The Last Offensive: Nürnberg to Paris

I must say, the trip has gone relatively quickly. Of course it has had its boring moments and its exciting moments but I really have to say, it has been the best summer of my life.
Now I`m on the victory lap visiting friends and relatives. Last Wednesday I finished wwoofing and took a train to Nürnberg. Exiting the old east Germany for the last time this year and seeing a bit of the west. Traveling on Wednesday, which was the day after the supposed terrorist catchings in Germany my train car was privileged to a visit from the German ``Polizei`` in their black leather jackets and white caps. They asked one asian looking lady for her pass and on the train platform checked 2 other men probably from the Chezch Republic. In Nürnberg I visited my great uncle and aunt,who I just met for the first time. Got a tour of Nürnberg (great city wall), and after a short but excellent visit headed off to the Saarland (Near france). The Saarland is a small Provence in Germany near France, where my Opa comes from. After the Saarland, I took a train to Switzerland to visit a family we know who live here, and that`s where I am now. This Friday I`m heading off to France where I`ll meet some more relatives and then take a plane from Paris, changing planes in Amsterdam, and flying home..............

Assorted pictures: Checzh Republic - Erfurt - In the village

''Checzh'' it out... eh?
Cheb sieht so schön aus!
From up in his tower the hunchback only wished he could live among the city people dwelling under the warm red rooves.
To the battlements! Man the Cannons! Don't look down!
OhH! and you thought the all-seeing eye on the all-mighty dollar watching you was creepy!
LARGER than life in Cheb

Erfurt - Capital of Thüringen... note those tiny little buildings... looks like and accordian ...doesn't it?

Loose hay. This is the real thing. None of this squished together stuff.

Checzhing In - Part two

We drove from Sachsen Anhalt into Thuringen, then into Bavaria, and then to Sachsen. We passed hills, fields, and forests, and forests and fields on hills. In Sachsen we drove down through an area that knifes into the Checzh Republic. It's a really thrilling feeling to be traveling off to some new unknown place and even border check points are exciting places... well at least, I think so, unless of course... they're the type of places with men with huge guns wearing ugly faces. I prepared to present my passport and we pulled up in front of the window. The blond girl and whoever else was hanging out inside the guard house didn't seem to concerned about us and we actually had to ask her to stamp my passport. She went somewhere back in the office and appeared with the stamp which she banged down on one of the pages, closed my passport, pressing it back together with her hands. At the first gas station we saw (which was a shell station, yes apparently they even have shell in the CR) we stopped and changed some money. 1 euro (worth about 1.40-1.50 cad.) got us 26 krona (The Checzh currency) so 20 Euros was over 500 krona. Previously, I'd never used money so badly inflated.... it was really fun to have these bills of such denomination in my hands. What was further amusing was the fact that the one of the further gas stations after the first one past the border was offering more krona per euro. Those dudes right past the border sure know their location. From the highway I saw the selling stands of the Asian people that are near the border with that busy look of all their wares for sale. At these places there are no prices. You simply ask the price, and then see how low you can bargain the price down. They sell pirated dvd's and music, clothes, cheaper cigarettes, knives, food...etc.. We pulled in front of one of the stands and parked. As soon as I walked out to the first stand an Asian girl waved a pack of open cigarettes in the air at me asking ''zigaretten??'' ....'' nein danke,''
Among the dvd collection was the new pirates of the Caribbean movie ... not on store shelves yet ( mind you filmed in a movie theater.... ) ... this is what you call a ' film of a film... or second hand'. At one point one of the people manning a stand told me he had more and procured a key which he then proceeded to use to unlock a door to the back of the stand. Inside was a whole room of dvd's and cd's!!!!It was Insane. Man, are their more of these rooms?? And if so , what's in them?? Black market Russian Nukes from the 60's??? The whole place was an interesting experience for me, but man it must be all mafia work or something.... lol. Another thing people do, which I saw, was bring gas cans from Germany and fill up with Checzh gas as it's not as pricey as German gas and so naturally you can also buy gas cans at this ''price-debating-market''. In fact, it seemed like there were a lot of people from Germany In the area after the border. As for the rest of the afternoon, we spent in a town called Cheb. This town looks a little scratchy on the outside, but the more central part is fantastic with nice cobble stone streets, old buildings, a partially ruined castle, and old monastery of sorts, and fantastic old church with an inside so massive that it might be called cavernous. When I went to the grocery store to purchase perhaps 8 euros worth of stuff it cost over 180 krona!! Really, quite amusing actually to pay such a huge number... I handed the lady at the ''Checzh-out'' a 200!! All in all I think this afternoon trip to the Checzh Rep. was really actually ONE OF the most fun and interesting things within this trip to date.
We excited the Checzh republic without problems, and once again had to ask the border police (this time German) to stamp my passport. Aber ya, dieses kurzes reise hat richtig spaß gemacht!!

Checzhing In (Part 1)

She was blond, young, and wore a gun on her hip. No this isn't Hollywood people, that was the Chezch border police. What was I doing at the checzh border you may ask? It's really quite simple. Collecting passport stamps. Such pretty ink designs - Well actually there was a better reason than collecting stamps for the sake of collecting passport stamps... though that could be an pleasant pastime... collecting passport stamps... My more logical reason was actually because I was nearing the end of a 90 day period permit free to dwell in several of several European countries in a certain agreement. I actually was finding it amusing that I only acquired a stamp in Amsterdam and got no stamp, questions, or dirty looks in Berlin.... It was like, ''heh! I just walked in here... and how do they even know I'm still here.... who cares if I stay longer than 90 days without getting one of these permit thingies?'' I was ignorant enough not to realize that that one stamp in Amsterdam is my entrance stamp to this entire area and so it wasn't not necessary to double stamp me in Berlin. Most wonderfully, the sister of the mother of the family where I'm dwelling right now happens to have for a sister a bundesgrenzshutz employee! That would be the German border police. Think, Federal border security when you read bundes-grenz-shutz ... those Germans and their compound words. Anyway, nothing like hearing the word on the street from the horse's mouth.... The verdict was: By leaving this area of countries in this agreement, receiving a stamp on the way out, and one on the way back in you are clear for another 90 days... or ... at least that's the idea. Where is the closest country not in this agreement??? Checzh Republic. Yes, formally Checzhoslovakia, behind the iron curtain, now divorced from Slovakia, and is now the place with the cheaper gasoline and perhaps not so many laws as Germany.

We set off from Germany cruising down the autobahn heading towards the Czech border.
Out of One Bundesland (Provence) and into another... by forests, hills, and fields.

More to come ( and pictures too )

Posts

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'Drumrollllllllll'

Ahh, wow, Internet two days in a row! Just in transition today. After the folk and world music festival I have a place to stay from a nice couple for two nights before getting a ride to my next farm. A relatively private location up and over a hill with a good nature feel out of sight of the town and with a long driveway. Today I'm just taking it easy, walking the streets, taking photos and whatnot. Earlier I happened to go by one of the churches at the right time. The organist was practicing and I was able to sit within and absorb the beautiful frequencies that filled the fantastic baroque and Gothic church. Last night when I went to sleep it wasn't really cold but I awoke in the morning sometime to the sound of rain pounding on the roof and to the feel of the cool air which had filled in for the nicer stuff the previous evening. The sleeping arrangements are in the top of a shed which has been made into a sleeping place with several mats spread out on the floor, but it isn't all sealed off and I was silly enough to not ask for a blanket. The occupants of the other 4 mats who I saw after climbing the ladder up to the loft were covered up and probably lost somewhere in dreams. But hey , all for the experience. The place is currently undergoing repair inside and out and several families dwell in a long timber frame building which has the lawn all torn away leaving just dirt. Seeing the beautiful forested Thüringen hills in the morning from my mat was absolutely wonderful though. Some are somewhat mist shrouded and the sky has been somewhat of threatening grey. Now I'm enjoying the Internet cafe and just before coming here I purchased some baking from a bakery. Ah I love it. Streusel and something appleish that's folded over. Ahh, there's something good about just spending some exploring time by yourself!

Rudolstadt

This weekend I have been at a huge folk music festival in the town of Rudolstadt in Thüringen. From blues to Armenian music, to Austrian drinking songs, to hiphopish music!
In this town between the large forest covered Thüringen hills dwell 25 thousand people. But come festival time the number is swelled by perhaps around another 60,000 visitors! Vendors hit the streets, bratwurst, streusel, musical instruments, and more!I was able to stay with the family I wwoofed with in their camping trailer on a street and now here I am near the end of it all just chilling in an Internet cafe! Lots of people, lots of music, and man, that bratwurst is tasty!

http://www.tff-rudolstadt.de/english/index.htm Here is some info!

Hey everyone, here are some pics from my trip. Hope it gives you a bit of an idea of germany.

-Samuel

And still more pictures.

The nice pathway beside the old mill stream.

Wuh-oh - reflections from Germany 'groans'

Time to trim the wild greenery before it gets out of control and swallows all of Germany.

My current residence

An old tractor at a 'Dorf-fest'

DDR Kultur

Nach Mehr Bilder

Part of Sunday afternoon at a small, local airport. Note the windtowers.

Sachsen landscape as seen from Waldenburg

Part of Bachfest in Leipzig

Breakfast time

Dresden

Dresden

Bilder

The Problem With Old Bikes

Last time I updated my blog I slipped in the little details that it was warm and, well, that I had biked perhaps 10k to the Internet cafe in the "Stadt" of Altenburg (city). Please, let me share with you the expanded and more comprehensive version. You see, that day I decided to bike to Altenburg , (that town over 10 k away). It's actually more like 13, and thankfully, I had the loan of what appeared to me to be a rather ancient bicycle from the family. That saved walking (which I wouldn't have done), a bus ticket, or not going at all. The bike itself is of a sky blue colour, with curved handlebars and a good sized seat wrapped in an old sock - for additional comfort I suppose. On the right side is a singe hand break as an extra to the pedal breaks. This particular bike also sang. It ground out a tune of age and abuse as the pedals make their way around in a clockwise manner. Somewhere, perhaps behind the privacy of the chaingaurd something scraped and ground about every so often. Also, after some section of road or side walk that was very bumpy (or perhaps going of a curb with a good bang) , the chain guard was knocked loose allowing the chain to strike it with a 'ping ping ping ping' until you landed a good kick on it banging it back free of the chain. (that didn't always work either) So I set off from the village talking a shortcut over a narrow non paved lane lined in some places with trees. Hardly had I gone far when with the usual clanging I no longer had any resistance from the pedals. Frustratedly I reattached the chain to the rear gear smudging my fingertips with black grease. Setting off over the bumpy lane I managed to get about as far as the end of the lane before the devilish chain came off for the second time. Once more, I was able to make things operational again while picking up more grease and I biked into a little village which I found my way out of onto a more of a main road. Scenicly the route is wonderful and pleasing to the eyes, as the road winds and stretches itself through little villages, up and down hills, beside forests, and by farmers fields. Of course a nice paved shoulder would have been nice, as the cars, trucks. and drivers, didn't always make me feel at ease. But Kilometer after Kilometer I cruised through the countryside with no helmet, no extra gears to choose from, and my old bike. It was when I was part of the way there I noticed that the front tire was sitting not in a normal upright position, but rather was slightly slumped to the left side. Perhaps it even wobbled about. Right before the city I climbed a long hill with the bike, exerting myself, and using my arms as levers on the handle bars to help me turn the pedals - probably too much stress for an old bike. After visiting the Internet cafe I set off again with the bike for the market place in Altenburg. It was when I was coming down a hill that the chain came off for the third time, this time I didn't stop, but allowed myself to simply coast down the hill until I ran out of speed. Pushing the bike a bit further, I came to another street which sloped down towards to the market place. Here I decided to sit on my still chain- detached bike and let gravity do the rest. The single hand break on the right handle bar was a kind design feature for the reason that the pedal breaks have no power to stop the bike with the chain off!! As I coasted down this last hill all of a sudden I had a new handling sensation (and perhaps new sounds) which I had priorly not experienced and with a bad feeling I realized I had to stop the bike as it was now very, very sick and not safe!! It turned out to be that the right fork had broken!! Fortunately I was able to impede my speed and come to a halt. Seeing as the bicycle was not no longer in a good state I began to push it; all the while the jagged edge from the metal on the broken fork clacked over the spokes setting of a racket which sounded in the street heralding my arrival. I locked the bike against a fence and later after phoning the family I am staying with on my handy (cellphone) went to take the bike to the yard of a nearby church. As I pushed the bike through the street it set off the awful ruckess again of 'clang clang clack clang' which was very hard NOT to hear . I passed a man on a bench and another walked by me probably wondering what in the world this guy with this loud bike was doing projecting this nasty noise in the marketplace where the shops were closed and most of the people had left. To make matters more amusing, I was having a very difficult time keeping a straight face as I wanted to laugh at the hilarity of the whole situation. Briefly I thought I could use the bike again as I was able to get about one street over on it before something went wrong again and I had to dismount. This time a I dropped the bike with a resounding crash - the man who passed me earlier was several hundred feet further and he looked back to see where the crash had come from! I abandoned the idea of using the bike, if the fork hadn't been completely severed before, dropping it probably didn't help. Leaving the bike behind the church, the next bus left shortly before 9 - more than and hour away and I had to decide whether to take the bus and wait, or to try to do it on foot. What I decided was the later and about 1 hour and 50 min and more than 13 kilometers later I arrived back in the village after traversing the route I had earlier biked. It is with a feeling of confidence that I say, old bikes are not always reliable.

Somtime I'll try to get some new pictures on and a couple more posts. But now I'm off.

Replay

So a fast overview. I have been with three different families so far (now being my third). I have been in lots of nice little villages, I've been in Berlin visiting my great great cousin, In Dresden, the Baroque city that that was made into a giant fireball, including the beautiful old historical section. ( Bómbing non-industrial areas is very wonderful) Thankfully much has been restored and it's very beautiful. Leipzig I have also been in, in fact I was able to take in a bit of Bachfest 2007 where I heard a beautiful choir in a wonderful old church where Bach had been in and played one of the organs, and an open air orchestra! To get from where I was in Mecklenburg to where I am now , I hitchhiked most of the way with three different rides! ( over 200 k ) . Right now I am in a nice farmhouse with a timber frame, and buildings which are all arranged that there is a courtyard in the centre and a gate to enter in by car through the 'Turhaus'. The small farm is situated in the little village which has 2 pubs and one small store. Scenery wise, it's wonderful, little villages hear and there, green rolling hills, church spires, and in a couple places along the roads (which are mostly narrower than in Canada) are cherry trees which I have been up!! I think being a Canadian, the differences here are very quaint, scenic, and attractive, such as how things are closer together (like the sides of the roads). My impression is that Germans would love to go to places like the Rocky Mountains, and see beautiful big, open, wild areas. The grass is always greener on the other side isn't it, but only because we've gotten used to the colour of our own grass.

My, I need to get a new pictures up, it looks to warm for summer... doesn't it just make you sweat looking at it... having a jacket on and all....

A little history

Hey again everyone, I have just recently biked a nice little section of road (maybe at least 10 k) to come from my little village or 'dorf' of Frohnsdorf. It's hot too! With biking up ... and down.. it makes on sweat. Right now I am in Altenburg in Thuringa. I just uploaded a map of Germany so you can all have an idea of where I am over the Ocean. First I was near the top in 'Mecklenburg' and now I am in Thuringen! My trip is so broad in experience and deep in culture... musically, historically, architecturally! Well, I guess what I should do is give you an overview... or shall we say the highlights and the re-plays.

The part of Germany that I am in right now and have been in for almost all of my trip so far is the former German Democratic Republic... don't let the name fool you though, it wasn't much of a democratic republic. It was the former east Germany, behind the iron curtain! I recommend scanning a wikipedia article if you're not familiar with the history. But from 1949 'til the reunification of east and west Germany you had East Germany. In order to keep all their citizens in the East German Government had to build fortifications such as barbed wire, mines... etc... on their border... a rather large cow pasture with greener grass on the other side of the fence. If you take a look at the map, the provinces of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sachson Anhalt, Brandenburg, Sachsen, Thuringen, and part of Berlin were all East Germany. In Berlin there was actually a part that belonged to west Germany and thus you had the Berlin wall. Picture an island of land behind the iron curtain! The east Germans were spied on, their mail was opened, some of their telephone calls were recorded, and some dissenters were imprisoned, while some people were shot while trying to escape. It is very amusing that the GDR told their people that the wall, (or the border fortifications) were to keep the west Germans out. The goal was socialism and the result was collapse. The government played God, and you had to wait many years just to receive a car! But most wonderfully enough people had had enough and events took place that In 1989 east and west shook hands and now they are together. However, some of the scars still remain. In some places are abandoned factories, houses, and buildings in need of repair. I have been a few of these buildings. As I understand it there are a few factors; people moved to the west leaving houses behind, factories couldn't keep up with the west, in the East people were forced to charge very low rent and so they couldn't afford to keep buildings up and I've also heard that factories would come to the west and buy up the cheap factories to cut out the competition. Unemployment is also very high in the former East. Anyway, It is very wonderful that things are back together and more freedom has prevailed. Living in the east many people had the same consumer goods as the guy next store, such as the cars (when you got one). You lacked the diversity that we have in a more free market, and I was told beautiful things were rare. Adding to the problems, was that the church also suffered under the Government. It must have been so exciting to escape from the east to the west!!! In one case 3 brothers all at three different times made it over! The last one being picked up by his brother in a very small airplane painted with Russian decals on the wings!

If you want to see the photos in more detail... such as the one with the windtowers which aren't so wonderfully visable, I believe you can click on the photos to make them bigger.

Early Impressions

Two things that struck me were all the yellow fields and the wind towers!
Both are energy production related. The yellow crop they call 'raps' is for making oil ( like for salads and cooking I am told) The tall wind towers which with their tall white slender bodies topped with their tri-blade fixtures are wayyyyyy more frequent than in Canada and can be found here and there mainly in groups like so many strange beasts gathered to cut the breeze. I was told that 15% of the country's ?electricity? comes from wind towers! Floating through the air was the delicious aroma of the raps and due to the unusually warm weather , spring had come early which was a pleasant sight and a contrast from the Canada I had left behind. One other thing was that the van that Torsten ( the father of the first family I was at) was driving was a Mercedes Benz and STANDARD. Manual transmission here is very very popular! They know the way to do it! Also it is my personal belief that the drivers are crazier than back home haha. But the roads here I love, it's like your closer to nature and in some places they have what the call and Allie (probably not spelled right) but think 'ah-lee' which is basically trees lining both sides of the road and hanging over the road! It's wonderful! I should put a pic up some time. So, there I was , finally traveling through the place I'd wanted to visit! Not talking to someone from there while in Canada, not looking at pictures but traveling through it, breathing the air, and taking in he sights. The family first family lives at the end of a little stone village road in a tiny village called Augzin which is basically just a collection of houses but very quaint and lovely. Their house used to be a barn and house attached to each other but now is renovated and the whole thing is quite liveable. The walls are of red brick and the roof of warm, old tiles or 'dachsteine' - roofrocks - . Being the last house it's very nice to have houses only to the east side but it's not exactly a party street and it's very pleasant. In the family are 3 boys and 2 girls. The oldest 13 and the youngest like 2. The father is an electrician for solar energy and has his own firm which has three employees.

On the way to Torsten's house we stopped at a bakery! yum! Picked up a couple of his kids from school and one of his worker's children and at last we arrived at the house, my first stay in Germany, at the end of a bumpy little stone road. I had arrived! (more to come)

Maybe I should kind of actually give you all an interview of my trip:

I am in Europe and mainly in Germany for almost 5 months wwoofing, trying to learn german, having fun , and visiting different places. Wwoofing is just working on an organic farm or place without getting paid but getting your room and board and in my case living with families. (world wide oppertunities on organic farms) www.wwoof.de While I'm here in Europe though I'm going to be visiting some relatives, seeing the town where my Opa grew up, and visiting my friend in Garmisch Partenkirchen ( a nice place in Bavaria ). I have been in Berlin, hopefully will be going to Neurenburg, and will be departing on the airplane from Paris. My first 2 farm stays have been more in the northern part of Germany, and on saturday I leave for 2 months in 2 diferent places in Thuringia.

Man, I should have done this a month ago. Ah, regardless, I will try to fill you in on what's taken place in the last month and try to be a little better from now on. On April 24th 2007 I boarded a plane at Pearson International airport in Toronto and flew to Europe. The flight was about 7 hours or so long and I left in the evening and arrived in Amsterdam's airport the next morning (6 hours forward ) . Sleeping was difficult on the plane and possibly would have been better if I had had the window seat. As it was I had the centre. To my left was a man originally from Pakistan and to my right a lady originally from Nigeria. ( both don't live in their old countries anymore) Onboard the service was teriffic from the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines! To my own discredit I clumsily tipped part of my coffee over causing some soak into my jeans! Garrr... lol. When I was in the airport before my connect to Berlin I hit the washroom and worked away trying to get rid of the coffee stain. While It wasn't an entirely successful venture the result was at least better than before. Boarding the plane to Berlin I actually carried my guitar onboard with me annnd my backpack! They just found a spot for my guitar and I got it back on my way out. Now I know for any future travel that you don't have to pull teeth to get an instrument safely through air travel. Arriving before 12 pm in Berlin I wasn't asked any questions about what I was planning on doing in Germany...
There was no trouble finding my pickup and off we went... Before too long we we were whizzing along away from Berlin on the highway heading for the Bundesland (state or provence) of Mecklinburg-Vorpommern!

Hey everyone! So now I have a blog...you know one of those places you try to write a few thoughts down so people can connect to your wavelength every now and again. I will try to update it more than once every millennium but we'll see what happens because the next place I am at has no internet . 'clutches throat' NO INTERNET ... das ist nicht gut!! So I will have to go to an Icafe...or something. So... following this should be some more posts with writing and perhaps even... Bilder.... (pics)