24 August 2008
Day out at the lake
One of the traditional places to visit was Ebnisee and today was the ideal day to do it being warm and sunny.
The history was interesting too. Apparently timber was cut in winter and horses hauled sledges onto the frozen lake. In the spring the water would melt and the wood would be rafted down the Murr and Neckar to Waiblingen where the mills would process it and transport the finished timber to Stuttgart where it was used as firewood. Then 250 years ago a dam was built forming the lake and the timber trade went by cart. Then the railway was built and retired the carts and the lake was allowed to dry. The only thing that saved the lake was because the mills needed water power and an important road was built on the dam itself so it was restored. Now it regulates the flow of water providing a buffer against flooding and it is a reservoir.
When you are small it seems so far away from Backnang but it really was fairly local. Google says driving time is 24 minutes. Dad was navigating and we found all the twists and turns on the tiny roads through little villages starting from Sachsenweiler. Eventually we hit a main road and it was full of touring motorbikes and very fit cyclists as this became an hilly route. It turns out that Ebnisee was on everyone else's mind today and the overflow car parking was busy. A fleet of shiny motorbikes obstructed the entrance to the loos. I recall quiet lakeside walks and picnics on the grass. Stepping into the water with squishy mud between my toes and bobbing about on a blue lilo that had a mysterious cloth effect. Also munching tomatoes as if they were apples. Now it is very busy with a thriving boat hire business, sausage and ice cream stops at regular intervals and a pub overlooking the lake. We didn't get too far before we got snared by one such sausage stand.
It also didn't take long before the youngest boy's Wurst escaped and hit the Erde. Is 50 old enough not to need to go on or in the water? I reckoned that I could leave the boating antics to the young folks and went on a walking circumnavigation of the lake pushing the buggy that had been vacated by the boat girl. Boats and swimmers flitted up and down the lake.
A little island was refuge to the ducks. Pony rides went up and down the trails. Bicycles meandered around. In the woodlands a carver was selling his sculptures. Soon we got to the swimming area and the gently sloping grass leading into the water was still there. So was the Familie Wörner
snack hut but it seemed to be much bigger and there was a big area taken over for seating. Further along was a quiet bay where few boats strayed and I fed the ducks with some surplus bread. The fishes seemed more interested so I fed them. Tiny crumbs of bread would start to sink and then they would blink out of sight as a fat sleek fish snapped it up. I went back to the cafe and got a coffee while we waited for the aquatic family members to return. All back together we got around three quarters of the way when we got distracted by an ice cream hut perched up a woody slope. Then we got distracted by the children's play area. Then we got distracted by the pony rides so the kids got kitted up and went on a little excursion.
A baby horse followed the group on the incline that lead back to the lakeside. I went back to feed the fishes. We collected the cars and headed back to Backnang. Were we done with the fun yet? Not at all. We zoomed off into Backnang and had a Chinese meal outdoors with a view of the old tower while the sun went down. The kids did a few races while waiting for dinner and Alice did a few rounds of "Consequences".
The Germans don't quite get the concept of how Chinese food should be served. They came out with individual plates, each one a complete meal and not designed for sharing. We pulled that system apart. As it got darker the town clock tolled again and again and the gas lighting came on. The whole centre of town has traditional looking but thoroughly modern gas lighting and despite the fragility of gas mantles I didn't see any lamp that failed to start. After dinner we went up the hill, past a terrified brown mouse
and the display of the mighty Telefunken TR4 which can do a division in only 50mS up to the wine festival. The square at the top of the town was alive with many stalls selling their local wine. Musicians were out and about. The many tables were packed with a lively crowd. As well as wine there was food such as sausages and Spanferkel which sounds like a car problem, "Its yer Spanferkel thats gone mate, s'gonna cost you.", but it is actually suckling pig sandwiches. We settled on the Reitenauer white from Weinbau Grüber, a very fresh and fruity wine and the kids had some fruit juice.
Finally we strolled back to the cars in Bleichweise (last public execution 1848) and headed back to Allmersbach.
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