We've been to Hel and back! - Oldenburg, Germany
Oldenburg, Germany
Now we're back in Germany and we have to kill a couple of days before I can collect my Ausweise, so we headed north to Bremerhaven for a few nights. We found a campground at a place called "Spadener See" which was an older campground but was undergoing renovations – the bathrooms were very good with lots of lovely hot water! Anyway, it was only about 10kms cycle to Bremerhaven through country lanes and along a river called the “Geest” and then you were right at the harbour.
When MJ was in Germany in 2008, she and some of her exchange student friends would go to Bremerhaven to visit the Zoo – it’s not a Zoo like Berlin Zoo or Taronga Zoo, it is small but they have a selection of very cute animals, mainly water-based mammals – it isn’t an Acquarium. They have seals, sea lions, penguins, polar bears, a variety of sea-birds, as well as raccoons (Waschbären), guinea-pigs (Meerschweinchen), chimpenzees, marmosets, pumas as well as a few creatures from the Arctic – an Arctic Fox, an Arctic Hare and an Arctic Owl.
Another museum I discovered in Bremerhaven was the Deutsches Auswandererhaus, or the Emigration Museum. When I was there originally, it only dealt with people who had left Germany to go to other countries, however, the main focus of the Museum was America. Five years later, when I brought Nick here to see this Museum, it had expanded and now it covers both Emigration and Immigration. I still love the Emigration part more – and of course, they are doing a special display about German emigration to Australia but it will start at the end of September… when I won’t be here! Regardless of that minor letdown, this museum would have to be one of the BEST museums we have visited – the layout, the way you can follow a particular emigrant from the decision to leave to arrival in New York and their life in America. The museum is laid on chronologically, as in from departure (they have a mock-up of a ship and wharf) to examples of the cabins and finally arrival at Ellis Island. You get the opportunity to answer the questions that these emigrants had to answer – yet again, MJ has been barred from the States! 15 points out of 10 points for this museum!
Now it is almost D-Day for MJ & her Ausweise – will she get it or not? So it’s back to Oldenburg for a few more nights and this time we stayed with Margerete, another friend from Mary Jane’s stay in Oldenburg in 2008. Margarete lives in a Bauhaus-inspired house, very close to the Autobahn to Groningen, but it is also in a really scenic rural setting, and only a few minutes from the largest shopping complex in Oldenburg. We had to fill in a couple of days while waiting for our appointment at the Auslanderbüro, so we went to Bremen for a day. Sadly, the weather wasn’t the best, but we had a great time walking around the Altstadt. We discovered the Schnoor, which translates as “a string of pearls” but there is nothing pearl-like about this old area. In some places, the “streets” were only 1.5m wide!
And now it’s Tuesday and time to head to the Auslanderbüro… would there be any problems with not having the letter that we “had” to have? MJ was starting to get concerning about her translation skills and was doubting if she had understood the official when the appointment was made. But, thankfully, MJ’s translation skills have stood the test of time and after about 10 minutes, we walked out of the office with her new Aufenthaltskarte, which will allow MJ to stay in the EU for up to 5 years. Berlin, here we come!
For our second visit to Berlin, we decided that we wouldn’t stay in the heart of the city, but found a self-catering room, with a shared bathroom (a two-bedroom flat) which was in the old West Berlin area and was on the S-bahn line (S1) to Oranienburg. Our appointment at the Australian Embassy (MJ has to replace her damaged passport – remember??) was at 2pm, but what would we do until then? First stop, of course, was at the Ritter Sport shop (for the uneducated, Ritter Sport is a German-made chocolate that has a multitude of different flavours and tastes great) for a restock of Nick’s favourite Rum Knuspen but then it was off to the Pergamon Museum. A lot of the tourist blurbs rave about this museum and you can see an altar, a gate and a few other VERY old things. Not too sure, but OK. WOW! That’s all we can say! Now as kids we went to church and so we were expecting an altar the size that you might see in a church, or maybe a cathedral. No! The Pergamon Altar is a building, within a building. Apparently the current Pergamon Museum was built specifically for the Pergamon Altar. So next on the agenda was the gate – again, not an ordinary gate but a town gate (only the Inner Gate as the Outer Gate is too big) which is called the Ishtar Gate. We saw lots of really old and amazing artifacts from Assyrian Empire (“up and down like the Assyrian Empire...”). Sadly, we had to leave the Museum early, so that we could get to our appointment, but then we discovered that we could return on the same day without having to pay another entry fee. So, we headed off to the Australian Embassy like a pair of happy little Vegemites. Speaking of Vegemite, just around the corner from the Embassy is an Australia shop where you can buy essential supplies such as Vegemite, Tim Tams, VB and Fosters beer as well as BBQ sauce, but be warned – it is very expensive!
I had promised a comparison between Australian and German bureaucracy – the Germans might be more efficient and not charge as much, but the Aussies are faster! Yes, we got the go-ahead for the replacement passport, signed the form, paid €251 (for the extra-large passport) and were told to come back in 13 days! That’s it! Whilst I didn’t like the cost, I was very happy with the time.
Next on the agenda is Poland. We have mentioned previously that when we were last in Poland, we had a small repair job done on the rear suspension and Tomek discovered that there were also problems with the rear suspension, shocks, hub & axle, as well as a leaking gasket and an oil seal, but apart from that, the old girl was in great form! We had arranged that Trasek would source the parts for us and we would come back to Poland so that they could carry out the repairs. Thankfully Trasek is the Polish agent for OME (Old Man Emu, an Australian product!) which is what we had on the car already, so he could replace like for like. While the Troopy was going to be in the Trasek workshop for her Nip & Tuck session, we headed to the Hel Peninsula for a few days of R&R.
When you look at the map of Poland, look for Gdansk up on the coast and you will see that Gdansk is actually is in a bay and that there is a long, narrow spit of land which runs out into the Bay for 35 kms. Apparently, during the Soviet era, the entire Peninsula was closed as it was home to various military installations, but now it is a popular holiday resort for Poles. We were expecting a cross between the Gold Coast and Byron Bay, but we ended up with something like The Entrance (in NSW, near Wyong) in the 70s. We caught a train from Gydinia to Jurata (last stop before Hel). The train track actually runs along a centre line up the Peninsula and in many places, you could look out both windows and see water, because the Peninsula was so narrow. We discovered that going to the beach on the Baltic is very different to going to the beach in Australia. To start with, the air temperatures will be around 30°C but the water temperature will be closer to 11°C, so very few people actually go into the water. The kids do that perennial thing – build sandcastles but the teenagers and the adults all soak up the sun. They will bring down a windshield (8m of material with a wooden post every metre that is pushed into the sand), deckchairs and towels. They might rent sun-lounges or a wicker beach chair which will hold 2 people, has a foldable hood-type roof and is put in place, with the back to the sea - so you can’t see the water but will be protected from the wind and get maximum sun exposure. Once everything is set up, out comes a box of pastries and everyone has one! Now personally I can’t see the point of eating a sticky bun and getting icky fingers which will end up covered in sand!
It is now Friday and we have left Hel and collected the Troopy from Trasek. It drives like a new car! The ride is very comfortable, courtesy of the new rear suspension but the biggest improvement has been the performance. Tomek had diagnosed an oil leak from the inlet manifold gasket. So he fitted new gaskets and now we have calculated that we’re getting about 10% better fuel economy and greatly improved power, all that air from the Turbo now goes where it should. Very happy guys! Thanks!
And now back to Berlin to collect MJ’s passport but we have to fill in some time as we got here on Saturday and we don’t get the passport until Monday. Instead of staying in Berlin this time, we decided to stay near Potsdam and that way we could spend Sunday at Sans Souci Palace. For those of you who haven’t been there, San Souci is an enormous garden with a number of palaces and other buildings that were built during a number of reigns from Frederick the Great to Kaiser Wilhelm II. We were there for about seven hours – yes, 7 hours of walking around the grounds and walking through a number of the palaces. We visited this place for the first time in 2000 and because we walked around the grounds first, we totally missed getting into any of the palaces that were open at that time. This time, we knew better and the first thing we did was to book a time-slot for Schloß Sans Souci, and then we also got to see inside the Chinese Tea House, the Charottenhof, the Kitchens and Wine Cellars of Sans Souci, the Friedenkirche, as well as walking through the Neues Palais. Sadly, there were still a number of palaces that we didn’t see – but we definitely overdosed on palaces!
Though one quirky thing we discovered was the fact that Frederick the Great wanted to be buried with his dogs but after he died, his wishes were ignored and he was buried in the Potsdam Garrison Church, and it wasn’t until 205 years after his death, in 1991 that his remains were moved to his preferred final resting place. And how can you distinguish his grave? If you go looking for a big flashy piece of marble, then you won’t find him. Look for a concrete slab with “Friedrich der Große” written into the concrete when it was wet, but you will also find potatoes placed on the gravestone, because he introduced potatoes to Prussia and this is thought to be one of his long-standing and greatest achievements!
And so (yes, I know I use this word a lot), with new MJ’s Australian passport in hand and her German ID card in her pocket, we hit the road again and head back to Oldenburg to collect our bikes before we head to France. But, oh wait – apparently we have to go via Munster (not Münster) so that Nick can visit the Deutsches Panzer Museum. Yippee - a whole museum devoted to tanks! That is definitely at the top of MJ’s to-do list – NOT! But being a kind and generous wife, MJ went to the Library whilst Nick spent a couple of hours there. One of the great thing about this museum is that not only do they have about 100 vehicles (tanks included) but they all go! Sadly, we missed the annual Field Day when all the tanks get to go outside and play! But, Nick got to see the Bundeswehr cleaning the tanks after getting all dirty over the weekend. Did I mention the wake-up call we got? We were staying in a campground near Müden, in the Lünebergerheide (just outside Munster) and there is a large Bundeswehr Kaserne and apparently Tuesday is Tank-Firing Practice Day. Yes, that’s right folks, we woke up to the sound of salvos firing in the nearby woods! A great start to the day.
All the washing is done, the pantry has been restocked, the bikes are recharged and back on the car and the car is refuelled – we are ready to continue to the next part of our trip and finally enter a new country! Look out France, here we come!