Day 3

August 20
Our early morning stroll revealed the complete lack of shops unless you wanted some metalwork or windows. Even the school was empty as it was their holidays too. We met a woman pushing a buggy who told us that Großaspach was our best bet. We returned and took the car out and found bakeries and a supermarket. Busy housewives went about with their handbaskets grabbing breakfast goods. We also stocked up on brötchen and jam.We also got a pretzel because Tammy quite liked the one we had at the Watson's the day before. We also visited the supermarket for meat, cheese and milk.
At breakfast the brand new coffee machine from Lidl did a fine job. We did however have to close the kitchen window because next door was also home to a nest of wasps, some of which blundered in.

After breakfast there was time for a little tour.

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The house was on a long thin strip of land. At the back an huge garage full of machine tools. Past that was a shed with wine making implements and then a patch of garden with apple trees, raspberries and grapes. Right at the end was an industrial type of metal gate that moved on rollers and could admit large vehicles complete with the owner's name welded onto it: Spörl. Then it was off to Backnang and a quick look round the station to check on train times and parking.

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Then a quick trip to Mum's grave and a walk back down the hill passing by the bank and finally to grab a bratwurst in the street. Backnang looking more like a chocolate box lid than ever.

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Then we went to the much less pretty side of Backnang to a serious shop. Kaufland is Lidl on steroids. It ranges over two levels and has it's own food court.
The first thing that you see inside Kaufland is a room full of bicycles. For €100 you can get a practical basic bike with dynamo lighting, a rack, stand and mudguards. For €160 you can get upgraded with more gears and an aluminium frame. It was almost cheap enough to buy for the holiday and leave behind aferwards. There were good cycle tracks everywhere and many restricted roads ideal for two wheels. It would have been nice to spin down to the Backerei in the mornings instead of hopping into the Mondeo. The next thing was saw in Kaufland was the landlady with a bulging trolley preparing for her daughter's birthday party.

Back in the apartment we prepared the living room for the arrival of the children. Glass from the cabinet was decanted to the kitchen out of harms way. The new white leather sofas were covered up with sheets.

For the evening meal we tried out the kitchen with tex-mex. On the menu were chicken fajitas and Vaihingen wine. Eating chicken wraps is a skill that needs to be mastered. Inge's promptly fell apart. Then it was an early night because Inge had a train to catch at dawn.

The Weinberg - Day 4

August 21
Dad got up extremely early to take Inge to the station and returning with dad were Sylvia, Theo and Rosie. The train ride all the way from London was of course very exhausting for Sylvia so we let her have a nap while we took the kids out for a walk up the Weinberg.
The base of the Weinberg was surrounded by farms, mostly arable and the few cows around were kept under cover. Orchards covered the lower slopes. Apple trees with heavy fruiting boughs supported by stakes. Plum trees dropped their fruit across the ground. The hill rose steeply making Rosie's buggy hard to push. The first stop were the beehives. This was high density living for bees with maybe 40 compartments stacked up in a grid. We stood in the flightpath for a minute but Theo wasn't so sure so we moved on upwards. A new hut had been built apparently to support the wine trade. A stack of leaflets advertised the wine festival in Backnang next week. Nice timing! I tasted a couple of the grapes.

From TamPicsBacknang2008

They were small and sweet and full of pips. We went up a little further and when we got to the top Rosie got her energy back and we had a ramble around the vines.

From TamPicsBacknang2008

A chap was in the middle of the vines clipping away and many bunches lay rotting on the ground. It looked like a big waste of grapes but the extra air and light reduced the risk of fungal diseases and let the remaining fruit swell and ripen properly. Up in the Weinberg was an ideal place for eagles and occasionally we would hear a screech as one rode the thermals over us. On the trip down we sampled some of the plums.

When Sylvia recovered from her train journey went off to see Hilla. She now lives in a tidy block of flats with a pleasant garden.

From TamPicsBacknang2008

Horst was there being a splendid host. Christel turned up too with Andy. Hilla had a great spread of cakes and coffee. She also had little bottles of condensed milk which was an innovation. The last time I saw Hilla 32 years previously the same brand milk was in little cans. Horst had a big supply of stuff for the kids. An extensive collection of dinosaurs were in the toy box and soon were all over the floor. Before we left, the children had all been given some new toys and the adults had bottles of wine AND we also very generously had the loan of Christel's car for the remainder of the holiday.
In the evening a bright yellow hot air balloon balloon took advantage of the warm calm conditions. It sported the tool manufacturer name Kärcher. The kids took advantage of the sat tv and watched the cartoon network in German.

Allmersbach by Night

Arrival
August 19 - Nightfall
Were our hosts pleased to see us? They didn't seem to be too impressed with our timekeeping as it was later than we had promised and quite dark. We unloaded the car and got settled in. Not having any space for provisions we were stuck for dinner. A trip to Grossaspach revealed that the only place for a snack was the kebab place where the scooter gangs and mosquitoes hang out. Oh well. The traditional German fare would have to wait. The house itself was just freshly renovated. Two stories with independent flats plus loft and basement. Each one kitted out with new bathroom, kitchen and furniture. Some of the kitchen equipment looked familiar. In fact much of it came from Lidl. The lounges sported an huge TV with satellite.

From TamPicsBacknang2008

Unfortunately upstairs also had brand new white leather suite which didn't look practical for kids. None of the clocks worked as they had run their batteries down. The lounge clock was actually stuck to the wall by a stack of sticky pads so that was best left alone.Another curiosity was the metalwork. Clearly the owner of the house took his work home with him. The bannisters, patio tables and chairs, decorative ironwork in the garden, the big gate, even the mail holder and the massively sturdy stainless steel barbecue were evidence of this. The shower unit was a bit over the top. You don't really need a radio, lighting and side jets all controlled by a remote handset. Likewise the big TV seemed a bit excessive. The waste bins were perplexing and we took some time to figure out how waste should be sorted. Blue, brown, grey or yellow just confused us. But overall very comfortable and well equipped and in a lovely rural location.

Return to Backnang Day 2

19 August
Luxembourg to Allmersbach am Weinberg
So there we were in the Seweburen Hotel, Rue Des Sept Fontaines. There were water pumping stations either side of the road so it was fanciful to think that this was the location of the seven springs. Although it is only a little side road now, I think that it was once the road that led to the village called Septfontaines. This name returns later in the trip because Simmer is actually the Luxemburgish for Septfontaines and that was the name of the hotel for the return trip. We had a breakfast. It was a quiet breakfast because there were no other residents there. After having squirreled away some breakfast apples for later I set out on a tour of the woods behind Seweburen with Tammy. The trail is varied with muddy fern filled trails, leafy shaded forests and some steep climbs. And the first sighting of the giant orange slug.
Back on the road we spin too far round the ring road and find ourselves spun off too far north we end up stuck in the heavy traffic of Trier creeping down into the Mosel valley. All of a sudden there are wind turbines everywhere, fields with solar cell arrays and every hillside carpeted with vineyards.

From holiday blog

Having not reached our target lunch stop we instead stop in Kaiserslauten at the first convenient place that we could park at. Unfortunately that just happens to be Macdonalds.

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Leaving Kaiserslauten the ride become much more interesting and we go on a long winding descent with the railway continuously crossing our path in and out of tunnels and picture box villages with rural train stations on the way. There were quaint village names too like Frankenstein and quite a few mills presumably built to harness the water that tumbled down the river towards Neustadt an der Weinstraße.
Instead of going straight to our destination we did a little detour to Vaihingen an der Enz with a left turn at Burger King to do a tea delivery. Here we met an interesting couple called Ian and Ingrid Watson.

From TamPicsBacknang2008

Ingrid is a painter but not just an ordinary painter. She paints on silk and to prevent the colours from running she has to apply small amounts of paint and then use an hairdryer to set the paint before the next brush stroke. Ian has a problem with low blood pressure and untreated he would lack any energy. The solution is dried leaves in boiling water but not any old tea. This has to be Fair Trade Tea from Marks and Spencers as apparently it is much more potent than your average tea. Without it Ian can not function and we brought a few months of this vital supply direct from Brent Cross.

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To thank us they gave us a magnificent spread in proper German style with pastries and pretzels and strong hot coffee (but Ian had tea). They pressed some bottles of the local sweet red Vaihingen wine into our hands as we departed.
Heading on at sunset a passing shower lit the sky up with a rainbow that spanned a complete arc down to the horizon. Our location was meant that we could follow this rainbow for the next 15 minutes and only the setting of the sun finally extinguished it.

From holiday blog

Welcome back to Backnang!

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Fisher Price - My First Blog
Day 1. 18 August.
Wembley to Dover
These are the adventures of our trip to Germany. We packed the Mondeo as high as it would go. The reusable glass bottles were just a bit too much so they would have to wait for the next trip. It was very early in the morning and we set out across London in the dark and before the congestion charge kicked in. As you would expect in summer in England it was pouring with rain. The air-conditioning doing a good job of blowing away condensation from the window. We twisted and turned through some god forsaken place like Lewisham and past the kebab and pizza places. Was that a giant eagle black silhouetted swooping down in front of us through the driving rain as we rounded a corner? Probably not.
After one additional stop at a petrol station on Blackheath where fortunately the toilets were open we picked up speed as the roads opened out and turned into motorway through Kent. A foggy dawn slowly rose under the heavy clouds and with absolutely no traffic jams or diversions we found ourselves in Dover with many hours to spare! We were so early that Tesco had not yet opened so we filled up with petrol and waited for the shutters to go up.
Inside we got a few supplies including soy sauce. As it turns out there was no need these days because Kaufland stocks at least four different types. Finally we went to the Ferry terminal and sat with the rain battering the car roof.
Dover to Dunkerque
We were expecting a heavy swell on the sea but the weather cheered up soon after we left Dover.

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The Norfolk Line seems to carry an huge amount of freight and the cars squeeze in between the huge trucks. We grabbed a pile of crockery and a jug of boiling water and we made our own coffee. Well every penny helps.

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The ferry slides into a very unglamorous industrial harbour and in the distance is the remains of a railway that used to load trains directly onto ships.

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Dunkerque to Luxembourg

Whizzing down the autoroutes we swished rapidly through France and arrays of wind turbines and all the fabulous Routier restaurants and ended up in Belgium. There were some safety messages which I think translated to "If you drive too fast you won't see it".

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They didn't have much imagination where it came to thinking up other messages because the same one was repeated often along the way. We stopped at the motorway services. Apparently the services don't include free toilets because there were many truckers making use of the light tree cover. Inside the quiet restaurant we ordered some moules in white wine sauce and frites. A few of the moules had some extra passengers in the form of tiny crabs.

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Heading on we soon got to Luxembourg

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and another motorway stop in the same chain. But before we got there we saw a massive jam caused by a big caravan having come down this hill too fast.

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It must have picked up speed down the hill and just where it crossed the river it had turned from a luxury home into matchwood.
By the mid afternoon at the next services we fell foul of two misunderstandings. Firstly the coffee refills don't apply to cappuccinos and secondly you need some change if you want to go to the loo. A handful of change averts an international situation from developing. We soon get to Luxembourg City and we unload into our hotel where a lot of people are eating dinner. We wander down the road in search of a Chinese Restaurant but oh dear, they are closed for their holidays.

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What we didn't realise is that there was another one just around the corner but we never got that far. Inge went into a bar and asked for directions from the ladies of the night.

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Wherever it was that they suggested the place was it wasn't on our maps so we got back into the car and headed down Rue Arlon and finally stopped at the Chapeau Melon. The restaurant lighting was in the form of metal bowler hats which is apparently what Chapeau Melon means. The food was very nice but it was a pity that smoking isn't banned and the chain smokers in the corner never stopped. Inge chose what she thought was a ham sandwich. What turned up was a whole loaf split in two and deeply smothered in folds of sliced meat. In fact it became a part of our lunch time snack for the next day. Then we retired to recharge our batteries and in Tammy's case quite literally for there was a phone, camera and viewer to plug in.