Europe 2008. Part VI. How to Waste a Sunday.
We did not get an early start. Travel is exhausting. Fruit, cold meats and cheeses, cereals, hot dishes like eggs and sausage and stuff. I could get used to that. Rachel wanted to go to church. I did not bring church clothes. Finding a ward or branch would be difficult, at least. Any church would put the onus on me to translate and interpret. Maybe I'm a backslider, I don't know. I just didn't want to take on the burden. I feel bad about that.
I broke my travel rule and did not take a tour of Frankfurt. Big mistake. We asked Jeeves to take us to Rothenburg, the medieval town. That was one of the things I really wanted to see. He must have been on crack or having a bad day or something because he sent us on a goose chase. Told us that Rothenburg was 10 hours away--after we had been driving for two hours. I didn't know how ridiculous this was until I looked at some the brochures from the hotel. Rothenburg was one of the offered day trips. Obviously not ten hours away. We picked an arbitrary destination and headed to Hanover; home of the line of kings that ruled both Germany and England. Blah. Destroyed during WWII. Mostly modern. A bombed out shell of a gothic church. A garden cemetery and its church, closed in 1864. A modern playground in the middle of it? We tried to take the trolley around the city, but it would only accept a transit card, no Euros. Blah. I felt stupid. Didn't even get us to the cathedral.
At a rest stop earlier Sarah bought a tourist guidebook. She chose a couple of things and had me make the final decision. It involved a picture of horses. Why we didn't resort to that book earlier I don't know. It would have saved us a disaster. Speaking of rest stops, they are all over the autobahn. I'm not talking a grassy spot with a couple of benches and an outside toilet: I'm talking a gas station and convenience store and a restroom complete with an attendant. Outside the restroom was a table and a dish, on which one was to put a 50 cent coin after using the facility. These attendants were everywhere, as were their dishes. Much more civilized than the demanding French crab.
And now, back to the story. The book, with the help of Jeeves, took us to Bruekeberg, the hidden gem of the trip. We parked next to a helicopter museum and walked into the town centre. Passing the Rathaus (city hall), the first thing we saw was the palace gate. (Photos courtesy of my phone.)
This is looking toward the Rathaus. LD gives you an idea of the size of the thing. The next picture is a better one, still heading away from the palace.
Now I'll tell you about what is on the other side of the gate: A true hidden jewel. Now, we were back in some little hills, which is why I refer to Bruekeberg as "a German Park City." There was a main street going uphill, about twice as wide as Park City's, and it terminated in a 12th century church. On either side were ice cream parlors with tables, chairs and umbrellas set up into the street. Some claimed Italian affiliation for their ice cream. We stopped at a German-leaning cafe and ate. It was a busy place, they had reserved most of the inside for football fans who would be along to watch the game; it was the night Germany would play Spain for the European Championship. We had one room all to ourselves. We had to wait on the food a bit so we played with our water and glasses.
We forgot originally to ask for still water.
The food was a problem. Rachel's wurst came with curry on it even though she had asked for non. Sarah's food was a disaster. She ordered fish and chips and got--fish! missing the head and guts but complete with tail. I don't know how many of you know my Little Daughter, but she is as weird about food as here mama, and the fish wigged her out completely. We sent it back and asked for a plate of schnitzel instead. That worked. Rachel bravely slogged through her ketchup-drenched sausage. I drank everyone's water. That brand wasn't very good even still, but I was thirsty. Sparkling is not very quenching. Dinner took us two and a half hours by the time we got our check and got out.
(This is a good time to discuss the veg I got one night in Scunthorpe. The picture was on my phone, which I only just found out how to download onto the computer.
You are seeing green beans, baby corn and carrot sticks, all exactly three inches long, and contained by a ring of zucchini or cucumber skin. I thought this was really, really cool. I ate them even though I don't care for spoiled cooked carrots. And now back to our regularly scheduled program:)
We strolled up the street toward the church and noticed a bit of transformation. Shoot. I am missing a word. In the SCA we call them pavilions, I can't find the mundane word for it. I think Nelly is sleeping on it. A 10x10x8 covering thingy, sometimes open on the sides, you know what I mean? Anyway, a couple of these --thingies-- had appeared, one at the top of the street just below the church, another down at the bottom with Italian flags hanging from it. Under these --thingies-- were big screen TVs, and in front of them were chairs filled with people. We stood respectfully as the German National Anthem was played. The game was underway, with most of the town in the middle of the street watching. It was an electric moment. I would have stayed and watched a bit, but daylight was fading and we were a long way from home.
We went behind the church and down a beautiful walk to the palace.
That is one of three buildings surrounding a circular driveway. There was a pond around two sides of one building with a swan even! I will post more pictures when I get access to them. Curses on broken cameras! These are a lot clearer and larger than they are on my phone.
This is part of the centre building.
We could hear sounds of the game coming from farther back in the grounds, probably from the cafe near the mausoleum. The palace houses a riding school, but we didn't arrive until half an hour after it closed. I really need to go back there.
Good place. It made us feel like the day was a success after all.
I broke my travel rule and did not take a tour of Frankfurt. Big mistake. We asked Jeeves to take us to Rothenburg, the medieval town. That was one of the things I really wanted to see. He must have been on crack or having a bad day or something because he sent us on a goose chase. Told us that Rothenburg was 10 hours away--after we had been driving for two hours. I didn't know how ridiculous this was until I looked at some the brochures from the hotel. Rothenburg was one of the offered day trips. Obviously not ten hours away. We picked an arbitrary destination and headed to Hanover; home of the line of kings that ruled both Germany and England. Blah. Destroyed during WWII. Mostly modern. A bombed out shell of a gothic church. A garden cemetery and its church, closed in 1864. A modern playground in the middle of it? We tried to take the trolley around the city, but it would only accept a transit card, no Euros. Blah. I felt stupid. Didn't even get us to the cathedral.
At a rest stop earlier Sarah bought a tourist guidebook. She chose a couple of things and had me make the final decision. It involved a picture of horses. Why we didn't resort to that book earlier I don't know. It would have saved us a disaster. Speaking of rest stops, they are all over the autobahn. I'm not talking a grassy spot with a couple of benches and an outside toilet: I'm talking a gas station and convenience store and a restroom complete with an attendant. Outside the restroom was a table and a dish, on which one was to put a 50 cent coin after using the facility. These attendants were everywhere, as were their dishes. Much more civilized than the demanding French crab.
And now, back to the story. The book, with the help of Jeeves, took us to Bruekeberg, the hidden gem of the trip. We parked next to a helicopter museum and walked into the town centre. Passing the Rathaus (city hall), the first thing we saw was the palace gate. (Photos courtesy of my phone.)
This is looking toward the Rathaus. LD gives you an idea of the size of the thing. The next picture is a better one, still heading away from the palace.
Now I'll tell you about what is on the other side of the gate: A true hidden jewel. Now, we were back in some little hills, which is why I refer to Bruekeberg as "a German Park City." There was a main street going uphill, about twice as wide as Park City's, and it terminated in a 12th century church. On either side were ice cream parlors with tables, chairs and umbrellas set up into the street. Some claimed Italian affiliation for their ice cream. We stopped at a German-leaning cafe and ate. It was a busy place, they had reserved most of the inside for football fans who would be along to watch the game; it was the night Germany would play Spain for the European Championship. We had one room all to ourselves. We had to wait on the food a bit so we played with our water and glasses.
We forgot originally to ask for still water.
The food was a problem. Rachel's wurst came with curry on it even though she had asked for non. Sarah's food was a disaster. She ordered fish and chips and got--fish! missing the head and guts but complete with tail. I don't know how many of you know my Little Daughter, but she is as weird about food as here mama, and the fish wigged her out completely. We sent it back and asked for a plate of schnitzel instead. That worked. Rachel bravely slogged through her ketchup-drenched sausage. I drank everyone's water. That brand wasn't very good even still, but I was thirsty. Sparkling is not very quenching. Dinner took us two and a half hours by the time we got our check and got out.
(This is a good time to discuss the veg I got one night in Scunthorpe. The picture was on my phone, which I only just found out how to download onto the computer.
You are seeing green beans, baby corn and carrot sticks, all exactly three inches long, and contained by a ring of zucchini or cucumber skin. I thought this was really, really cool. I ate them even though I don't care for spoiled cooked carrots. And now back to our regularly scheduled program:)
We strolled up the street toward the church and noticed a bit of transformation. Shoot. I am missing a word. In the SCA we call them pavilions, I can't find the mundane word for it. I think Nelly is sleeping on it. A 10x10x8 covering thingy, sometimes open on the sides, you know what I mean? Anyway, a couple of these --thingies-- had appeared, one at the top of the street just below the church, another down at the bottom with Italian flags hanging from it. Under these --thingies-- were big screen TVs, and in front of them were chairs filled with people. We stood respectfully as the German National Anthem was played. The game was underway, with most of the town in the middle of the street watching. It was an electric moment. I would have stayed and watched a bit, but daylight was fading and we were a long way from home.
We went behind the church and down a beautiful walk to the palace.
That is one of three buildings surrounding a circular driveway. There was a pond around two sides of one building with a swan even! I will post more pictures when I get access to them. Curses on broken cameras! These are a lot clearer and larger than they are on my phone.
This is part of the centre building.
We could hear sounds of the game coming from farther back in the grounds, probably from the cafe near the mausoleum. The palace houses a riding school, but we didn't arrive until half an hour after it closed. I really need to go back there.
Good place. It made us feel like the day was a success after all.