It’s like Alec Finlay when he came back from Germany after the war in 1950/1 telling us he could not believe the goods the Germans had the shops which were full to the gunnels with anything you could possibly want especially food which he said was incredibly well stocked with any food items you could possibly wish for basic or luxury whereas here we had just came out of rationing in 1950 (in Scotland).
I remember when I was 5 going round to the shop to get my weekly allowance of 2 ounces of Pontefract cakes (it was always Pontefract cakes) to be told no sweets this week , only fruit. What’s fruit says I, I’ll put in a bag he says so no one will see and don’t open it till you get home. it was a banana - never seen one before. People came from all around to see this banana - I didn’t like it cause the skin was hard so my parents had it nor did they explain it should be peeled either.
Hirzberg campsite is a model of Teutonic efficiency run by Herr & Frau Ziegler but as he did all the work and she was never seen by anyone we assumed she was a sleeping partner not in the sleeping beauty mould but more like rip van winkle.
He was very helpful very kind und korrect and everything done at great speed and much waving of the arms hence his camp residents nick name for him herr zig zagler.
Frieberg is a beautiful city with a fantastic cathedral with an amazing vaulted ceiling and totally heated throughout.
There are xmas lights everywhere, and a daily daytime market and two night markets plus an outdoor ice rink (small, and not as good as Edinburgh’s).
All the ancient buildings are beautifully maintained to a high degree Freiburg like Bristol was badly bombed during the war look at Bristol now by comparison, what do we do with our money?
Met up with a chap like myself, except his was an old library van, but he has done it up beautifully went to see the sights together he had been there two months so he knew his way around he was 70 and his wife died 6 years ago so on the road he went
It’s quite tiring raising and erecting your camp daily and dark by at 5pm so you don’t see much as you’d like, as campsites are closed mostly this time of year and those that are not are usually some 150 miles apart - and as I am avoiding motorways it involves a lot of long slow journey s and a shave and shower at night to avoid doing it in the morning as it is so bitterly cold.
As the weather is closing in southern Germany I have been advised to go south so I have decided to take his advice and avoid Stuttgart and Munich as if I get stuck on the other side of lake Konstanz or Bodensee then they will not let me through the Brenner or the tunnels without studded tyres or chains to get back into Italy. As it happened it was good advice and I was glad to have taken it though I thought he was being a bit over dramatic at the time.
The weather in Bavaria upon waking has turned so am reluctantly heading south indirectly through Lichtenstein to Bolzano in Italy going through Switzerland and Austria on the way.
I’ve had to make notes on most occasions as I go as it’s so cold the laptop wont fire up on battery power for long or can’t be arsed I’m not sure which, and biros don’t flow!
Never had this problem in sub tropical Somerset!
Frieburg - Black Forest:
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