Sunday 26 July 2009

Holidays (Part 2) – More on German Style

The first night we arrived we were invited to a Yugoslavian restaurant by our friendly German hosts. To tell the truth, by the time we got to Meldorf we were quite tired, but it seemed rude to refuse, so we joined in… And I must admit we had a lovely evening!

Well, I certainly did as I ordered a plate of prawns with salad and they came in a huge bowl, laid out in a circle somehow pointing their heads up like small cobras. It was impressive, but I didn’t have my camera with me. And thinking about it, even if I had it, I’m not sure if I would have taken a photo… Germans have lots of rules, some things are ‘Verboten’ (forbidden) and for some things you just need to have an ‘Ausweiss’ (license). I have noticed that several years ago and while visiting Germany I tend to be very cautious.

On the day we went to Busum (a small, but busy German North sea resort) and didn’t have our hosts with us, I sneakily took a photo of my plate – so you can see that their cooks are good at creating wonders! And if you ever end up in Busum you must have fish or sea food – lovely smell from some restaurant just won’t let you go by.

Talking about small towns, which are worth a look if you happen to travel round those parts – make sure you spend a few hours in Friedrichstadt. It’s a town situated on river Eide and its history goes back to 1621, when it was founded by Dutch settlers! Duke Friedrich III of Holstein-Gottorp pursued them to invest capital and knowledge in this region in turn for freedom of their Mennonite and Remonstrant religion and opportunities to reclaim fen and marsh land in the vicinity of the town. At the time Dutch became an official language, but by 1630, many citizens had already returned to the Netherlands as the city did not become as successful as anticipated. Nowadays it’s a cute little town with very ornate architecture, long canals and in the summer – lots of colourful roses.

I think that people in this German region lead very good lives – the food is tasty and they can spoil themselves enjoying sea food, small towns are close to each other and are easily reached by not busy country roads, the nature is nice and provides all sorts of ways to spend your free time… Have a guess what Germans like the most? Of course cycling! If you ask me they are ‘enbischen verruckt’ (a little bit crazy) with their bikes, but on the other hand it must be healthy and eco friendly.

Yes, Germans have a lot to teach... ‘Ordnung muss zein’ (there has to be order) is obviously working – my boyfriend kept wondering: ‘the country is bigger than England, but trains are always on time!’. (Well, nearly always…) Just before going home we had a chance to visit Hamburg and we went there by train. To get to this city we had to change 2 times, so we ended up traveling on 4 German trains - all were clean and comfortable and only the last one was 5 minutes late, but we were going into the second biggest city in Germany (6th biggest in the EU), so you can always expect such delays.

I must admit the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is nice, but a bit too big for my liking. There’s much to see and the cultural life must be amazing, but I had to do a lot of walking, so my feet were hurting and I was turning into a grumpy tourist, who didn’t manage to take lots of photos… Just a few – a busy café near one of the canals (these are always packed with tired grumpy foreigners) and of the town hall, which is really huge!





To be continued...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Kristina, I will have to wait to read your wonderful entry, but just wanted to let you know the recipe for the coconut cake with lime glaze is here :-)