North Holland and into Germany

Thursday, July 10, 2014
Harlingen, Groningen, Hanover, Magdaberg, Berlin,, Germany
First of all, a reflection on the Dutch people's ability to talk English. It has been a humbling experience. We haven't come across a single person who has not been able to muster enough English to be understood. Mind you, at long last Peter's, albeit limited, knowledge of Afrikaans has been useful. This has been particularly so with reading signs, labels etc. although tonight a German gentleman next door to us, who could speak no English at all, was able to converse with Peter and be understood - we think! Of course he could be back in his Motorhome saying to his wife - 'Vat der devilitch praten das Englese dompkofs'. But that's enough about that.

We left Amsterdam with a view to driving on to Groningen via a one night stopover in Harlingen, but when we got here, OMG, Harlingen turns out to be another gem of a town, so we booked in for an extra night . The 2014 Tall Ships Race had been in port just 2 days prior to our arrival and the town was still very much in festive mood.  

This is another town with an extensive canal system. The architecture is pure Dutch and Die Hoofstraat (the main street) with canals running through it is just beautiful, with any number of Dutch barge-like vessels and other pleasure craft adorning the canal walls. And how they cater for pleasure cruisers! Full facilities are provided for vessels tying up i.e. electricity, water and pump out. All of this is accompanied by a small number of vehicles driving on the wrong side of the road and, yet again, numerous bicycles moving hither and thither. To add to this, after the day of bad weather in Amsterdam, the weather was glorious and is forecast to remain so for the next few days.

Before we leave Harlingen, just a word about our drive here. 2 lane highway all the way but the last bit, about 10 kilometres was along the top of a dyke stretching between the Waddenzee and the Ijsselmeer . The wind was blowing directly off the North Sea and was certainly a strong wind strength, with flags flying straight and plenty of white caps on the water. Peter was forced to slow down to 75 kmh because of the buffeting of the wind. He was heartened by the line of cars behind who did not try and overtake but humbled by the trucks and other vehicles that carried on at closer to the speed limit of 90 kmh. All that bad weather stopped as suddenly as it started about 5 pm and from then on it was fantastic.

If you are are ever in Harlingen, make sure you visit the Hanama House Museum in Die Hoofstraat. It is an example of what a small town Museum should be, simply out of this world - even if it was all in Dutch. And Peter fell immediately in love with the gorgeous young curator. Put this town on your bucket list. Tomorrow we are off to Groningen.

Groningen: Some people we'd met back in Brugge had said we must not miss Groningen (a small city / large town) and reading internet feedback reinforced our decision to spend two nights in this 'unmissable' city . Our drive from Harlingen was uneventful. Just miles and miles of pastoral views broken here and there by a canal passing underneath the gentlest of bridges. Our campsite, Camping Stadspark was great for having one of the best settings we’ve come across. Purely and simply beautiful. On the border of a small lake, it is right smack bang in the middle of a large green precinct. Only three kilometres from the city centre, and on a bus route. Again the facilities were in excellent condition (but back to no toilet paper and soap – strictly byo).
 
One of the campsite neighbours is "The Pavilion" and is regularly used for large shows. Saturday was no exception! Fortunately we got back late from our tramping around so we missed a large part of the electronic extravaganza. Anyway we were not let down - the thump, thump, boom – boom, repeat phrasing, followed by the just as regular stretch of silence, a short bout of something or someone wailing, then repeat the whole lot again . . . for fifteen minutes at a stretch. Must be getting old, but as Kathy opined, it’s just lazy music . Fortunately it stopped at 11pm.

Groningen was, well, nice! Good shopping – Kathy splurged on two sets of trousers and other bits and pieces. Peter visited the Maritime Museum. And both of us did the canal trip, the highlight of which, for us, was a description (in Dutch, German and English) of three houses we were passing. It went something like this. “And on the left hand side are three houses. The first has a sculpture of a horse's head over the front door, the second has (can’t remember) on its gable, and the third has a windvane on top of its gable.” That’s true. The most interesting part of the cruise was the water view we had of a large number of typical Dutch barges. Most of them restored and converted into student accommodation. Great fish and food market, where Peter bought, in typical Peter fashion – a huge punnet of strawberries, and a clutch of rhubarb. Oh, and the station has a most magnificent entrance hall. Worth a number of photos. So, that’s it for Groningen . Nice to have seen it but don’t feel the need to go back.

Our trip to Hanover was eventful for the large number of thunder showers we drove through. When it rains here it really rains! Wanted to do a big grocery shop at Aldi but soon found out that Sunday afternoons are not for shopping. All the stores we came across were closed.

Our visit to Hanover did not start auspiciously. Every parking area we came to that was 'for wohnmobil' was closed, and we mean closed. Gates locked and nobody in sight. Eventually to calm our nerves we decided to go to Aldi in the neighbouring town of Laatzen (about 25 km away). While shopping we remembered they only take cash so Peter had to hoof it down to the local Volksbank, where, after drawing cash, he asked the manager where we could park in the town. He said, in broken English, "Park out the back here, no problem". What a nice guy!. To add to all the positivity, the tram stop was directly opposite the bank's car park . We were in Hanover by late morning. It's a wonderful city, bearing in mind it had the crap bombed out of it in 1944. Not a lot of the old quarter survived but what did has been wonderfully restored and the infill buildings are sympathetic to the old architecture. Not having much time we chose to visit the magnificent Lutheran church of Marktkerk. Hailing from the 12th Century when it reported to Rome, it is simple but striking inside. New roof and most of the stained glass windows did not survive the bombs but still well worth the visit. Next, and against Peter's better judgement, we visited the local Rathaus (Town Hall). After all, one Town Hall is very much like the next. Anyway we turned a corner and then occurred another OMG moment. It is magnificent in every way. Outside and inside. We well and truly concur that the Rathaus, Hanover, is their top attraction.

Now we're back at campsite, Birkenzee, and getting ready for supper. This campsite is different again! Fabulous facilities and clean as a whistle . Free hot water AND toilet paper AND soap! But you have to press the hot water button every 15 seconds or it goes off. No such thing as free lunch! Also the Germans have just won the FIFA World Cup and everyone is as happy as Larry. By the way, does anyone know who Larry actually is? Good night . . .

Next stop was Magdaburg and getting quite close to Berlin. Campsite Ferienpark Plotsky was excellent again. Ze Germans certainly do 'clean' very well! This is another of those 'resort camp bordering a small lake'. Seems there's quite a lot of them around. This one even has a small zoo for the kids (llamas, goats, chickens etc) and plenty of rabbits everywhere. Very picturesque. Magdaburg was nothing really to write home about, so we won't. One should remember that this area was squarely in the DDR and the old Soviet influence is evident in the 'Moscow' architecture that ruled when the city was rebuilt after its destruction in WW2. What was interesting was the journey from, and back to the campsite . On the way to the city, we forgot our previous bus/train experience and duly boarded a bus to Magdaburg. Forty minutes later the 15km torture was over and every village and hamlet on the way had been visited. The trip home, however, was on the train. It was very new and swish and we expected great things of German efficiency. It happened that the train had a digital clock so we could time its departure. How's this for a big failure . . . it left 7 seconds late. That's seven whole seconds - hmmmm. To top that it arrived at Gommern (our station) 4 seconds early. Big hmmmmm! They could learn a thing or two from Sydney Rail e.g. 'on time' means 5 (or is it 10) minutes either side of the advertised time. 

So now we are in Berlin at the Wohnmobil Park. What is called a 'stellplatz', more of a stopover place than a resort, so motorhomes are pretty well packed in. Just enough space to put our awning out, with chairs and table. But it's terrifically placed for getting to and from Berlin, and quite inexpensive . Planning for today includes the Museum Island etc. Weather forecast is for sun, and 29C. 

Oh, and the big news is that Peter for the very first time was able to use his albeit limited Spanish in earnest. Our next door neighbours are from Northern Italy but a conversation with them was quite easy. So many words and ways of using them are similar it was quite easy to follow a simple conversation line. We must say that so far, conversing with Germans has been difficult. Afrikaans has limited value, neither has French, Greek or Spanish (a little of which Kathy and Peter possess). So it's back to phrasebooks (thanks Kate) and Google.

Well, we've now just finished our second day in Berlin. The weather is outrageous! 29C yesterday and 30+ today. Tomorrow to be similar. And it's accompanied by a fair amount of humidity. But that hasn't stopped your intrepid travellers . . . just means far more liquids and, therefore, pitstops . It turns out too, that our 20 minute trip to and from Berlin is actually closer to an hour, after allowing for 4 (yes, that's four) metro changes. All due to trackwork between here and Friedrichstrasse Station. Gotta take the good with the bad I guess. At least they are being apologetic.

Well waddaya know. Berlin is great and our three days here would need to be three weeks to really get a feel for it. Could not get into the Pergamon Museum at first. We arrived at 11am and the queue was 200m long. The official wait was going to be 2 hours . . . most of it in the sun. So, we toddled off next door to the Alte Nationalgalerie which was blissfully air-conditioned and chock full of a fine selection of paintings and sculptures. Prime exhibition was Rembrandt Bugatti's sculptures of mainly animals. Wonderful. That took us to mid afternoon and we wandered out to see that the queue for the Pergamon was only a half hour. So there it was that we entered the museum with about two hours to closing time . "Only two hours", we hear 'those who know' say. The Pergamon that most of you have seen and what we saw are quite different, The whole complex is in the middle of a huge upgrade and only two wings of two floors were open for viewing - The collection of classical antiquities including the Roman architecture and Trajeneum Hall, and the altar hall; Ancient Near East, and Museum of Islamic Art. Two hours was rather quick but enough for us. That took us to the end of Day 1 and the beginning of our long trip home. Day 2 has just ended: Highlights were the Anne Frank Centre, the Neues Museum (where we saw Nefertiti). All wonderfully engaging. The icing on the cake was the discovery of a wonderful restaurant in a huge bookshop in Friedrichstrasse. It would take a couple of paragraphs to tell you about it so we won't bore you. Suffice to say, if you're ever in Berlin visit the restaurant at Dussmann das KulturKaufhaus - 90 Friedrichstrasse. Blinking wonderful!

We were told last night (which was a real hot one) that today was going to be 33C with no breeze till evening . It's been exactly that - we're sitting here doing this blog after two cold showers each and still boiling! But we cannot see a single MH in this park that has air-conditioning. They usually don't need it. In view of the conditions we made a decision to spend only early morning to lunch time in Berlin and the rest of the day chilling out with Le Van. "Chilling out" was a big joke! We've now seen the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate and the Tiergarten which included a wonderful memorial to all the Gypsies exterminated by the Nazis. Our overall impression of Berlin is of wide streets and boulevards lined with magnificent buildings (one of these was the Russian Embassy). But marred, for us, by the extensive restoration and upgrade work being done. Everywhere Bechtel's pipe work, scaffolding and hoardings dominate many of the streets and facades. Soooo . . . we have a good excuse to come back. 

All being well, we're off to Dresden tomorrow morning - finally we turn south - where it is hotter??? 
 
 
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Comments

Kate
2014-07-20

Once again I am filled with envy! It sounds like you are having a wonderful time.
Unfortunately I think that 'under construction/ restoration' is par for the course with historical buildings. We found many of the places we visited were shrouded in scaffolding. It was disappointing but I suppose it is necessary in order to maintain these beautiful buildings.
Love you both!

lin and prue
2014-07-21

you will enjoy dresden. the swingler is a must do. typing one handed - just had shoulder op. there will be hundreds of reasons to spend extra nights on your way to the alps. rather do the alps first and then dawdle back - just my advice again - you never listen to me anyway :-) enjoy!! wish it was me

joan McMurray
2014-07-21

HI Travellers

I feel as though I've been on vacation with you (but you're lucky I'm not) you've explained in wonderful detail. I'm really enjoying this holiday in spirit. Enjoy your next stop. Have a most blessed and awesome time. Love Joan

Nar
2014-07-21

Another great blog! I think you both have another career ahead of you..... travel writers and travel agents perhaps? Hope to see you soon.

Alex
2014-07-22

You both certainly look relaxed and carefree...just as it should be. It all sounds marvellous!!!!

2025-02-12

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