We are booked on Air Canada to Amsterdam were we will pick up a car and travel via Northern Denmark and ferry to Kristiansand in Norway. We plan to see some of the beautiful scenery, Fjords and old Stave Churches. We will visit the area where Irene’s relatives two generations back immigrated from.
We will travel on to Sweden and parts of Eastern Germany where Chris lived in 1945 after he and part of his family were expelled from their home by the Czech Communists. Around August 15 we should be in Munich to visit Chris’s childhood friend, Jutta.
Langenneufnach, Bad Peterstal and Gernsbach round out the trip to visit Chris’s only relatives in Europe. Proud members of Weigl clan, Christian, Walter and Hannemi as well as our friend Ilse Gahn.
A month in Europe is unfortunately not very long. Our return flight leaves Amsterdam on August 26th.
July 28 to August 26, 2003
We picked up a VW Polo in Amsterdam with the intention of driving north to the Lauersee, a birding area for viewing European shore birds. Driving out of a larger European city requires courage, nerves of steel and optimism. We found out that a compass did not work in our case because the needle inside the car always had us going south - a time consuming mistake.
Beside packing all conventional things for an European trip including more than one credit card we had sleeping bags and a tent.
On our firsts night the tent came in handy as all cabins in this remote nature area were completely booked. We carried on the next day to Northern Germany crossing the Elbe River on a ferry. Our overnight was a quite luxurious first floor in a beautiful house, lovely bedroom with TV, a huge modern bathroom and a delicious large breakfast in the morning.
Our Inn in Denmark did not serve breakfast until 9 a.m. so we left without at 7:30 to try to make the ferry from Hirtshals to Kristiansand in Norway.
We arrived at our first overnight in Norway in the Sedetal in the early afternoon. Beautiful lake, cozy cabin. Our unpacking was interrupted by a heavy shower and we locked our keys inside the car. The expert who came from 20 km away to unlock the car accidentally shattered our window. He towed our car to his facility in the next town and supplied us with a replacement car for four days. We travelled around the beautiful southern, mountainous Norway including several Fjords including one that shimmered dark blue as we viewed the sight from about 900 meters above.
After visiting Oslo we saw beautiful old wooden buildings including a Stave Church that was several hundred years old, we climbed to the top of the world famous Ski jump at Holmenkolen for a fantastic view of Oslo.
About 80 km east of Oslo we visited the area where Irene’s mother’s ancestors came from. Third cousins from Washington who spent several months in Orje working on the family genealogy which they have now traced back 4 centuries welcomed us to their home. A work of love that has taken 10 years to document. We had the priviledge of spending an evening with them. The next morning we had the directions to see and visit the old beautifully kept graveyard, chatted with local church members and saw the farm where Irene’s mother’s relatives originated.
The next day we tented near the ocean south of Gotheborg. A short visit to Lund and Falsterbo then over the new bridge to Denmark. Bypassing Copenhagen we spent the night in a small cozy cabin in Guldborg.
A beautiful ferry from Rodby to Puttgarten. Modern with 3 dining rooms, freshly prepared Danish pastries, excellent coffee and duty free shopping. All available during a 45 min crossing. This makes the Canadian and American ferries operating between B.C. and Washington look like very poor cousins.
Wolfenbuttel and Goslar are perfectly preserved towns in Germany with picturesque half-timbered houses and historical buildings and churches.
Hohenwarte near Saalfeld is a small place located below a power dam in Turingia where Chris spent 6 months during 1945 and 46 together with his sister, Mother and Grandmother after being expelled from their home by the Communists. Hartmut, who was 8 years old at the time is now in charge of the family owned Hotel and Restaurant. He remembered Chris with great emotion and we stayed the night and reminisced about those dark days after the war.
Landshut is a beautiful old town north of Munich. After too short a visit our next destination was Munich. We spent 4 days at Jutta Schlerets quiet, gorgeous apartment. Sightseeing, beer gardens and a day with my school friend, Rainer Wallraf, are some of the highlights.
Short visit in Langneufnach and Bad Peterstal to visit Chris’ cousins, Christian and Walter and their families.
One day in the old French town of Saverne, then 2 night in Piesport on the Mosel River. In Grach we went to see Pauly Vinery and chatted with the present owner, the grandson of the man who supplied wines by the container to my Grandparents before the end of the WWII. Green vineyards, some dating back to the Romans and old Castles line this scenic river on both sides. Our last 3 night were spent in Breukelen, Holland. Only minutes by train from Amsterdam we revisited some of the places we enjoyed more than 25 years ago.
Irene identified over 70 new species of birds. We tented 3 times, stayed in huts, hotels, Inns and B&B’s, without any reservations, and a few days with friends for a total of 28 days.
Here are some other points worth mentioning:
1. Bicycle paths connect most towns just like auto routes. We could learn from this and implementing this in Canada could make biking much safer.
2. The limited access highways in Germany still have large sections with no speed limit. Our Polo comfortably did over 130 kph while others passed us constantly.
3. The use of Photo Radar is common everywhere - both for speed and traffic light control.
4. Driver’s discipline is markedly better than in Canada and the U.S.
5. Most everything is more expensive
6. Most cars look less that 5 years old
7. Trains, even commuters travel exceedingly fast, they break very quickly and stop at intermediate stations to allow the Intercity Express (ICC) to barrel through without slowing down. Timing is amazingly precise.
8. All Personal Watercraft (sea doos) are banned in Germany
9. All cell phone use is banned in Germany while driving.
All in all we had a great trip, travelled about 6,000km, stayed healthy, gained a few pounds and arrived home safely.
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