Koningswinter, North Rhine Westphalia, Germany

One quarter of Germany's population, and even more of its heavy industry is jammed into the Rhine- Ruhr area. The Rhine River is busy with barges taking goods up and down.
We were very excited to meet our dear friend Gerti, in Konigswinter, on the banks of the Rhine. We first met Gerti, her late husband Willi, and daughter Tanja when they emigrated to Australia. Gerti and Willi joined my English classes at Surfers' Paradise on the Gold Coast in 1982.

While in Australia we had enjoyed a southern hemisphere Christmas meal together and were invited to share a northern hemisphere meal with Gerti, her eldest daughter Martina and their family in Muhlheim.

Muhlheim, we were told has the highest unemployment rates in Germany. It is part of one of the most densely populated conurbations in the world. Martina works for the Education Department as a school inspector.

Martina
The fire was blazing and the Christmas tree was decorated in the lounge. We picked up Martina's mother-in-law and sat in on a service at a church in Duisburg. It was so crowded that we had to sit in an annexe and watch it televised. We were told that for many Germans it is the only time that they go to church during the year.

Christmas is celebrated on the 24th rather than the 25th like we do it. We ate fried duck with orange sauce, and chocolate mousse. We enjoyed sharing our stories of Christmas meals we have had around the world. Martina's children Anna and Eve played the piano and sang for us.

Eve and Anna
The education system is changing in Germany and they are reducing the high school year by one year. This will mean that there will be twice as many students trying to get into universities and training programmes. Many families are thinking of sending their children to high schools overseas to avoid being caught up in the change. Eve is thinking of spending her year in another country and it could well be New Zealand.

Each day is getting colder and colder and it is dark about 4pm. We have to scrape the ice off the car windows in the mornings and any washing left outside freezes! Everyone uses their outdoor area-deck or terrace- to keep bottles of drink, leftover food and cakes chilled when the refrigerators are full.

On the 25th of December, we were invited to have a meal with Gerti's friend Adi, and his family, in Bornheim. Adi and Gerti visited us in New Zealand about 5 years ago. Bornheim is a fertile area where fruit and vegetables are grown in fields and plastic houses. Adi used to grow flowers for the wholesalers but has now retired.
Adi is to the left of Gerti. Adi

Adi did a great job preparing everything himself and we had chicken in a creamy sauce with locally grown vegetables and a chocolate pudding.

Both Gerti and Adi are survivors of the tsunami in Phuket. It was an anxious time for us as we waited to hear from them after the tsunami and we are so glad to be able to enjoy their company again.

Adi had a hip replacement operation 3 months ago and has been walking regularly to strengthen it. He plans to walk Jacob's Way (also known as The Pilgrim's Walk) in mid May and will walk 30 kms a day for 90 days to cover around 2700 kms in total from his home near Bonn in Germany through Limogne in France and ending in Santiago de Compostela in Spain. He will take a tent and buy food along the way. We joined Adi on one of his daily preparatory walks through the icy trails near his home.

We have to get out and walk everyday to burn up all the excess calories from the wonderful meals our hosts have cooked us. The Rhine is a pleasant place to walk and we have looked around Bad Honnef further up the Rhine from Konigswinter and also Dollendorf in the opposite direction.

Bad Honnef old town hall.

Gerti studied psychotherapy and cares for an elderly lady a few times a week so when she is working we take the train and visit some of the local area. We had to go to Cologne to buy onward train tickets and took a quick visit to the Dom- Cathedral. Construction was started in 1248 but it wasn't finished until 1880. It was not bombed during WW11 because its 157m high spires were useful for the pilots to navigate in a time when radar was not so reliable.

Ortenburg, Offenburg, Schwarzwald, Germany

The rail system in Germany is really really good. We don't have a 'Rail Pass' or 'Europass' as you need to be traveling every day to make it a worthwhile investment. We tend to stay from a few days to a week and we try to purchase an onward ticket as far ahead of time as we can and these can be really good value for our way of traveling. It is outrageously expensive if you buy a ticket for the same day or even the day before you travel.

We arrived on a cold frosty afternoon at Offenburg station and were met by Michael and his daughter Laura. We first met Michael in Bolivia while walking the ancient Inca Takesi Trail in 1981. He is now an anaethetist. Gabi is a nurse and helps run the practice from home. Laura is in her final year of high school and is keen to do a gap year before she does any further study so we will see her one day in New Zealand. Their son Alex is still at high school.

Michael took us to the Ortenburg Christmas market where we warmed up with glühwein (mulled wine) and rum. In the centre of the square was an ice skating rink. These young ones were learning to skate using the penguin to help them get their balance. The cold doesn't stop the families getting out and about and having fun.

We walked with Gabi several times and visited the Ortenburg Castle and kept ourselves warm and fit taking different routes around the village and vineyards nearby. We enjoyed some schnapps-tasting in the village where they make it from the apples and pears they grow. We also spent some time walking beside the Rhine and through the forest where we could see France on the opposite side. When we returned home we warmed up and sweated it out in the sauna.

One evening we had rachlett- an electric plate where you fry vegetables and meat on top and then have a slice of cheese on a dish under the plate. The cheese you fill with meat and vegetables and melt it from the heat under the plate. The dish is named after a Swiss cheese and is a traditional food of the Swiss similar to fondue. A simple, and filling meal that is such fun.

Laura and her friend Tomas cooked us a four course meal one night. Tomas loves to cook and we loved being treated to prawns, fish, pork cutlets and mousse. Laura hopes that Tomas will be able to join her and visit New Zealand too.

Tomas on the left and Laura on the right

One evening we visited Gengenbach which is well known for the world's largest advent calendar. The city was founded in the 13th century and the calendar is displayed in the 18th century town hall's 24 windows. An artist is invited each year to illustrate the windows and they are unveiled in the evenings.

Michael and Gabi took us to a small family restaurant that served traditional Black Forest food called festbar. We had homemade bread with fresh cheese and cold meats - blood sausage, some kind of brawn, and different kinds of smoked ham. Thank goodness we shared a portion as we could never have finished a serving by ourselves. The restaurant was only open some nights of the week and was full of locals.

Michael took us up into a tree farm in the Black Forest to get the family Christmas tree. The higher we drove the more snow there was. The trees were pushed through this barrel and squashed into a net so they could be easily transported in the boot of the car. After such hard work we went indoors for glühwein and flamme kuchen- a kind of unleavened pizza with ham. This lad decided to have his own barbequed sausage on the fire outside.

Goslar, Saxony -Anhalt, Germany

We caught a train to Goslar to look at this pretty town which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. The town was founded in 922 and 100 years later became an Imperial City and one of the most important seats of power in the Holy Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages it was a centre of faith with 47 churches, monasteries and chapels.

Legend has it that the Knight Ramm's horse scratched the earth with his hoof to reveal a vein of silver ore. The city treasury in the main square houses the carillon bells and at 12 o'clock figurines emerged to show the legend and history of silver mining in the town.

A short walk from the market place was the Imperial Palace with Heinrich 111's tomb nearby.

Snow!

There was a good tourist office with maps with 3 different city walks so we could see the Sieman family home,

the town hall and its interesting roof, as well as the colourful bell caster's house, and other fine buildings.

Back in Bissendorf.

Ilona teaches two boys English so we helped them and showed them some books on New Zealand while eating cake and drinking tea.

Heinrich and Kiel

Luneburg, Lower Saxony, Germany

Lower Saxony is well known for its half-timbered houses. It is also the province where you can find the town of Hamelin from the story of the Pied Piper. As we had already visited Hamelin we decided to take a trip to Luneburg.

Luneburg is also known as the Wobbly Town. The church steeple is crocked and many of the buildings lean into each other or bulge out like they are about to burst.

For many centuries until 1980, the town was mining salt. The ground subsidence and shifts has from the mines has left the town looking like a comic book town.

The main square was busy with people visiting the Christmas Market. We stopped to warm up with hot chocolate and childrens' punch.

The streets were busy with shoppers and sightseers as it was a fine day. The choir entertained the passersby as did the street performers.

Once the sun goes down which is quite early it gets very cold but the market comes to life.

Bissendorf, Wedemark, Germany

From Amersfort in the Netherlands we caught a warm intercity train to Hanover and then north to our friends Ilona and Reinhard and their two girls Eleni and Stella.

We met Ilona and Reinhard while they were traveling in New Zealand in 1995 and our friends, from Arnsberg, Germany, that we met in Mexico in 1981, suggested they look us up while traveling through.

We drove one afternoon to Hanover to look at the city all decorated for the Christmas season. We spent sometime at the Christmas market in the town square and ate schmalzer kuche- a deep fried sweet dough sprinkled with icing sugar.

Stella, John, Eleni and Lil

There were many small wooden cabins decorated with fir trees and Christmas decorations. They sold, mulled wine, ginger cakes, jewelery and all sorts of wooden toys. The little children were riding on the merry-go-round and small train.

Hanover is in Lower Saxony which is the home to Volkswagen.

We visited the Town Hall (Rathaus) and saw some models of the city of Hanover from its early medieval days, to what it looked like when it was bombed in the second World War and as it looks today.

Ilona and Reinhard live in a small rural village and we have enjoyed getting some exercise walking around the forest nearby. Ilona is busy everyday helping her mother who lives nearby, care for her bedridden father. She also keeps an eye on her mother-in-law who lives a short walk up the street and doesn't drive. Like all mums she is kept busy with the household chores and the children's activities but also teaches English at a local kindergarten and primary school a few times a week. Reinhard works for Philips managing the installation of MRI machines and other medical equipment so he is often away during the week. It is a busy household.

Reinhard sings in a choir so we attended one of their performances in the local church. The choirmaster is an American and all the songs were English Christmas songs. Even though we were at the church early it was almost full with locals keen to hear the choir.

Reinhard is second last on the right

Gouda, The Netherlands

After a short train ride we arrived in Gouda. We were met by George whom we had met in The Philippines. He loves to travel and works in real estate and keeps busy diving, playing the guitar, and speed skating on ice. He was very kind to let us hang out in place. The first night we arrived was Sinta Klaas day and he had to dress up as Black Pieter and visit his family and it is traditional to exchange presents on December 6th, so he headed off to do that while we looked around the canals where he lives. Usually Sinta Klaas is celebrated for young children.

Gouda is famous for its cheese so we were able to eat a lot of that.

George took us for a drive to Leiden, Rembrandt's birthplace and a centre for medical research. While there we visited the Corpus exhibition. The building has a 35 metre high human structure and you enter his or her kneee and take a tour through the body coming out in the brain. There are lots of interactive displays to while away the time on each floor on your way down.

It gets dark so early here so by the time we got to Scheveningen, the main beach at Den Haag, it was starting to get dark. There were still people walking on the beach and along the pier with their children and dogs even as the sun was setting. The area is wall to wall hotels and the uglymodern apartments overshadow the old beautiful original buildings like this one. 9 million visitors come here each year.

We drove by the International Court of Justice and thought of Radovan Karadzic, who was arrested in Belgrade while we were there, facing the lawyers here. The Hague is the Dutch seat of government while Amsterdam is the capital. Even at night the Parliament buidings were also impressive.

A short drive away and we were in Rotterdam where George wanted to take us to the Euromast tower to see the lights of the city but it was fully booked for a function so we were not able to go up the tower. Maybe the recession has not hit the Netherlands yet. Rotterdam is Europe's largest port and the city was bombed flat in World War 2.

We then went onto have an absolutely delicious meal at the Hotel New York . It was the former headquarters of the Holland-America passenger shipping line.

While George was working we walked about the old city. Gouda is famous for cheese and smoking pipes. The 15th century town hall in the marketplace was well preserved and still in use.

The Waag, or weigh station was where goods were weighed and then taxes charged. It is now an historic building.

The area around Gouda is mostly peat and bog. The land that has been drained has many drainage canals intersecting the pastureland (they are also shown on the maps). The canals also serve as 'fences' for the grazing sheep. George said he hasn't been able to skate on the canals since 1996 (it hasn't been cold enough to freeze the deep water) but when they do freeze over he skates a 300km circuit through 11 villages. Along the route farmers sell hot drinks and soup to all the skaters. It would have been so nice to be able to try this but other than a few snow flurries it did not freeze.

Utrecht, The Netherlands

From Amsterdam we took a fast train to Utrecht where we were met by Ad. We first met Ad and his son at Halong Bay in Vietnam.

Utrecht is one of the Netherland's oldest cities. We arrived at the railway station and it is a part of the Hoog Catharijine shopping centre and is ginormous!

Ad lives in a family house in a lovely quiet street near to Utrecht and we were able to walk into the city centre easily. He is now retired from the marines but works part time as a counsellor.

The city was decorated with Christmas lights and we saw Black Pieter handing out sweets to the children. If the children are naughty they say he will take them to Spain in his sack.



We walked around the city and saw the 13th century canal wharves which are below street level. Like Amsterdam, the city gets older and older the closer you walk to the centre. Ad also pointed out the house boats that are floating brothels in the canal Red Light District. There are 40,000 students in the city making it the Netherland's largest student community.

There were many places called "food in the wall'' shops where you put money in the slot and get a hamburger or hot sandwich.


We had some wonderful Dutch dishes cooked by Ad; witloof and ham, tongue fish, as well as smoked sausage and pickled cabbage.

We haven't seen as many traditional windmills as we thought we would but this one in Utrecht had been used to mill timber at one time.

We took a trip to Batavia Haven and on the way passed dozens and dozens of wind generators. At the harbour there were several wooden tall ships and a yard where they were making new tall ships and training the next generation in the craft.

Further on from Batvia was a lovely small town called Elburg where we walked about the old city inside the rectangular city walls.

Ad bought some delicious Dutch cakes so we could celebrate John's sixty first birthday.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Outside the window at Frankie's place.


While Frankie and Anne-Laure worked we wandered around Amsterdam. It took a bit of getting used to, walking the streets as it is not always easy to see where the bicycles and scooters are supposed to travel and where the pedestrians are supposed to walk!



There are so many varieties of bicycles everywhere. The Dutch are far more creative with their bicycles than the Chinese. They carry children on the front as well as on the back of bikes and also have various bits added at the front or back to seat everyone or to carry things. The younguns like to decorate their parcel carriers with plastic flowers. I'm sure it makes it easier to spot your bike in a park of thousands.



We visited the Van Gogh museum and were given a tip to arrive between 11 and 1 to avoid the tours so we were lucky enough to have a relaxed look at everything.



There is a lot of rebuilding of footpaths going on at present so it was quite an obstacle course to find our way.



We enjoyed drinking the delicious hot chocolate in the cafes when we needed warming up. The shops are full of decorations for Sinta Klaas. This is the Saint who comes on December 5th to the children. He has helpers who are black and they accompany him on his rounds. There are two versions of why they are black. One is that they got covered in soot from climbing down the chimney into the houses and the other was because they represent the Spanish who were enemies of the Dutch and they would take the bad children back to Spain with them. Traditionally a book was kept of good and bad children so he knew who would get a gift and who would get their shoes filled with twigs instead.



We have not heard Christmas music played in the stores like we would at this time of the year in NZ!



The leaves have blown off the trees in the streets and it all looks rather bleak now.



It was interesting to see the houses in the old part of the city with their hooks to help hoist furniture to the floors above and then put them in through the windows rather than carry them up so many narrow stairs. When you hire a furniture removal van you get a pulley and a net to help move the furniture. It sure saves a lot of stair climbing.



Some of the houses with their narrow stairs that go in all directions. I could barely fit my size 10 shoes on the step.





One day we also visited the Rijks museum with its collections of paintings from the old Dutch masters. There was also an exhibition of a human skull that Damien Hirst had covered with diamonds. The skull was from someone in the 1800s and when he told his mother what he was doing to the skull she responded in shock with "For the love of God!" Now the exhibition is titled that.



In the evening we drove by the famous Red Light District. Prostitution was legalised in 1815 while brothels weren't until 2000. The ladies sit in front of the windows to attract customers. About 5% of the ladies are Dutch and there are about 1000 to 1200 working 380 windows each day. They have to pay between 80 to 100 Euro per day for the window. The shops are closed on Mondays so this is the most popular time for the Dutch customers. Of all the international clientele, the British make up 50%.

Pimping is illegal in The Netherlands and all the ladies pay taxes and have their own unions.

In the local paers and on TV we saw reports that the government wants to reduce the number of prostitutes and to reduce the number of coffee shops that sell marijuana. We went by some of the coffee shops and they looked really sleazy. Cafes are like bars where you can have coffee but coffee shops are where you have marijuana and beer.