012300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1221012300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1221012300/tpod.html Tue, 09 Sep 2008 16:04:12 -0400 Germany 2008

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Schöneberg, Germany

I must say something about the campsite I stayed in last night. Who in their right minds would lock the only toilet block on the site, and only let the long-term stayers have a key? I was totally baffled by how they expected paid-up customers to use the facilities.
Quite by accident someone left the door open, so in I went to have a shower. I had been given a small blue plastic tag which I was told at the reception was for getting a shower, and instructions were up on the wall. The instructions were certainly there, but even though I read them through - three times - there was no hot water forthcoming from the showers. So in slight disgust I had a shower in the van.
At the back of the block, they had a motorhome dirty tank emptying point, which to me seemed a really sensible idea. But when you looked at how close to the back wall it was situated, no way could even a Mercedes Smart car have driven into the tiny allocated space. Some planning thought would have been nice.
Anyway, enough griping, and this morning I turned up at Frankfurt an der Oder, alongside the border with Poland. What a nice small city, with some respectable looking churches, a very decorative riverside walk along the front of the concert house, and an impressive bridge crossing over into Poland. There was even a long shopping street still called Karl Marx Strasse, replete with bleak grey concrete busts of the man himself. I'm sure the major proponent of Communism would have been slightly niggled that a four-level shopping complex, the Lennepassagen, had been situated on his road. Communism and retail therapy on the same street - now there's an uneasy mix.
The redbrick church - I forget the name - had a most fetching exhibition on, about the actions of Germany in WW2. Called "The Plans Of A Different Germany" it went from 1925 right through to 1946, and some of the photos were unforgettable. At home (in the UK) we will have seen many photos and films of the war years. But most of the photos here have, I would imagine, never been out of Germany. I saw photos of starving emaciated children in the Warsaw Ghetto and the concentration camps, of people chopping up a dead horse to eat, of a soldier with his head completely ripped off, the raw flaps of meat and skin draped over his shoulders, and the rest of the body untouched still in a neat uniform. Like I say, all quite unforgettable.
Being so close to Poland I just had to call over even for half an hour. Open borders mean no patrol or customs guards, and it was like walking from one side of an unmanned bus station to another. The buildings on offer, in Slubice, were all neatly turned out, but still with that underlying plain concrete style that ties it to the socialists. I couldn't understand a word of Polish, but there were many bilingual signs with German, and a fair number with English and French as well. Half the people talked German, half Polish, so traffic over the bridge, especially on such a lovely warm sunny day, was obviously active.
Driving north from Frankfurt I called at a Norma general store in Lebus. Just after I bought what food I needed I noticed two green and white Zoll (customs) cars had pulled up beside the van. Had they rumbled me for something? Perhaps I had ignored some unwritten protocol? Of course not. They had all turned up to have their tea break at the café beside the store. Their cars even gave their website as www.zoll.de - now who would think the customs would advertise their internet site? What next - police forces in the UK having their website addresses on their cars? Probably it's only a matter of time.
I drove further north, then decided to go over into Poland for about half an hour, and go south back to Slubice (where I knew I could get back into Germany). This was really a reccie for me to see what driving in Poland would be like. Well, it wasn't much different than Germany, of course. Signs were different colours, words were unpronouncable (many place names near the border having a German equivalent), and surprisingly all vehicles had their headlights on permanently. This last thing is something I am used to as they do this in Norway and Sweden, but it's the first time in mainland Europe I have seen it.
I then started heading west, over the top of Berlin, but far enough out that it was all just forest. Wonderful scenery here, especially on a sunny day like today where the sunshine streams through the tall straight birches. Fabulous effect - but unfortunately nowhere to stop to take photos.
Have you ever wondered how they get those huge propellers up onto the wind turbines? Neither had I. But I got the chance to see it done. Many other vehicles had stopped to witness this. Approaching the village of Trampe on the 168 there is a large cluster of these turbines, the height of a 15-storey block of flats. Each propellor must have been the width of a football field, so the crane needed was really, really big. And I mean big. And then some. The blades were on the floor with about 40-50 chaps busy doing something to them. At the edge of the group was one chap watching them, talking on his mobile. Wonder what he was saying? "Guv, we're missing one of those sprocket thingies". Or perhaps: "Are you sure it's the right fitting". Anyway, the way the crane bent when it lifted the blades into the air, I'm amazed it didn't topple forward. Fancy explaining that one to the insurance company.
Now here I find myself pulled over from another one of those forest roads just west of Schönberg. I've had a few cars go by, looking at my van as if to say "wish I had one of those", or perhaps "wait till midnight when the Police wake you up". Let's see!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220921760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220921760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220921760/tpod.html Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:55:43 -0400 Germany 2008

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Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany

After paying for my five excellent nights at the Berlin campsite, I wanted now to have a rest from museums, and move on to see the German countryside. I chose to go south from Berlin through Potsdam, then east to the Polish border. I went through Trebbin, Zossen, Birkenhainchen, Friedland and Eisenhütternstadt.
It's no exaggeration that there is still a visible difference between eastern and western Germanys. In all my time in the east, about five days now, I have seen perhaps ten Trabants, the favourite (almost the only) DDR family car available at the time, and five of these were brightly painted "Trabi Safari" vehicles chucking out clouds of evil smelling smoke. Just think back in the 70s and 80s when all the two-stroke eastern vehicles polluted like this - it's amazing the comparison with more modern cleaner cars. If anyone says that cars are polluting the planet, they are not doing it a tenth now as well as the Trabants could do. Plus the noise, a bit like a ropey hair dryer engine on a squeaky suspension. Sadly though, these beasts will have died out completely in another ten or so years. Glad I've got some photos while they were still around.
Buildings in the east were never what you could call attractive. Certainly the public buildings were grand, with sometimes good sculpture work, but then these were paid for by the state, and were meant to impress. That is not to say though that normal houses are not clean - they certainly are. But the style was dictated by the socialist government. So exterior walls were very plain, invariably of grey concrete. The only concession to colour was to have several shades of grey. Now I'm glad to say you see lots of oranges, yellows, creams and whites.
The people who live in such places must be a bit unimpressed to say the least, so they try to brighten them up with flower boxes. And very impressive they are too. Something you don't see much in Scandinavia or the UK (apart from small villages which were smart to begin with) is rich flower boxes, and they certainly do brighten up the east German buildings. Actually you can say that about the town centres as well. Built to a strict pattern, there is usually a rather drab looking central square with monolithic bleak looking public buildings around it. Only now, many of these squares have been replaced by lawns and some with fountains - a huge improvement, and somewhere that the locals can relax and play. Also very cheap to maintain.
Every now and again you come to a town which has cobblestones in the streets. They are dealt with fine by modern vehicles, with good suspensions, but imagine what they must be like driving on in a Trabi. My mum and dad used to have an old model Ford Anglia, basically a metal shell with little suspension, and plastic seats. I can remember being uncomfortable in it, and being deafened by it, when travelling over cobbles in Birmingham in the 1960s. So much for the good old days - I'm glad we don't have to put up with that any more.
Sorry, I'm rambling. Anyway, the cobblestone roads in these towns are all very quaint to look at, but they must be a devil to keep repairing.
One of the really great things I remember from my first visit here in 1991 was the custom of displaying fruit and vegetables, grown locally, on tables on the pavement. There was an honesty box, where you just put in whatever you wanted, though they suggested a euro for each bag of apples, tomatoes, marrow, squash or whatever. A great idea this, and I can only dimly remember this in parts of south Wales in the 1960s, and it died out there a long time ago.
The local east accent is also interesting, and a little tricky to get used to as you are never taught this in language lessons. The word for a road, weg, is usually pronounced (at least in the west) as veck. Here it is more like veeg, which to me sounds nearly Dutch. I heard it a lot in Berlin, so it wasn't too much of a surprise to hear it further east.
Eastern Germany doesn't really do lay-bys like in the west, though there are plenty of woodland car parks - you just have to look out for them more. In fact there are so many woodlands here and forests that you wouldn't really have problems finding off-site places to spend the night.
Many of the eastern roads are lined by well established trees, usually birches or oaks. All very attractive I must say. Nearly all of them have a large square of white painted on them, which I presume is to try to add reflection when driving at night. There are so few street lights out of the towns that driving into trees could become quite a popular pastime and easy to learn.
As for the people - all the ones I have met so far have been really friendly, and actually quite impressed and maybe slightly honoured (perhaps that's too strong) that a Brit is happy to drive around and sample their country, and not keep making comparisons with the west. That's the great thing about motorhome holidays, you don't really need a definite plan, and you can - employing some common sense - stop where you like.
I am now at a lovely campsite next to the Helenesee, a few km south of Frankfurt an der Oder. Tomorrow I will be driving north probably as far as Bad Freienwalde, then gradually coming back west. Poland will have to wait another year.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220841300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220841300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220841300/tpod.html Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:34:11 -0400 Germany 2008

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Berlin, Germany

My last day in Berlin, and it was always going to be a tough one, fitting in two museums. It didn't start well when I got up good and early to get the bus at 0808, only to see from the sign on the stop that the first one didn't arrive until 0908. Nobody had told me it was Sunday, so I blame the government. Anyway, I eventually got to the Pergamon museum in the centre of Berlin at 11 o'clock. There was an exhibition on called Babylon: Myths and Truth. I have been to this museum once before in 1991, and to be honest the major exhibits had not changed. There is a fabulously extravagant reconstructed temple entrance in the first hall you come to, which is simply breathtaking. You can walk up the steps, and take some great photos from all angles. But woe betide you if you lean against a column which has lasted over 2500 years: obviously my shirt must have some abrasive properties I was unaware of, according to the reaction of the museum custodians. But honestly, the temple is well worth seeing. I was in my element, taking photos of many of the friezes. These have been arranged much like those in the British Museum, lined up in a logical sequence to tell a narrative, except that the Pergamon friezes are a little more battered. Apparently a lot of them disappeared into Russia as war booty after WW2, and they only came back in 1958, some of them the worse for wear. Many of the statues are larger than life size, and most have damage to faces, boobs and danglies (not all together), most of them chopped off. I mean, why is this? Is there some secret market in ancient stone statue gonads?
Next I went into the Babylon major exhibition. Wonderful, except for two things: (1) there was not enough air circulation, so with a large number of Sunday visitors, the atmosphere in the smaller rooms was highly toxic with CO2; (2) there were insufficient signs to tell you what way to go around, so I visited some areas three times (and probably missed others). But the exhibits were marvellous. The "myths" part showed statues, paintings, carvings and old book references to mythical Babylon: Nebuchadnezzar, the Whore of Babylon, the Fall of Babylon, and Semiramis. What was particularly good was the ability to see books which were normally in private libraries, or on loan from the Vatican. Wonderful art work - I just wish I could find them on the internet. In a small cinema room they were showing clips of the silent film epic Intolerance, a real favourite of mine, directed by DW Griffith. In a darkened room, with the high contrast old film just showing the lights of flames around the walls of Babylon, it was certainly atmospheric.
Then you go into the "truth" part, and see many hundreds of cuneiform clay tablets, descriptions of the system of government, land laws, judicial system and farming methods. Really interesting stuff, and well laid out so you could actually see them clearly. No photography here though. Bringing things up to date it showed some interesting posters and newspaper clippings showing how Saddam Hussain had used a lot of the Babylon myths and history as a kind of direct ancestor to his own system and reason of rule.
The whole visit costs either €12 for the museum, including the Babylon exhibition, or €15 for all museums on the same day.
I needed some fresh air, so I came out to the café in front of the Pergamon, and did the touristy thing and had some drink and a huge slice of strawberry torte. I was watching people, as you do, and trying to guess their nationalities. The French seemed to be easy to spot due their usually outlandish clothes and badly behaved children. The Brits were the ones who were the quietest, almost embarrassed to be there. But I really noticed just how many Poles were in Berlin. Not just a few - I actually heard just as much Polish while walking around as German. Also plenty of Arabic, and (of course) Japanese. No Chinese though - I think they are all in the USA and UK. Everyone getting on well, in a friendly atmosphere, getting by with a sort of German-English-sign language mulch that actually worked. Oh yes, and the Russians were the ones selling cheap fur hats, old DDR army regalia and red army badges. I never normally like markets in the UK, but this one was so different in its content that it was positively enjoyable to stroll around.
After this break I went back to the Bode museum, to do the ground floor which I missed yesterday. Oh dear, I would need a day to do this properly. I indulged myself in all the early Christian and medieval religious statues, reliquaries, icons and altarpieces. I was once again able to photograph so many of them that camera batteries were getting low near the end. I don't know about you, but I can thoroughly enjoy looking at old religious statues and altars, particularly the medieval ones with doleful faces of characters, superb bright colours, and usually the gold leaf background - all that, and I don't care for the actual religious content. I just like them for the quality of the art. There must be more people like me around, who like this sort of stuff, but I just haven't some across them. The quality of the carvings on the small portable ivory altars has to be seen to be believed.
Time was against me though, and I had to leave at 4:30pm. The market was starting to close down, fake Russian army caps were being packed away with DDR flags, hammer and sickle paperweights, and all sorts of war-related regalia, badges and ensignia. But still, even with this tacit acceptance that the world wars are now being "talked about" in Germany, even though you can get books on the Luftwaffe planes, on army uniforms (even buy whole uniforms), and even though you can buy books on Hitler - that all said, there's still one thing that I didn't see anywhere: WW2 Nazi memorabilia, Maltese crosses, swastikas, and the like. No doubt these are sold for private collections but you still don't see anything like that on sale. Goodness knows you get swamped with British WW2-related stuff if you go to war-related museums and places like Eden Camp or RAF bases open to the public. Here though, in Germany, you still cannot get maltese cross and swastika badges. I feel though it's only a matter of time before they are openly available in markets, to be snapped up by tourists and the genuinely curious. I'm sure it's just a matter of time.
Well, my poor feet have now survived four days of Berlin, so tomorrow I am driving right around Berlin, but a long way out, to touch the border with Poland, and come back through Lüneburg.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220751420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220751420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220751420/tpod.html Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:37:28 -0400 Germany 2008

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Berlin, Germany

I'll say one thing for Berlin, all the museums and galleries are dead easy to get to. Many are on the Museumsinsel at the end of Unter den Linden, and the whole area is undergoing a huge restoration right now, so you have to avoid areas where building work is going on. But apparently it will all be completed in summer 2009, and access improved.
First call today was the Alte Nationalgalerie which I hadn't been in before. 8€ to enter, it was three floors of 17th and 18th century paintings, mostly (of course) by German artists, many of whom I hadn't heard before. If you like classical landscapes with peasants mulling about, cattle dozing on their feet by dramatic waterfalls and cliffs, this is the place for you. And me. I spent far too long here. The middle floor only had two rooms open due to restoration work. If it had been open fully I would probably have spent all day here.
As a break, I strolled around the street markets set up alongside the museums. It was great to see people trying on such things as East German border guard caps and jackets, Russian fur hats (a sensible idea, but they would look silly going to work in one) and so on. Lots of photos and 'certified' pieces of the Wall on sale, and photo books of Berlin 'then and now'. Also books on the old DDR, with assorted flags, posters and badges. There were several people playing accordions very well, plus one violinist playing badly. A Polish woman was playing guitar and singing, and very young children were safely playing. Not many cities in the UK you can say this about.
After all this it was time for my daily culture injection part two. I next went to the Bode Museum, and this was a big mistake. By 4:40pm I had only just finished the top floor. A return visit tomorrow is a must. This was also €8 admission.
This museum was much more to do with medieval religious works, such as icons, altar pieces, triptychs and statues. Not everyone's cup of tea, but again I was in my element. A good thing about Berlin museums is that you can take photos, and it doesn't cost any extra (like in the UK). The café in this place has to be seen to be believed. It is along the curved wall of the museum, with wrought iron decorations and shiny marble floor, plus the himbeeretorte just has to be experienced (raspberry torte). The interior of the museum is like a cathedral. A huge dome, with Corinthian pillars and elaborate painted ceiling. The wide sweeping staircases were bordered by black and gold rails, which looked fabulous. I would have paid the entry fee just to see the building itself.
But like I say, I ran out of time, and I had to make the 2hr journey back to the campsite.
So tomorrow hopefully it will be Pergamon, my first return there since 1990, then the second half of Bode. Hope my feet recover in time.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220663100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220663100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220663100/tpod.html Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:06:34 -0400 Germany 2008

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Berlin, Germany

German public transport is far too reliable to be worthy of note. So when I say I had to run for the bus this morning it was on time. Exactly.
I got off the U-bahn at Richard Wagner Platz station, then it was a short walk to the impressive Schloss Charlottenberg. What a huge building, bright yellow exterior walls with gold painted crests at the top of the railings near the entrance. Also loads of flowers out, all along the borders of the lawns. Simple and effective. I could have happily gone in to see the opulence of the rooms, but limited for time it can wait for another visit. No, I particularly wanted to visit the Early and Pre-history Museum, at one end of the Schloss. I was expecting to be there for perhaps 90min, but I was in my element, and I stayed there for four hours. The only break I had was to indulge in mango and crème freche cake (generous portion), and a glass of Earl Grey tea.
Needless to say I was in my element here, seeing exhibits on human evolution (no mention of creationism anywhere, thankfully), many early civilisations in pre-Roman Europe, then a lot of pottery, figures, tablets, sculptures and carvings of the period between Romans and Vikings, an area usually much neglected. If your interest is in European pre-history, this is definitely the place to come to. Admission was a ridiculously cheap €3.The UK really has nothing like this - it was excellent, plus you could photograph and use flash for no extra cost.
With sore feet I came out into sunshine, and I had a general mooch around, along Kaiser Friedrich Strasse and Bismarck Strasse. I certainly did not feel this safe walking around the centre of London.
Back on the U-bahn of course I went the wrong way, ending up at a grim place called Schönhauser Allee. All the graffiti which was missing from the city centre was here instead - such an unnecessary mess.
Getting out at Potsdamer Platz again, the tall new angular buildings there were very impressive. Fortunately though they were well spaced apart, so the Platz was still very much an open space. There was a good exhibition there on the Berlin Wall, with several sections in place still, on the pavement. In fact if you follow the road down from the Brandenburg Gate to Potsdamer Platz, there is a clear row of dark bricks, in the road and on the pavement, which traces the original line of the wall. When I was last here in 1991, the wall had only just been taken down, and a long wide channel with grass had sprung up. All gone now - how things have changed.
As for tomorrow I think I will go to one of the many art galleries on the Museumsinsel, in the city centre. I always suspected that four days here would not be enough. I really need four weeks. Still, with retirement in less than ten years time, I haven't got too long to wait now!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220581620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220581620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220581620/tpod.html Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:27:40 -0400 Germany 2008

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Berlin, Germany

Day 5 - Earl Grey in Berlin

This will be a short entry as I am fairly shattered and only got back to the van late. I managed to get into the centre of Berlin easily enough, and walked up from Potsdamer Platz to the Brandenburger Tor. Remember I hadn't been here since 1991, and the difference was staggering. So many new buildings, big and brash and actually nice looking. No traces of the old wall (at least not here) and many swish roadside cafes.
The gate itself hadn't changed of course, and in the brilliant sunshine it was crying out to be photographed, which I did. So did everyone else. I really liked the holiday atmosphere in the Pariser Platz in front of the gate, people just strolling around enjoying the weather, fountains going, good quality signs everywhere, and several barrel organ players lending a definitely continental feel to the whole thing. It all felt so relaxed.
Just down from the gate was the Jewish Memorial, a thousand or so stark grey slabs, all in lines and in a rough square. I guess that the tall ones represented the adult victims, the small ones the children - and perhaps the slabs at an angle or irregularly shaped were the handicapped? Whatever the reasoning behind it, it was a simple and effective memorial. Mind you, I bet in the dull wet weather, these grey slabs look really ominous and almost threatening, as they are so featureless.
I called into several souvenir shops, and I was tempted to get lots of tacky tourist stuff. Actually I think I'll succumb to temptation and do this tomorrow. I wasn't surprised to see "genuine" bits of the Berlin wall still for sale. What makes me suspicious is that every piece had coloured paint on it. How come there were no plain bits? Only the Western side was painted on, and not all of it. The interior and the eastern bits would have been plain grey. I refrained from buying any, as I have a real piece at home. I picked it up out of the wall foundations in 1991 next to the Brandenburger Tor. I can personally guarantee its authenticity (and yes, it is plain grey).
The only museum I had time to go in today was the German History museum, on Unter den Linden. Never been here before, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The ground floor concentrated on 1920 to the present day. You've never seen so many posters and photos of the era, with good explanations as to what started the rampant financial crisis in 1923 - turns out it was the French and Belgians who occupied the industrial Ruhr region, causing the workers to protest, strike, then refuse to work just to repay war costs to the French. How come I have never heard of this in English language history books?
Then there were all the early developments of the national socialists, always a fascinating subject. Just how a cultured country like Germany could be so taken in and mesmerised by this cult beats me. England certainly saw through Oswald Mosley's fascist party early on, and nothing came of that.
In the impressive café I needed a break, so I ordered a huge strawberry torte and a glass (yes, a glass) of Earl Grey tea. The waitress gave a look of panic when I asked her how good her English was. Then I said no problem, and continued in German. She was obviously so pleased, she kept asking me if everything was all right, and did I want anything else. She was young enough to have been my daughter!
Second half and I went around the first floor. This covered everything pre-1920, starting with pre-Roman. What surprised me was there was so little prehistoric stuff on show. A small island like the UK has a mass of such things in its museums, so I just assume I haven't been to the right German museum yet. There was so much to see that I really couldn't do it justice. My recommendation, if anyone wants to go to this museum, is to spend the day there - it's fabulous.
German transport lived up to its reputation for being on time and clean. I had absolutely no problems getting back to the campsite, and I'm looking forward to another museum visit tomorrow. The great thing about Berlin is that there are so many museums to choose from, and they are mostly fairly close together.
Hope my feet recover by tomorrow morning!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220487900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220487900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shanemhewitt/1/1220487900/tpod.html Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:24:48 -0400 Germany 2008

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Kladow, Berlin, Germany

Day 4 - Avenues and memorials of the former DDR

Rain on the roof woke me again in the dark hours, but when I woke again at about 0630 the sun was shining right through the leaves of the trees in the forest where I parked, and the effect was impressive. The back of the van was lit up in bright orange early light - a much more civilised way to wake up than by means of a radio alarm.
I drove off heading to Lüneburg, but due to shortage of time - plus the fact it was a big place which needed more than a few hours - I didn't stop there. Going through Dannenberg I spotted a street sign, quite modern, saying it was Kaiser Wilhelm Allee. Now I thought all such references to this cheeky chappie had been removed after WW1, so perhaps the old road signs are starting to come back again? Mind you, I don't think I will ever see a Hitler, Goebbels or Goering Strasse in my lifetime. However, I like the idea that Germany is facing up to its history, and rather than feeling it has to apologise every few minutes, it is putting these historically important people forward (including Bismarck and Ludendorf) as people to be proud of. So long as you forget that they were megalomaniacs, of course. Nice red flowers on Kaiser Wilhelm Allee though - I'm sure he would have been suitably impressed. Might even have raised a smile. Then again, perhaps not.
I crossed the river Elbe, the old border with the DDR, and drove into Dömitz. The change from the west was noticeable in the first few minutes. The farms in the west were generally well turned out, tidy and with very attractive brickwork. Those in the east were generally smaller, more grey, more concrete and less brick, and - not to put too fine a point on it - looked like they had seen better days. The town centre had several of its main roads of cobblestones, something I haven't seen in the UK for many years, except for some of the seedier back streets of Manchester. But for all the greyness of the town centre, it was clean, there were lots of bright flowers planted to give it some colour, and not a spot of graaffiti anywhere.
Just outside Dömitz was an interesting memorial in a parking place. They had left one section of the old bridge that went over the Elbe, built in the 1930s, and was subsequently bombed in April 1945. Rather than try to repair it, they just built a new one - the one I drove over. It's interesting that Germany - obviously, really - has such memorials to the war, but keeps them low key. In the UK such memorials will say things like "to our victorious dead" and so on. Here it will say "victims of tyrrany and oppression" meaning the power of the Nazis over the public. All quite sensible really.
Driving in the old DDR you get to see the layout of the roads quite different from the west. In the east the roads between towns are almost always straight, and tree lined, these avenues often lasting for many tens of kms. In the west, most of the trees lining the roads seem to have been pulled down for local businesses. A shame, but there's progress for you.
In Perleberg I parked right in front of the train station, completely free. Where in England can you do that? A photogenic town this, which is my way of saying my camera got some exercise. As well as the cobbled town square with its attractive high gabled-roofed buildings, all the shops except one were of local businesses and owners. The exception was a Vodafone shop, which really didn't fit in with the 18th century carvings over the doorway. I had quite a few people say Hallo to me as I wandered around. They either thought they were honoured I was taking photos of their town. More likely though, they thought they had better be nice to me, in case I wrote anything inflammatory on this blog. But really, the town was gorgeous. The massively tall redbrick cathedral in its square was just what you might expect to see in Spain - very attractive. I discovered a real oddity here, a DDR Geschichtsmuseum (museum of the old East Germany). From what I can make out, the whole DDR thing is now all treated as a bit of a bad joke, and not to be taken too seriously. That's a good way of looking at it, in my view. The museum itself, closed, was housed in a drab grey building, with heavy iron railings on the windows. A bit like the ex-state really.
In the town centre was another oddity, a war memorial and graveyard. Except this wasn't German. It was for the Russian military, so with 1 metre wide stars on the gates, and every gravestone having cyrillic writing (I recognised the word for Major) it showed that the Russians really could get away with murder (quite literally) in the DDR-days. Odd thing is, this would have been torn up and graffitied-upon if in the UK. Here, not a mark on it, and the grass all well tended.
At tea time I reached Berlin at last! I am now at the official campsite south of Spandau, near Kladow. No ballets in sight. It is big, nearly full, and remarkably clean and quiet considering the number of people who must pass through (or live) here. Mr Satnav was trying to get me to drive through a river (I think) so I switched it off and just followed the signs. Easy when you know how.
The loo block here is quite the biggest I have ever seen. I think half of Berlin could use it. A two-storey building, there are umpteen toilets downstairs, and umpteen showers upstairs. Then half way up the stairs a landing leads off into a room just for washing up. There are even trouser presses and an ironing room. It's all a bit different from last night's stop in a forest layby. The campsite is heavily wooded, so you don't really feel you are on the edge of a capital city. A really nice quiet place to return to after a busy day touristing in Berlin. Which is exactly what I am going to start tomorrow, if the rain stops, that is.
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