A welcome welcommen
Trip Start
Mar 29, 2006
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Trip End
Feb 28, 2007
Radolfzell am Bodensee, Germany
Friday, September 1, 2006
A very ordinary breakfast and a very quiet dining room. I don't think there were too many people staying there.
Ten minutes and we were in Freiberg where once again we ended up under a shopping centre and headed towards the cathedral. Surrounding the cathedral was the most wonderful vegetable and fruit market with a scattering of arts and crafts. Wonderful, in that we had not seen such an extensive produce market before. Inside the cathedral it was equally as stunning with one of the most decorative altars, naves, windows and roof. One of the best. But how does one really judge.
Headed east now and stopped at Lake Titisee...a must see, apparently. We parked outdoors on one side of the railway and had to walk under it to reach the town. Somewhere there was a lake but as we emerged from the tunnel there was nothing but gift shops and people. There were more people here than in Freiberg. Around the corner we saw the lake. Nothing special and certainly not very big. It must have gained a reputation over the years as a place to relax and have fun. Reminded me of somewhere like Lakes Entrance without the surf. There were a great many hotels and a concourse of tourist shops, eateries and bars around the shoreline.
Not a lot of pleasure craft on the blue waters. Some were cleverly designed paddle boats that looked like speedboats and others were larger cruise vessels which were filling up as soon as they docked. I am not sure where they cruised to because the lake was not very big and the shoreline appeared to be mostly trees...not a beach or jetty in view across the placid waters.
The highlight of our stroll around the shoreline had to be the cuckoo clock emporium which had not only said noisy time pieces for sale but also some magnificent grandfather clocks with modern accurate mechanisms and olde worlde clock faces. All those pendulous time pieces brought back memories of my time in the gift shop warehouse in Sydney in the 1970's.
There were some interesting food shops with all manner of sausages, cheeses, breads and wines. Not to mention the ice creameries. Lunch, I reckoned, had to be something of each of those so I bought what looked like a German hot dog. All I got was a large sausage in a small, cold, hard, bread roll. We sat on a bench by the side o' see-shore and ate our lunches. Anne had a salad thing which was not particularly appetising either. [Two weeks later as I type this up we still fail to understand why there are not more meat products in this country. What little there is is either ground up and wrapped up in a sausage skin or compressed into and sold as cold luncheon meat. In other words there is rarely any beef steak, lamb chops or sides of pork in the meat shops. You cannot call them butchers. I never saw a side of beef being hacked up. Very little chicken either compared to the mass production we are used to.] We adjourned to an ice cream bar where Anne had a cup of tea and I at last had a spaghetti ice cream. Not what it seems. Only ice cream put through a garlic press.
We bought a phone card but were unable to find a phone box in town to ring U & H, our German hosts, and it was not until we were within 60 km of their house that we found one...a coin operated phone outside a rail museum.
We found their house by following the signs to Radofzell and then Moos after passing through Singen and even had no problem identifying the street and the house opposite the Rathaus. They were very pleased to see us and had prepared afternoon tea which was laid out on their dining table in their sitting room. I particularly enjoyed the home cooked strawberry cheese cake. Conversation was not too difficult They both spoke or at least understood a modicum of English although U admitted she wished we spoke French which she had been studying for years. Horst's English was mostly gained from an intense business course he did some years previously. We both agreed that whilst he could express himself in long English words some of the really small expressions eluded him.
Anyway, we were in good company and conversation did not flag as they made us feel at home and made every effort to ensure we knew how to take care of their home while they were away. But we shall never remember all their instructions. They should have provided us with typed notes.
After feeding us we were whisked off in their small green Peugot to find petrol in Ramsden in that enclave of Switzerland that pushes into that part of the Reich for no apparent reason. Anyway, petrol was cheaper there and this was where they went for their fuel, crossing back and forth into Switzerland. We returned via a circuitous route along the lakeside villages that I would not remember but it gave us an idea of the countryside. We stopped at a restaurant, which I have not been able to find since, and had veal and chips or, in U's case, noodles. Not noodles as we understood them but deep fried, battered spaghetti...I think. At the time they looked most unappetising but I have had a plate full since and it was very tasty. We went to bed at about 11pm in their bed after sitting in the winter room chatting.
