Tag Archives: germany

Day 20 – The weirdest melange

It had rained the whole night. The damp meadow that we sat upon had turned into a muddy bog. Yuck, is the word that comes to mind. Flo took out the first chair to set up for breakfast, looked at the mud, looked at me shaking my head and said “hang on a minute”. Luckily, he found a wooden picnic spot with table, benches and roof about 100 meters from our tent. Right next to the playground in fact. It was such a relief that we didn’t have to put all our stuff into the mud and then clean it before putting it back into the car. J We had to carry things there but they did not get muddy. In fact, while Flo was wearing his jandals, he suggested that I should just stay barefoot as I’d ruin any pair of shoes that I’d put on anyways. I did. It’s been a long time since I put my feet in the mud like that. 😀 I had a bigger problem with the slugs though…barefoot.

Good bye to you too – I hope the next one is as nice …

Anyhow, we ate and then started to pack. The Agent of Entropy decided to bring more entropy to the table. She sat down in the mud, splashing both her hands in the puddles, looking like a little piglet before I could even get to her. Oh well. She stayed that way until we were finished with packing. Then, I took her to the showers to clean my feet and her.

Finally, finally, a bit later than we’d wanted to, we were on the road. Since we picked the next campground close to Düsseldorf, we had a shortish day in the car. Maybe 3.5-4 hours of driving. We aimed to get to the campground around 3ish. From there, we picked a lunch spot that was in a good location, time-wise and in terms of the kilometres we’d already done. It turned out to be a rest stop on a bridge so both sides of the autobahn could access it. One more fast food stop it is then. This one didn’t even have the vegetarian option that we (even Flo) usually go for, just fries and chilli cheese nuggets. (Flo: yeah, PBWopper – now eating junk does not have to come with a side of tortured animal any longer :D)

A rather disappointing lunch and some time on the playground later, we got back into the car. We still had a way to go. I tried calling the campground but their reception was closed from lunchtime till 3pm. So we just drove to the Kerstgenshof campground. There were quite a lot of people in the parking lot, probably all waiting for the reception to open. Flo managed to be second in line and we got a campsite with electricity.

we can do basically the same, right? Thats AoEs attitude to playgrounds with Number 3

Setting up, actually just stopping there, we realized we’d have unusual neighbours. Almost all of the people in this row were families with kids or retirees with their campervans. Not our neighbours. They had a beer pong table in front, three tents pitched on one campsite and a speaker in every corner of their site to listen to bad music. I was not quite happy with it until Flo made me aware that my attitude was in line with all the retirees who openly glared at the younger people. I mean, yes their music was not good but not even overly loud. Yes, their conversation was tiring but we’ve all been young. We probably wouldn’t have chosen a kid-friendly nature camp to party for a weekend though.

We went on a walk to the playground until it started raining and then hid in the facilities, showering the kids and so circumvented a lot of their out-of-line-ness. Back at the camp, we had dinner listening to their music but once we started getting the kids ready for bed, they also packed up their things and left. In fact, that was the last thing I heard from them. They managed to return sometime during the night without waking us up. I had dreaded the night (and potential wake ups and grumpy kid) and now was seriously impressed.

Day 19 – Iron Butt

Great start today. The reception was open unusually early, for reasons much to our liking: They had a small bakery here and just opened up after that work was done. So we started the day with a load of still warm breadrolls and in good spirits. We even managed to dodge the rain and pack up in near record time.

at least it was not pouring down – still everything was wet

All there was today was the road. Loads of it, actually. We pushed through the morning all the way to lunch time, missed our charger / lunch spot exit and decided to go 15 minutes further to the next one rather than take 12 minutes to go back. That meant that we actually left Denmark before stopping (by the barest of margins, the rest stop was disected by the border).

Lunch was a hurried affair. The bread was good, but our other stores were running low and the weather was far from inviting a longer rest. Before even finishing the charge, we decided to move on a bit further to Flensburg and stock up in our organic supermarket of choice. Bonus points for having another charger close by.

A mere 15 minutes later, we were there and ready to strech our legs away from the rain a bit. We almost did not make it to the supermarket, as we had to witness a near bicycle accident avoided only by the mearest of margins. (Nina: What is it with Germany and bicycle accidents? And why is freaking NOBODY involved in them wearing a helmet?!?) A bit shaken, we filled our cart and used the break before heading out once again, stocked up for the remaining two day and fully charged.

Which leads straight to our big dilemma for the day: The perfect point to stop for the day would be the inner city of Hamburg. Not well known for its great camping spots. That meant to stop either a bit too early and have an extremely long day tomorrow or push past it (and the growing congestion of the Elbtunnel road works). As we have picked the last camp for tomorrow night specifically so that Number 3 could enjoy the offerings there, we decided to take it on the chin and give us more time tomorrow.

The dreaded Elbtunnel. It was probably a 25km long traffic jam

And what a blow it was. We probably added 1.5 hrs of stop and go & traffic jam to our 440km day. At one point, I took Google’s advice and “went around” on a 40 minute goose chase through city streets only to end up exactly one car behind the one we left when we turned off the motorway. Well, it was more interesting than that and at least we did not loose any time 😀

And so we arrived, shattered, past reception opening hours and almost at the kids bed-time. We were lucky and caught them leaving the office, so check-in was super quick anyway. Number 3 even got a golf kart ride to our pitch – which was actually really lovely, apart from the effects the all day rain had on the grass. We ignored the mud, had dinner and dropped as soon as we could.

Day 24 – Off, off and away

It only took one afternoon and one morning to make our flat look like a whirlwind went through. No matter, we’ll be back in a couple of days and can clean up then.

Number 3 and I managed to go to the farmer’s market to buy cherries as a road snack and fresh bread at our local bakery.

Repacking was easy as we hadn’t unpacked a lot in the first place. So by 9am, we were back on the road. The distance to our friends’ place in the Netherlands isn’t too bad at 340km, but with two small kids, you have to time everything just right.

The Agent slept and Number 3 was pretty good, which made things easy. Also, he can be distracted by audio books if push comes to shove.

brand new and cool charger – but it did not take my charge card. 5 minutes delay for the call but then for free …

Finding a fast charger was surprisingly hard this time. Only because we started to be a bit picky and also because we wanted to stop next to the autobahn before we got to the sprawl that is the start of the Rhein-Ruhr area marked by Cologne. In the end, we stopped at an e-on charger. Flo couldn’t get the charger to work with his charge card. After calling in to report the issue, they activated it remotely and we charged for free.

Again, there was no shade to be found. Plus, the actual rest stop was still closed on this side of the autobahn. Now we had the choice between a bench in the shade and a toilet at the fuel station or a walk across the autobahn bridge to the open rest stop. We chose to stay and eat our delicious bread and cheese.

With all the kerfuffle in the beginning our stop ended up one and a half hours long, more than enough to fully charge the car again.

This time Number 3 fell asleep while the Agent was awake for a while. We managed to get to the Netherlands before Number 3 woke up and immediately started to complain that he had to live his life in a car and never wanted to go by car ever again. It was quite a long way for kids, we understand that. Once there, we planned to stay put for at least two nights.

As it was, the last 30 minutes dragged with me trying to keep the kids from screaming. And then just like that, we were there. 🙂 A house, a big yard and garden, shade, kids, something to drink and the world looked brighter again for Number 3. Both our kids went off to explore and we had time to talk to our friend Leonie which we hadn’t seen in way too long.

She cooked a yummy veggie meal for us and Peter arrived before we all sat down to eat. All four kids demanded attention to get them fed and ready to sleep. By the time we had our two in bed and asleep (which didn’t take long), the others also were asleep. So, we had until 11pm to talk to Peter and Leonie before I had to fall into bed as well.

The one spot with shade – not in frame, the polish van driver just behind me cooking his dinner o.O

Day 22 – Back to Germany

Our lovely campground provided us with superb German bread rolls for a small fee. It was a great last breakfast in Italy, as we were really close to the Brenner pass or Brennero as the Italians would say.

Number 3 is getting a lot better taking pictures with his own camera

Packing didn’t take long; we hadn’t even unpacked the awning. Once we decided to get going, we were on the road in good time. Flo had planned the route for today which would bring us from Brixen to Illertissen through Austria and to our next Covid test. Organising all this takes a bit of getting used to.

The Brenner was a letdown, especially for Number 3, as it’s neither an especially high pass nor a tunnel. Suddenly, we were at the gate to pay the 10€ toll for the pass we had just taken without realizing it. Ooooh. Number 3 who we primed for an extra long tunnel, was disappointed. Our next “exciting” stop for today was lunch next to a fast charger. On the way there, in search of a bakery for fresh bread, we made the mistake of stopping in front of a Spar supermarket. Number 3 saw the car-shaped trolleys for kids and would not leave this place before he’d driven around in one for a while. With Flo refusing to buy bread in a supermarket when we were “surrounded by bakeries”, we bought fresh milk and left again. Number 3 was beyond happy about this experience.

The notorious car-trolley and a happy Number 3

Having bought bread rolls at a bakery, we found the charger. It was next to a fuel station and a restaurant which you could only enter when recently tested or fully vaccinated. In search of a place to have our picnic, we used the tunnel underneath the motorway and sat down in the shade of a parking lot on the other side. It was rather hot already.

After the break, it was a straight ride to Illertissen. We’d booked a Covid test there at 4pm, but arrived at 3pm already. It was no problem to just get tested earlier. The results would be send to us via email in about 20 minutes as we had a bit of time to kill before we could get to the campground. If you wanna stay somewhere in Germany overnight, you have to be tested.

Ice cream while we wait for our test results

We opted for the usual “gelato and go” ice cream option and sat down in the shade. Before Number 3 had even finished his ice cream, we had our results on our phones and drove the last five minutes to the campground.

The campground was lovely. The owner put us in a nice grassy area with shade, there was a table and a bench next to it and the new facilities were close by. Both kids enjoyed having some free time to play and explore. In no time, both of them looked like piglets.

Flo treated us to a pancake dinner and we brought the kids to bed. We thought we were in for a quiet night, maybe even chat to friends online. Wrong. I was still in the tent with the kids when Flo started to look for his phone. He last used it to show our test results to the owner of the campground…after that he’s not sure what happened to it. So we turned everything upside down. For one and a half hours, we looked into every box, every little place in the car, asked the owner twice if someone had found a phone, looked in the bathrooms…and Flo got grumpier and grumpier. We had to face it, his phone was probably stolen. Bummer.

This is when Flo started to try the “other” solutions. He realised “google find my phone” was an option and got a location on the campground though on the other side of it from where we were. Then, he’d force it to ring even though it was set to silent mode and, on the third try, he could hear it ringing before someone stopped it. In the end, an old lady had it in her hand and he got it back. We’re not sure if she and her husband wanted to steal it or if they just have dementia. Her reaction was “who are you? What is your phone doing in my trailer?” Anyway, he has it again. Phew.

The breakdown of a foodie

bread aisle (by-nc-sa – capl@washjeff.edu)

New Zealand is an awesome country, plain and simple. We love it here, we love the people and we love the land. But oh boy, it is soooo hard to be a foodie in New Zealand. Today our desperate quest for good food reached critical mass. We HAD to do something. And we did.

Continue reading →

different realities

The Rant

my international driver’s license

Today I went to pick up my international and my new EU driver’s license. There are several things about this experience that made me think. I mean, it all went rather smooth, but still. Most state epmloyees I’ve encountered are so caught up in their day to day stuff, that the very seldomly stop to think. That makes them rather hard to reason with.

So I went in with the notifiation and my old german driver’s license. This was my first mistake. I didn’t know what would happen with the old license – I should have checked beforhand. Instead, I asked the lady behind the counter wheather or not I might keep it. She asked my why I would want to keep it. There was my second mistake – I answerd honestly. To put it in a second wallet to give away to thieves and less-than-honest officals.

“Why would you do that?” – “Well, you know: There are border officials who might keep your stuff to put you in tight spot …”

“Why would they do that?” – “Ehh .. they might earn 100 € a month, if they are payed at all – the are looking for a bribe”

“But that is illegal!” Continue reading →

Chaos roaming the world

random pieces of life of Nina and Florian