Onto Germany……

We’d finally decided on our route into Germany, and ‘Satan the Satnav’ had told us it would take about seven hours.  This was by far the longest single day journey we’d attempted, and we wanted to leave ourselves plenty of wriggle room, so we decided to set off at 8 in the morning.  We packed as much as we could the night before, and set our alarms for 6.30 a.m.

At 8 o’clock we were in the car, all hitched up, and set off to leave the site.  Unfortunately it wasn’t that simple, as a couple of tight bends and some low hanging boughs meant that we managed to wedge the caravan firmly under the lower branch of a fir tree. We had to unhitch and move the caravan with the motor movers instead.  As usual we had plenty of advice and help from the locals, and had quite an audience by the time we finished! Word had also got quickly round the site, even to Olga who helpfully told us we should have gone the other way. Oh how they’ll miss us!

We were also aware that a storm was about to break, as thunder rumbled menacingly in the background. At 8.30 we eventually got away, setting off down the right hand side of the Lake towards Lecco.  As we neared the foot of the Lake, the rain started and by the time we were cutting across the bottom of the Lake towards Como itself, and then onto the motorway, it was raining so hard we could hardly see where we were going.  This continued for a good 45 minutes, but fortunately stopped just as we reached the Swiss border.

Switzerland is another country that requires you to buy a Vignette to travel on their motorways.  We’d already bought one when we visited Lugano – they last for 14 months, but are quite pricey at 40 swiss francs each, about £30.  However, we’d since discovered that we needed a second Vignette for the caravan.  We therefore had to stop, along with countless others to buy the missing ‘pass’ just before entering Switzerland.  This time we were charged in euros – 42 euros to be exact!  So, our few hours in Swiz-erland (swiz being the operative word!) will have cost us £70 in tolls.  No wonder their roads are so good, as most of the traffic we spotted was from overseas, so I guess we all pay for their excellent road system!

I say excellent, but after another hour of uninterrupted driving, we hit a traffic jam.  It was 17km south of the St. Gotthard Tunnel, which is in itself 17km long, but that’s what we were queueing towards.  It took us two hours to get to the tunnel itself, which is single lane, but thereafter our journey through was pretty smooth.

Apparently this is a totally normal experience, and we should consider ourselves lucky for it only to have taken 2 hours. We tried later to stop at a services for a pee, only to discover that you needed a 1 Franc coin to get in, and we didn’t have any Swiss currency – talk about adding insult to injury!

Our bladder control enabled us to pass into Germany, and use their free facilities on their toll-free and very good motorways.  There were a couple of stretches of roadworks which held us up for a bit, so it was over 10 hours later that we eventually arrived at the Campsite Albgau in Ettlingen.  We were greeted by mein host (in this case a very loose term) saying ‘sorry, there’s no food, as it burnt down’ and showing us a cleared site with the start of new footings.  It turned out that in addition to the restaurant, the shower block had burned down too, but had been replaced with a temporary site hut with eight showers in it.  They had hot water (it transpires that ‘hot’ is an exaggeration – they are not quite cold) but everywhere else was on cold water only.  This is where Stavros comes into his own however, and as we had 16 amp electricity, plenty to run our own shower without a problem!

We’d called Sixe on our way up the autobahn and he’d agreed to collect us once we’d set up the caravan, so he arrived at around 7.30.  He doesn’t look any different, if perhaps just a little greyer.  He took us back to his home in Ettlingen about 8 km away, where we met a grown up Michael (he was 13 last time we saw him!) He’s studying Energy Conservation, and hopes to graduate in 12 months time, so we were able to have an interesting conversation about green building techniques with him.

Sixe fed us, and whilst we were eating Hilde returned home after visiting her mother.  However, by 11 o’clock we were both flagging, so Sixe returned us to the caravan where we both flopped exhausted into bed.

We awoke on Monday morning to a beautiful blue sky, pleasant warm sunshine, but most importantly, fresh cool air!  No humidity!  I can’t believe how I’ve missed it!

Late morning we drove into Ettlingen to have a look around, and get some lunch.  It’s a beautiful little town, with lots of squares to walk around, and bikes everywhere as it’s so flat here.

After a beer and sausage lunch (well, that is the local fayre!) we returned to the caravan where Sixe and Hilde had agreed to collect us mid afternoon.  Sixe drove us up the autobahn to Karlsruhe, where we planned to have an early dinner and watch the recently annualised Projection Show.

Let me explain.  Karlsruhe was 300 years old in 2015.  When planning this very radical city in 1715 the Margraves of Baden placed a mighty baroque palace right in the middle, and created an urban layout so impressive it became the blueprint for Washington DC.   To celebrate their 300th anniversary, they decided to project a series of short films set to music against the front elevation of the palace.  It was so successful that they now repeat it every year for 6 weeks in the summer.  It was this that they were taking us to see.

We had time to stroll around the City before dinner. It’s a beautiful city, with lots of impressive buildings and squares, and being only 15 km from France and home to 20,000 students so it has quite a cosmopolitan and vibrant feel to it. It’s also much bigger than I imagined, with a population of 250,000 but it didn’t feel crowded.

The city is built on a radial system; 32 streets radiate from the palace in the centre, so it is easy to navigate your way and to get from one side of the city to another – you just cut across the middle. You can see the palace from every corner too. They are currently half way through building their underground service, which will replace the existing trams but will also take cars underground to make more room for pedestrians and cyclists, who already enjoy plenty of room and special access.

After a lovely local pork dinner we returned to the palace, and were treated to an hour of spectacular short films, specially made to be projected against the palace’s facade.  The photos don’t do it justice, but trust me when I say it was a fantastic experience! There was quite a big crowd, with beer, wine and fast food on offer, yet everyone was so well behaved, and respectful.  And when it finished everyone walked away quietly – no fuss, no pushing and shoving and no noise; that would not happen at home!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sixe once more returned us to the site, and we had our second rather late night.  A couple of interesting facts we learned during the course of the evening – when you buy a beer in a plastic glass in Germany, you pay a 1 euro refundable deposit for the glass. How clever is that?  Sixe also told us that the price of fuel at petrol stations fluctuates throughout the day, and is usually cheapest late afternoon, and most expensive late evening.  We noticed the price fluctuate by 15 cents at the local station – I can’t see that catching on in the UK!

On Tuesday Sixe had once more arranged to pick us up and this time take us to Heidelberg some 60 km north to see the sights and meet their son, Tobias, who is studying for his Masters in physics and maths at the university.  We drove up the autobahn, and for the first time onto a stretch where there is no speed limit for cars. Sixe says he has a personal limit of 140-150 km per hour, but even though he was sticking to this, some cars were flying past us at around 200 km per hour, or 135 mph!  Karol had her eyes closed for much of this stretch!

We arrived in Heidelberg and parked near the castle, Schloss Heidelberg where we spent the next couple of hours exploring it’s ruins and gardens.  It literally towers over the city, looking down on the wide Neckar river below.  It’s attractions include the world’s largest wine cask (220,000 litres) large wide open gardens, and fantastic views of the city.  It also has a funicular for those who don’t fancy the steep walk!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had walked up but took the train back down, where we were met by Tobias, and Simon.  Simon is a shih tzu, and the most well behaved small dog I’ve ever come across – he is clearly doted on by Tobias, and the feeling is obviously mutual!  Tobias is around 6 feet 5 inches tall, so he towered over all of us including his parents.  When we’d arranged to drop in on Sixe and Hilde they had dropped into the conversation that Tobias was getting married on 11 August – just three days later.  He’d just returned from a surprise three day ‘stag’ trip organised by his friends where they’d rowed 45 km up the Neckar, at just a few hundred meters per hour, so it had been very hard – some friends eh?

We stopped for a drink in the main square where William and Kate had been the previous week to catch up and find out a bit more about the wedding plans. In Germany it is usual to have an official ceremony at the Town Hall, and then follow on with a church service at a later date, sometimes the next day, sometimes later. Tobias and Heike will marry at Heidelberg Town Hall and then have a church service next year.

Heidelberg is the oldest university town in Germany and 25% of its 150,000 population are students. It is again beautifully maintained and very clean, and despite it being a huge tourist attraction there was plenty of space; we didn’t have to queue anywhere and everyone is very polite and respectful.

Tobias, Heike and Simon were joining us for dinner later, so Tobias left to feed Simon and we explored more of Heidelberg before collecting the car and heading out to the restaurant.  The threatened rain held off until we arrived, but it was still warm enough to sit outside under a large umbrella.

We had a great evening with terrific food, and some nice wine. Heike is lovely and Tobias has a really dry sense of humour (just like his Dad!) Both of them speak excellent English too, and Tobias told us that all his lectures for his Masters were in English, so it was important for him to have a good grasp of the language. The evening was topped off by Heike getting Simon to give her a series of ‘High Fives’ and handshakes with each of his two front paws in return for treats!

After dinner we said our goodbyes and once more braved the speedy autobahn for the journey back to the campsite.