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This journey took place in 2006 covering many miles but not quite as many as my Norway trip, this one was only five thousand five hundred miles but did cover eight countries. Some of the roads were interesting to say the least; perhaps diabolical would be a more appropriate term of phrase. As there is so very much to cover it will probably take me three editions again to cover it all if I am to keep it interesting without missing too much out. On this trip I travelled with two friends of mine who had visited most of these places previously, just after the Baltic States had come out from under communist rule, so they wanted to see what changes had been made since their last trip. On landing in France it was left hand down and head for Brugge in Belgium. This is a lovely little town, I always try to stop there for at least one night when heading in that direction, to have my fill of mussels a la crème in one of the towns very pleasant little squares. The old buildings and waterways are well worth seeing if you get the chance to go there even for just a weekend trip, do go!, climb the bell tower for the view if you have the energy, I forget how many steps, but it’s well worth the effort. It was then on to Arnham staying for two nights as my friends had not been there before, I found it just as moving as I did on my first visit. We had two more motor homes with us at this stage; they were going their own way once we entered Poland.
Pied Piper in Hameln In Germany our first stop was Hameln, of the Pied Piper story, once again a lovely little town where they made the most of it to increase tourism, with shows acting out the story using the town’s people as the cast and the children were playing the part of the rats. The stage was set up in the town square most days; we spent three nights there so as not to miss anything of interest including a river cruise, even the boat and the bridge over the river had rats on them, all in the best possible taste. Once again architecture from the Weser Renaissance period was lovely, such splendidly decorated houses in tight rows along the main street, with all the tables set out in the street where it was nice to sit and have a drink or two with something to eat under the sun shades, all so clean, no rubbish littering the street, why? Can we not be as clean and tidy in this country, is it a lack of pride in our own towns or just laziness, probably a mixture of both. We came across a band playing in the town park, they were fantastic! Then we spent several hours just listening to them, they were not paid, just came out on nice sunny days for enjoyment and practice. We certainly enjoyed listening to them! The weather was beautifully sunny; all we needed was a picnic for a perfect afternoon.
Sanssouci Palace, Potsdam On leaving Hameln we headed for Potsdam which is about eighteen miles outside of Berlin, as there was a camp site with convenient bus and tram services to Berlin. Potsdam itself was the centre of historic Prussia, ruled by the likes of Frederick William 1st (Soldier King) and Frederick the Great. First we went to see the Schloss Sanssouci which is like a very large stately home with parks and gardens with many interesting features including a Chinese tea house and working windmill, the grounds were so extensive we managed to get lost, but then I am good at that. The next day we got the tram to Berlin and did the bus tour around the city, taking in many points of interest including the remains of the Berlin wall, Check Point Charlie, Brandenburg Gate and so many so other places it would fill the page to mention them all, but what I thought was very poignant was the tower of a bombed out church in the centre of town which had been left in this state, serving as a reminder! I found it hard to imagine Berlin as it was at the end of hostilities although I have seen pictures of it in complete ruins. Christine Culley |
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