Sauerkraut Juice

Got a thirst that can't be beat?

Scurvy getting you down?

Why not try....

Sauerkraut Juice!

The all cabbage power blend

You won't believe what you're drinking!

Here's what our customer had to say;

"There's nothing but Saurekraut in there, who thought of this?"

"Something this bad has got to be good for you"

"It tastes better than it smells!"

Windy Cow Country

A bleary eyed train ride on a Thursday morning delivered me to a little red car half-filled with Schaefers, awaiting a half-awake Australian to begin a road trip half-way across Germany. It wasn't long after the car was pointed North on the Autobahn that I nodded off. When I returned to clarity, we were rolling through the North Country of Germany known as Ostfriesland. The green flat landscape that spreads wide, often divided by Wind turbines and their accompanying power lines and sporadically freckled with cows.

Cows and Bicycles always have the right of way here.
Cows on Bicycles are worshipped like gods

The legacy of past life in Ostfriesland is the canals that cut across the land, running under bridges and looking more like a landscaping feature or drainage ditch than the transport highways of the past.

The canal that lay just outside the door of our holiday house

On our first day, most of the time had been taken up by the travel, but with the time left we found more than we would on the other days.

Out of context this photo could appear quite incriminating

The fair was in town for the weekend, much like any other contemporary fair, we strolled past the flashing lights and deep fryers until we ended up in front of the shooting both. Before I knew it, Eva Schaefer was loading a slug into the chamber of the air rifle like a seasoned sniper ready for the kill.
This feeling of this scene could probably only be topped if I was to walk in on my own mother reassembling a freshly oiled M16 Assault Rife while blindfolded. We didn't stay at the fair for very long as the feeling of it had all been done before crept up quickly. We left behind the vast menageries of stuffed animals and the bored yet impatient looks of the carnies for something more.

Taking directions from a friendly local we headed down the row to see a typical north country icon, a windmill.

Puts most Garden features to shame

The windmill was rebuilt by the farmer who runs a dairy on what was the land of his father's who was truly a miller. The windmill wasn't open because it was a holiday but the farmer and his wife were nice enough to take some time out to show us around, which actually turned into an in-depth technical break-down of the internal workings of the entire windmill and the milling process.

Standing on the shoulder of a giant

The quiet, solid, slow movement of the blades in the wind was beautiful and seemed to give the windmill a pulse, a life and the feeling of a great gentle beast awakening as the blades began to turn. Quite the experience.

On the farmer's recommendation we drove a small way down the road to the village cafe.

There's something unusual yet comforting about drinking a litre of beer in a place decorated like some Grandma's living room

The ease with which local people fall into a conversation is really pleasant and is usually the best path to the soul of a place. You here the accents and the slang, you tap into the local knowledge and if you're lucky you see their world from the inside and not the outside.

If I was paying more attention I could tell you the name of this town

Heading into town the next day we wandered through the Saturday morning markets before meeting Frau Gasten, the lady who had Eva Scahefers job previously and would be joining us for the day. There is another level of words used to indicate respect in German and as an Australian it can seem unnecessarily restricting when people speak so formally with one another, not to mention learning a whole other set of words to be able to do it. In this case I found it quite cute the way the two ladys would address each other always beginning with the German equivalent of "Mrs. ...". Much like a Monty Python sketch I was waiting for an out burst of "Ooo, well I never".
We got in the car and headed out to see some of the big ports of the North Sea.

The shape and size of the transport ship made it look quite unreal (for sclae context the white dots on the doch are cars)

Returning to the car we drove to another town that was celebrating the day of a particular fish, Matjes Tag, Matjes fillet being a specialty of the region.

The harbour in the town of Leer

The harbour was filled with boats, the streets lined with caravans selling any manner of product and everywhere people in various stages of fish consumption.

Frau Gasten with Eva and Sabine Schaefer, port side for lunch

We had lunch in the belly of a boat that was a decomissioned mobile lighthouse. I found it a little disconcerting at first because although the water was completely flat, the slope of the floor meant I was always leaning backwards and a little to the right. When I saw it on the menu, I was compelled to have a Grog. The excitement I felt for drinking real Grog is due to a variety of reasons that I wont elaborate on at this time.

Later in the day Sabine and myself went on a tour of the shipyards where the gigantic Cruiseliners are built.

The skeleton of the cruiseliner to be

Things you might need if you want to build your own cruiseliner

I have yet to be on one, so at this stage I am merely perplexed as to why it would be necessary to build a city (well the capacity is near 2500 people) that you can sail the world in. A theatre, restaurants, shopping mall, several swimming pools all lit up and decorated inside to the point where it is blinding to gaze upon. This all capable of crossing between continents with ease.

The next day we took a road trip across the boarder into Holland to visit the town of Groeningen to look through its fish markets that came highly recommended from a local but were ultimately disappointing.

Clogs and bicycles, that's Holland

This photo is the only photo I took while in Holland just to show that I was there, the reason there were not more phots being that when it wasn't weirding me out, we were in danger of being killed by Dutch missiles or so called "cyclists". I had heard about them, but its not until they're flying inches from your face that you truly appreciate the hazard.

Heading back, we stopped off in a town on the north coast of Germany, to see that natural border of the country. The physical end of the country and an end to the holiday.

'Ello 'ello 'ello, what's all this then guv'?

Englishman 1: Did you see the ground out the window?

Englishman 2: Can I see the ground out the window?
Englishman 1: When we were landing.
Englishman 2: Could I see out the window when we were landing?
Englishman 1: When we were landing did you see the ground?
Englishman 2: What, out the window?
Englishman 1: Yeah, could you see when we were landing?
Englishman 2: You mean the ground?
Englishman 1: Did you see the ground when we were landing?
Englishman 2: What before, out the window........

That is a rough approximation of the first conversation I heard in a British accent when I touched down in London City Airport. My first 2 hours in London were equally funny and weird, it was like walking into a BBC TV rerun. I was on "the Tube" when the train stopped at a station called East India, and then straight away 2 Indian people got on.
My nephew Nathan lives and works in London, so I thought I'd put on my mooching shoes and pay him a visit on this weekend. My first night there was a bit of a tour around where Nathan lives and works, Ealing.

Waldpole Park is just across the road from Nathan's apartment....

..... and where I saw my first live squirrel

Nathan and some of his workmates

Dealing in foreign languages makes you think more about communication, and it really showed that even among English speaking people I have trouble communicating. Oh well.

A cold pint of.....Fosters?

The Australian beer that really isn't, Fosters, is in wide abundance in England. Prior knowledge did nothing to reduce the absurdity of it. The other stroke of absurdity was that through a stroke of luck we ended up with a SAAB convertible for the weekend but in true London fashion, it rained most of the weekend. Nathan said he was sorry it was bad weather but I was happy to experience the stereotype, without rain it would not have been London in my mind.

With a car at our disposal, we headed out into the countryside Saturday morning. We found ourselves in an old English pub in Old Windsor having pints of real ale and having a chat with the local characters. It is one of those real English experiences that you just wouldn't get on a bus tour, and made me glad to have a quasi-local taking me around.

Ummm, pints of Ale

From there we headed on to Windsor to see Windsor Castle and get a taste of home in the form of Pasties for lunch.

There is absolutely nothing funny I can say about Windsor Castle

Me, Nathan and Simon

Later we headed back into London town to meet up with Nathan's mate Simon, drink some beers and if time allowed, see some London sights. Simon is another ex-Adelaidean and he gave me a tip on how to speak Londonish. You say "yeah" everywhere you'd place a comma and "in'it" everywhere you'd place a full-stop. Try it, its a lot of fun.

Double Points for getting Big Ben and a Double-Decker Bus in the same photo

Downing Street, and instead of barbed wire on the fence, the PM has opted for men with machine guns. Much more stylish.

From my experience with London phone-boxes, you'd have an easier time training carrier pigeons.

The London Millenium Wheel Eye Ferris whatever thing

Buckingham Palace, there just beyond the I can be bothered walking there limit

Triple Score! Black Cab, Double-Decker Bus and Nelson's Column

Piccadilly Circus, not much of a Circus but there is a really interesting wall there

The trip from Piccadilly Circus back home was filled with beer and Chinese food, interrupted by a broken down train, a broken down Polish women, singing Brits and a stupid New Zealand woman on an over-flowing Double-Decker bus. My brief taste of the London life.

Sunday we headed down to the Thames to see some more sights before heading to Simon's place for lunch.

Tower Bridge, a real over the top bridge

The Tower of London on the right and the locally dubbed Gherkin on the left.

Lunch at Simons was a BBQ, or whatever you call the love child of an Australian in London who finds a grill at his disposal. Under a roof of plastic tarps, string, gaffer tape and hope, we sat around the BBQ dodging leaks and occasionally pushing out water pooling on the tarps, forming due to the incessant rain.

Australian BBQ in London

In not the best state, I somehow managed to catch the right train back to the Airport and get home without incident.
I managed to get a good glimpse of London in only a small amount of time and although they speak English there, it feels more foreign a place to me than Germany ever has so returning gave a sense of comfort.

You think I would have grown up by now

Question: What sort of guy serves a cheese platter and cow-shaped gummi at the same party

Answer: This Guy

I recently turned 26 and to celebrate the loss of my "youth" status, I decided to fill a room full of drunk Germans while simultaneously pickling my own liver. Hosting parties and dealing with my Birthday have never been my forte, so it was a pleasant surprise to have this party go so well. This however would not have been without the help of all the people at the party.

Me and Gudrun find who took the camera

Juergen and the neighbour-unfriendly stereo; make them part of your next German party!

Housemates; Angelika, Mirko and Klaus displaying correct chair usage

Kai and Stefan and their blatant disregard for proper chair usage

Florian and a drunk me doing very bad impersonation of myself

Real Australian Birthday tucker, whole deep-fried Kangaroos, or at least that's what I tried to tell everybody

There isn't that much to tell about the party except that if my hangover was a measure of the party's success, then I had a very good one. I am not going to go into detail with thank yous on this post (mainly as they've already been said) but I would like to say "You know who you are and you know what you did and I want you to know I really appreciated it."

Heidelberg Highs

Saturday morning, Heidelberg, no plan.

Here's how it all unfolded:

I'd read about Philosphenweg, a street that winds up the hill through beautiful gardens to take you to some beautiful views of Heidelberg. What a nice way to start.

First impressions of Heidelberg

Crossing the bridge I saw the Neckar River parting the hills of Heidelberg and got my first view of the places I would go. It looked beautiful and ready to explore.

The Philosophenweg

The view of Altstadt from Philosophenweg

The real attraction of Heidelberg for tourists is the Altstadt, the old part of the city with the Castle, old bridge, old houses and old churches. From this point I thought about how I'd have a look at the castle before walking through the Altstadt for a while. As it would turn out I would end up getting drawn to go a lot further.

The path winds on


Odenwald

There is no real end to the Philosophenweg, it just connects to more paths (official and unofficial) that cut in all directions all over the hill and as some cyclists told me, can go on for days following the river. At that point it was time for a decision, and because I didn't have days, I aimed for something more achievable, up. So I changed direction to find out what it was like at the top of the hill.

Random Patterns

The forest surrounding Heidelberg is the Odenwald, and it was amazing how quickly you can go from a large city to dense beautiful forest. It was really beautiful, the air was sweet and aromatic, the only noise that came through were the bells of the church on the other side of the river ringing out the new hour. The background score was forest birds including a woodpecker and a cuckoo and at times during the day the far away applause of the rain falling on the leaves above.

A path, or is it?

Sometimes when you go walking you see paths are what look like paths that have no identification and the tease you with where they might lead to, you never have enough time to try them all but there is always a bit of a thrill when you head to down an unknown path to its secret destination.

More Odenwald

I continued to head towards the top when I came upon a clearing with a lookout tower as a reward for my efforts.

Lookout tower

The view across to the castle from the lookout tower

I thought the tower was a nice reward for reaching the top of the hill until I realized this was not the top of the hill. Being male, it was not enough to be almost at the top of the hill so I got back on the track to see what lies at the top.

A surreal Amphitheatre

On the way to the top of the hill and hidden by forest is this amazing Amphitheatre that looked ancient and mystical but as I found out later was mad by the Nazis using slave labour.

I am always in awe of the amount of work that has gone into creating old stone buildings at the top of hills, considering how much effort is takes just to walk up the hill.

The ruins of the Monastery

Finally at the top of the hill, there is the ruins of a Monastery built 1000 years ago.

Schlangenweg

After some photos and a look around at the top, it was time to head back down the hill. When you see car parks and bus stops at the to of the hill you wonder why you bother, but then you remember what it was like to pass through the forest on foot and know there's nothing like it.

Heading back down from the Philosophenweg is a stone staircase named Schlangenweg or the snakes way that takes you all the way down to the bank of river just in front of the old bridge.

Altebruecke, the old bridge

The old bridge takes you across the river right into the heat of the old city.

Crossing the old bridge into the old city

Passing through the old city I headed up to the castle and stroll around the grounds.

Castle tower

The castle from the back

Walking around behind the castle, it was nice thrill to be able to see the look out tower on the hill I just came from. It's not easy to see on the photo but its in the little gap in the trees on the hill top.

Heading up the hill again

Although I thought looking at the castle and then the old city would be enough, I felt the call of the top of the hill once again.

It was quite an effort for me considering the work to walk up and down the other hill, and by the time I got to the top of the hill I was really puffing and sweating. I was not sure how far I had gone so it was suprising to see the view when I finally got to the top.

The view from Koenigstuhl

The signs all pointed to Koenigstuhl, which translates to King's chair, which I believed to be some landmark or monument and after walking around for a while, seeing an other bus-stop and some more car parks, I asked some other travelers where Koenigstuhl was and they told me I was there because it was actually the name of the hill. I was disappointed and elated at the same time.

The stairway from hell....and me without a slinky

I decided to take another way down the hill for a different look. This great long stone stairway heads from the top of the hill down to the castle, extremely steep, some steps sloping down hill, some of them not big enough to put you whole foot on and all of them wet, it was hard to know whether this direct path down was really faster. By the time I got to the bottom my legs were quivering from the unusual exertion.

The castle from an Altstadt square

Church skirted by souvenir stalls

Returning back to the old town for a look around, it was nice to walk around on the flat for a while just strolling around. I know its a popular tourist destination but I was amazed to walk onto the main street and see people in the street as far as I could see

The main street

I stopped at a cafe for a little reward after a non-stop 6 hour walking tour of Heidelberg, drinking the best hot chocolate ever. I was trying not to show the sweat soaked into the back of my t-shirt and thought how anyone who saw it would imagine what I'd done that day, because I wouldn't have either.