A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Carpark

We are now in Berlin where, to the delight of all, it is unseasonably warm at 25C. We arrived this morning on the red eye from Frankfurt, up at 4:45 to catch buses etc so tired little sausages this afternoon. Berlin is an interesting place with a lot of building going on, presumably after years of neglect in the Eastern sector. We wondered why there was such a large Police presence with dozens of police vans driving around. It was our intention of doing a hop on hop off tour this afternoon but when we inquired we found that the probability was that the tour would not be completed  due to impending demonstrations-hence the large police presence. That said we went off to the Hacksecher Markt, a quiet but pleasant little market not far from our hotel in Alexander Platz. This is where the police had been congregating and there were more, I'll swear, than our national force right here at the market, must be expecting trouble. It was all quiet and quite hard to reconcile what was happening, there was a small group of Greenies with placards and further along a lorry with a more right wing look about it. We sat and watched with interest and were soon joined by a press photographer who told us that this was one of three rallies of extreme right wingers that were starting at three o'clock, it being around 1 o'clock just now. The numbers started growing and by the time we left had become quite substantial. I have now idea how it all ended up but wondered if, when it had gotten out of control, and made the TV News in NZ, what would have been thought seeing Grannie and Poppa there among it.

 Discretion is the better part of valour we are told and so we took our leave before things got out of control. An afternoon siesta seemed just the ticket after such an early start and has refreshed us to the point where I have decided to have a beer before diner, rather pleasant if I may say so. Must watch the news tonight though.

Yesterday we took a drive in the country with the highlight being a village/ town called Bacharach on the banks of the Rhine, we loved it and although there were quite a few tourists it was not overdone. Again the long weekend had filled the camping grounds in the region to almost over flowing but they seemed happy in the camps or, perhaps, out hiking.

Bacharach

Earlier I was not so lucky, we had happened upon a small town that was so unremarkable that I have quite forgotten it's name, whose civic leaders had managed to attract the worlds largest outlet shopping centre, or so it seemed. Still I won a polo shirt so I no complain. To finish the day in uncharacteristic fashioned we dined at McDonalds after ridding ourselves of our rental car at the airport.   Just heard a news item on the wireless about today's demonstration. My Germans not good enough to get the real details but it seems many thousands were involved. Anyway back to ridding ourselves of our rental. This was to take place at the airport's terminal two where we had picked it up and where all the rental car companies have storage in an under ground car park so off we descended into the bowels of mother earth looking for any signs of hire car life. Each level drew a blank so down and down we went. After what seemed like a journey Jules Verne would have found worthy of a story we became aware of a BMW SUV following us. Being courteous Kiwis  we pulled over to let him past, I mean a driver of such a vehicle would have more important things to do than follow a couple who had lost a place to return their car. But NO! As Herr BMW pulled up along side he wound down his window, probably just pushed a button, and asked if he could help us. Mrs Currin explained our plight and he very kindly explained how we were in totally the wrong place and how we should remedy this disastrous situation. We absorbed the first portion of this discourse, how to get out of where we currently found ourselves,  but lacked the concentration to absorb what it was we should do to get back on track. No problem, on seeing daylight after emerging from our subterranean adventure we spotted a security office and so stopped and I got out to inquire as to where we could return our car. As I did Mr BMW pulled up in front of us and just knew what it was we wanted and very patiently went through the whole returning saga again, this time I managed to absorb it all and off we went with heartfelt thanks give to our knight in a shinning BMW and down we went into an different portal into the centre of the earth. As darkness was closing in there he was again giving us a friendly wave on our way. It seems apparent now that he was part of the security setup and had spotted us on CCTV looking  every bit as lost as we were and had been dispatched to rescue us from our own stupidity. Ah well, such is life.

One other thing while I think of it. Those, astute enough, among you to have noticed my deliberate mistake in the the account of the 18th C salt extraction plant, may be wondering how really worked. Well it was almost right, the pumping, the trickling and the drain at the bottom but all this does is to give you a much higher concentration of salt, rising from the original 3% to something approaching saturation and thisnis then fed into large crucibles where the remaining  water is evaporated off and salt is all that is left. This must have been one of the first efforts at environmental friendly industrial plants. All that effort to minimalise   the energy required to evaporate the water. It is clever.

My beer is getting warm and Mrs Currin is wanting to eat so must away.

Take care. Tomorrow night we are off to Dubrovnik where we will meet up with Murray and Jill and the start of another adventure.

David

Bacharach

               

                                                    The Berlin of Yesteryear

Bad Nauheim to Limburg

Another day another adventure in the lives of travelers and so it was for us. We have been on the road as it were for no more than a few days but already the days a merging as if they were but one. Anyway the chronology of this account may be somewhat disjointed  and the character's names altered to protect the innocent but there remains some truth in it.
We were heading for Bad Nauheim yesterday when our attention was alerted to an odd construction on the roadside, two in fact, the purpose of which was not at all obvious.

What is this construction used for?

Curiosity got the better of us so on our return down the road we took advantage of the large and, for once, free car park and stopped for a look, see if we could find out what this was all about. Around the back was a large "Wasser Rad" , around 60 feet in diameter driving two large arms up and down and up and down these being part of a pump. The purpose was beginning to become apparent ( with a little help from an information board) these pumps pumped (as they would) water to the top of the aforementioned wall and it, in turn, trickled down over the faggots that were packed into it, and then into a drain at the bottom.

The Wasser Rad

"So what?" you may scream, but I may have missed out a vital cog in the train. This was in 1750 and it was when salt was very important and it was found that Schwalheim in the Nauheim district had a source of low concentrate salt water ( around 3%) and this was the ingenious way in which it was extracted, the water evaporates a it trickles down the faggots and they in turn receive an ever increasing layer of salt which can later be harvested. Anyway I thought it quite clever  for 1750.

Later that day we had the good fortune to arrive in Budingen, regarded by some as the most beautiful town in Germany. At least that was the majority verdict of a survey of local residents, the "keep Budingen Beautiful Society" are said to have scored it particularly highly. It is very nice, but was the scene of what could have been a very sad story many years ago. The good Count Anton of Ysenburg and Budingen had just married Elisabeth of Wied in her home county. This was in 1522 so transport still wasn't too good so they arrived back in Bubingen very tired and went straight of to bed and Count Anton was soon happily snoring away, but not so Elisabeth. Elisabeth was unable to sleep because of the noise of the a frogs chorus from just outside of their window. She gave poor Anton a good dig in the ribs and told him in no uncertain terms that either the frogs go or she would. To cut a long story short Anton soon had the whole town awake and they were tasked with ridding it of frogs, but what to do with them now they were caught. Incineration, death by a firing squad of archers even the butchers were considered but they wanted no bar of it. Then someone came up with the idea that the perfect ecological solution would be to drown them in the river Seemenbach and so it was done and it worked a treat. Now of an evening only a soft croaking may be heard and that was good enough for Elisabeth, she stuck with Anton and they lived happily ever after. The townsfolk in turn have since bragged that theirs was not only the most Beautiful town but it was free from frogs and so now the frog is the towns mascot.

I was Just left Sitting There whilst Mrs Currin looked in a shop when my mind wandered away to stories about frogs being kissed by Princesses and when I awoke....

I must say though that Budingen is a little stunner of a town complete with Schloss and an array of half timbered houses.


Mrs Currin in the Grounds of the Schloss

The area in which we are touring around, that is near and around Frankfurt has an abundance of very pretty and colourful towns and I never tire of the wonkeyness of it all.

Mrs Currin amongst the Wonkies in Limburg.

Earlier today we visited Worms, the stamping ground of Martin Luther to whom we largely owe the Protestant Church after he refused to retract his denunciation of the Catholic Church at the Diet of Worms for which he was excommunicated by Pope Leo X and the Holy Roman Emperor in 1521. It was here in Worms that we learned why there were no shops open. It seems that it is 40 days since Easter Monday and that was the day that our Lord ascended to Heaven so this is a good reason for a public holiday here in Germany   and as it would in New Zealand a holiday falling on a Thursday seems like a good reason for taking Friday off and having a real bottler of a long weekend. Here in Limburg, where we are spending the night there are thousands of then camped on the riverside, cheek by jowl, no one in the river, just wonder what it is they do all day. Anyway a bonus of all this Jesus going to heaven on the 40th day means that there are no trucks on the motorway today....hooray.

Mrs Currin's ankle is still giving her a bit of jip, but she remains stoical and she "no complain" even managed to buy a crepe bandage at the apotheke, oh my what a lot of German I have forgotten. Still I can still manage "Schwarz Tee and Macchiato Espresso"  and not be too surprised by what we end up getting. It is all a bit of fun.

Jewish Cemetery in Worms. Graves dating back to 11th C.

Noddy Train Tour

Loved this little one person car.

We are both well and happy. Hope you are also.

Take care

David

We arrived in Frankfurt this morning at 6:00 am after a great flight on "China Southern",  having taken the precaution of booking Business Class, an extravagance which on this occasion proved to be worthwhile. I had a few reservations leading up to the flight but in the end they were groundless, the seats comfortable, the meals excellent and the staff (cabin attendants) great. The only drawback lay in the fact that the flight did not go direct from Guangzhou to Frankfurt but went instead via Changsha and because of this and the fact that for some passengers this is as far as they went it is regarded as a domestic flight and for one to be on a domestic flight one must be in China and not just in transit. This means full entry and exit procedures, security customs the lot. Fortunately we were given an escort to guide us through this minefield and fortunately a few short cuts. This was one of the bonuses of being Business Class, poor old Cattle Class are left to fend for themselves and we saw them lined up in fairly substantial queues. Oh well never mind. This all took less than half an hour to complete and then we were deposited in the VIP lounge for refreshments and a most welcome shower, it being 32C and this was late afternoon. The flight from Guangzhou to Changsha is only an hour and many passengers left us at this stage and the majority of Bus. Class passengers were now German. The Chinese Cabin Crew could not speak German and the Germans could not speak Mandarin so English came to the rescue and everyone was happy.

As a result of all this we arrived in Frankfurt, as I have already said, at 6:00 am and having rested well on the flight were ready for a full day seeing what sights Frankfurt and surrounds have to offer. Alas being rested does not negate the effects of jet lag and about mid afternoon it set in so an hotel was sought and found. Unfortunately my dear wife had the misfortune of not having seen a step upon which she was about to descend and is now sporting a rather swollen joint as a result. The nice man at our hotel was kind enough to provide a bag of ice and a cup of Darjeeling so hopefully  all will be better tomorrow.

Oh, I forgot, taxiing in at Frankfurt this morning I switched on my cellphone - message from Jill, they had just checked in on their cruise ship and had been upgraded, not sure what to but any upgrade is always nice. Murray will be a very happy chappy.

I shall bore you no more until I have some particularly good material with which to do it, no photos either (they'll come)     well ok just one.

Just To Prove That We Got to Frankfurt