Our next destination, the medieval village of Rothenberg ob der Tauber wasn’t a simple one to reach and was our first foray into regional train lines. The German train company DB has a magnificent phone app that allows you to plan trips and even gives you diary entries with the train number time and platform numbers of arrival and departure. It makes things really easy at the station. Our first train was an IC train to Ansbach. I had booked a reservation for this one and it was very similar to the other trains we had travelled on. The next train from Ansbach to Steinach was a regional one – there is still a first class carriage on regional trains but it is often a closed off section of about 8-10 seats. Most Germans don’t bother travelling first class – as an over 25 Australian traveler, we can only buy a first class Eurail pass so we took advantage of it and the access to readily available seats. The next train was a small, two or three carriage train that would probably have been a commuter train if it wasn’t out in the middle of nowhere. We passed through a town here called Schweindorf on the way to Rothenberg ob der Tauber.

From the train station, we walked toward the walled old town, passing an ever increasing number of 200-300 year old dwellings and various hotels and restaurants. Another hot ticket on the German tourist trail, it was clear Rothenberg was all about the tourist dollar. In my experience that usually means prices that are twice as high. That wasn’t the case here though. The prices were really reasonable and were quite similar to those in all other areas of Germany we had previously been. After a slight misdirection, we realised we needed to go through the gate that leads into the walled medieval town. It really is quite a spectacular site. All cobblestoned and contained within a continuous wall around the town. Because modern life allows cars rather than horse drawn carriages to enter the town, on foot you weave your way through the side entrances to the gate and across the pedestrian part of the bridge. After we visited our first Christmas market Dan pondered why anyone would visit Germany at any other time of year. This is doubly so of Rothenberg o.d.T. Not because of the Christmas market – there was one but it closed at 6pm and wasn’t really any more spectacular than any of the others we had seen. But just because these rows of candy coloured medieval houses along cobblestoned laneways somehow look even more appropriate with Christmas wreaths nailed to the door and brightly lit trees on the stoop. (Nature Boy – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – a newer track but a good one – the thing that always impresses me about Nick Cave is his exceptional ability as a lyricist.)

Our hotel, which was right in the centre of the town square, had been made available by joining four of the original aristocratic houses to form what was quite a large hotel. It had been in the same family for hundreds of years until 2006 and none of the work to make it a comfortable hotel had taken any of its character. It was magnificent – all hard wood floors and banisters with rich carpet runners. Our room wasn’t exactly medieval in its decoration but it did have quite lush wallpaper that invoked the 1900s and a sleigh bed – even if it was painted cream. And the floorboards were authentically creaky. We chilled in the room for a little while and then headed out to find something to eat.

There was a big range of restaurants from doner kebab to high end. After wandering for a while we came across a restaurant offering traditional German fare. It had been modernized inside and whomever had designed the fitout and really thought about the wait staff. There was a bar and servery area off to the left with plenty of space and on the right was a kitchen with an automatic opening door and the server area directly in front when the wait staff enter. In front of the door there was plenty of room for the wait staff to stand where they could see the whole floor and respond quickly to the needs of their customers. As a result the service was great (and so by the way, was the food). We were pretty hungry as we hadn’t eaten since breakfast so we ordered entrees. I had a beef broth with pancake strips which was just what the doctor ordered and Dan enjoyed a plate of meats, cheeses and olives. Dan said the olives were so-so but the other produce was excellent. For mains I had the roast pork which came with potato dumplings and awesome gravy (as well as a side salad). Dan had a pork steak with chips and salad (and the same awesome gravy). I enjoyed a great local Riesling (learning the word for dryer helped me choose a quite dry Riesling from the menu – and Dan again had the local beer.  We rounded it off by sharing an apple strudel. And then it was time to retire. (California Sky – Unwritten Law – one of my fave So-Cal punk bands, with the world’s craziest drummer. California Sky really invokes that big sky you see in the States and at home but not here in Europe. I’m not sure why – there are certainly big skies but it just doesn’t feel as big and open as at home.)

The next morning we took it a bit easy and wandered down for the hotel breakfast. It was magnificent – with much the same offerings as our previous hotels but here it was all high end regional produce and it was delectable. The breakfast room too was spectacular. It was a large tiered room created between the houses and also featured full length windows that lead out to an elevated terrace in the summer. A very pleasant way to start the day. Unfortunately Dan was feeling rather woeful so could only stomach a couple of croissants. After breakfast we went out to wander around the lanes of the town. We walked to the edge of the old town where the morning sun was hitting and peered out over the wall to the frosty farmlands below. Dan decided to go back and lie down until we had to leave. I kept wandering through the streets.

You often forget that people actually live in these towns. Just a few lanes away from the main tourist street, locals were scurrying to get their morning bread, delivery vans were trying to find somewhere to park while delivering produce and the garbage truck was coming to collect the bags piled high on the streets. I still had to get a Christmas ornament for our tree. Most of the stores opened at 10am although I found a little store run by an enterprising older German lady that was already open. I went inside to look around and when the young girl that worked in the store asked if I needed any help, the elderly lady immediately recognized my accent. It turns out she knows Canberra pretty well as she had spent 25 years living in Australia when her husband worked on the snowy scheme. My father had worked there too. She also had a son who lived in Kiama. Small world. She said she fondly remembers her time in Australia and goes back to visit every year. She so enjoyed her trip down memory lane that she offered me a 10 per cent discount on anything I bought and gave me a free map of the pace that usually cost a couple of Euros.

Christmas themed activities – 13  War museums and model shops – 1.5 Design experiences – 1

When you arrive in Stuttgart, the first thing you notice is how hilly it is. The train arrives at the main train station ion the centre of town and the CBD itself, which is mostly modern, are in the bottom of the valley. Our hotel on the other hand looked to be about a kilometer up the hill. Tired and both still feeling a bit under the weather, we opted for the lazy option of a taxi. I am pretty sure the taxi driver took us the long way and like all cabbies here rounded up to the nearest 10 euro. Fortunately that was the fare – 10 euro. It was getting quite dark and cold when we arrived but you could still see the houses. The hotel was in what I would consider a semi suburban area. Although unlike a lot of the rest of Stuttgart, which is quite modern and filled with apartments, The houses here look a lot more like the traditional German Black forest houses with three or four stories and wide verandahs. They were set high on the hill over several floors with a smattering of newer buildings amongst them. It was the sort of scene you’d see in the suburbs of Brisbane but with houses from Heidi. The hotel itself was also quite twee but very comfortable. Dan took the opportunity to have a snooze and I kept myself occupied online for a couple of hours, despite another substandard internet connection.

We had asked at reception about local restaurants = they had suggested two Italian and one Turkish option. We’d already had Italian a couple of times on this trip and without a local option, we decided that Turkish was the best alternative. Germany has quite a large Turkish population and I had noticed quite a few people of Turkish descent when we arrived in Stuttgart. We took the large but not very detailed map the hotel had given us and would our way through the street until we found the restaurant. In fact we had probably walked about two thirds of the way back to the city centre – although there was quite a steep descent (and a huge amount of stairs) between us and the train station. The restaurant initially looked closed but the proprietor welcomed us inside. The menu was authentic Turkish; chock full of the dishes you find on menus in Turkey – not the Australian version with Turkish pizza and three different kinds of skewered kebabs with salad and rice. Dan had a meat dish that he had enjoyed at a restaurant in Melbourne as a child and I had the mine and spinach with yoghurt. We also ordered fried cheese for entrée. It arrived with bread and dips and two glasses of Turkish wasser (Raki). We drank to be hospitable and Dan also had a couple of beers so he was well and truly under the weather when we left the restaurant. The meal was fabulous – some of the best Turkish we have ever had and our host was more than hospitable. What’s more the bill for the meal was only about 45 euro. After dinner we wandered in circles for a while until we found the hotel. The streets were pretty confusing and the map was really badly drawn. Eventually we made it back and hit the hay. (Tomorrow’s Just Another Day – Madness – from the Rise and Fall – probably one of their more depressing albums really. Still can’t believe we are going to see them on New Year’s Eve)

Next morning we woke early and went down for the hotel breakfast – Dan’s cold had really set in and he was also suffering from a bit of a Raki-induced hangover so could only stomach a bowl of cornflakes and toast. I had a bit more of a substantial breakfast – all the standards were here – breads, cold meats and cheeses, yoghurt and cereal, scrambled eggs, bacon and mini sausages – and I had a cup of tea – just what I always feel like when I have a cold. Unfortunately I made the classic beginner’s mistake in Germany. The milk on the table is designed to have with coffee as it is a milk-cream mix.

Loaded up it was time for the real reason we had come to Stuttgart – a visit to the Porsche museum. You can catch a train to the museum from the station. Not wanting to waste time walking back to the hotel to collect our bags as our stay in Stuttgart was short, we decided to catch a taxi to the station and leave our bags at the left luggage counter for a couple of hours. We worked out the train ticketing system and headed for Porsche Platz. The building itself was striking and right there in your face when you got off the train. There was only one problem. It was closed. In my planning, I had forgotten the golden rule of travelling in Europe. Almost all museums are closed on Monday. And it wasn’t just the Porsche Museum either. The Mercedes Benz Museum was closed too. (Pantera Fans in Love – Nerf Herder – this song is a good moment in time song with more than a dozen pop culture references to bands of the time, including The Cranberries, Slayer, and The Offspring and lines like ‘we went to Sears at Christmas time but they wouldn’t let us make the heavy metal sign’.)

While Dan was still dealing with the immense disappointment, we got back on the train and headed into the centre of Stuttgart to see if we could find something else to do for the next few hours. We went to the tourist bureau but it seems most of what there is to do in Stuttgart apart from the museums is in the regions surrounding the place. We took a walk up the main shopping strip and lo and behold we found Stuttgart’s Christmas market. We also found the park with a collection of fountains that was marked on all the tourist maps. The sun had come out so it was quite pleasant sitting in the sun. It was also the first time since we arrived that it was worth taking out my sunglasses. That is the only problem with wearing sunglasses with a beanie with ear covers – you can’t put your sunglasses on your head because there is no way to anchor them on your ears. I may have forgotten to mention that I finally found a beanie with ear covers at the Christmas market in Hamburg and what’s even more remarkable is that I still have it. I can also report that my $39.95 Aldi snow boots are doing a remarkable job as my main footwear as is my mother-in-law knitted scarf which is both practical and snuggly.

We wandered through the Christmas market for a while and then headed back to the train station to climb (well mostly take an elevator) to the top of its clock tour for a view out over the city. They must have had problems with people falling, jumping or climbing over the edge as the whole thing was completely caged in. It did give a pretty good view of the city though. We still had a bit of time before the train left and Dan was still feeling pretty miserable so we spent our last half hour in Stuttgart utilizing the free wi-fi in Starbucks and enabling Dan to enjoy his first good hot chocolate in Germany. Here they tend to make it with real cocoa but it is a hot water drink with a bit of milk, like a traditional coffee, rather than a milk based drink.

Christmas themed activities – 12  War museums and model shops – 1.5 Design experiences – 1

You can’t really travel through Cologne without stopping to see the cathedral. So that’s what we did – a three hour window between trains to check out the infamous gothic church. It was there staring you in the face as soon as you got off the train. Through the glass front doors of the station, you could see the cathedral – well not all of the cathedral but the view through the window gave you a good indication of just how big the cathedral actually was. Before we left we had to find the lockers to store our large backpacks for a few hours while we went for a wander. Cologne has an automated locker system. You deposit money and a roller door opens. You put your bag in; the door closes and delivers your bag to storage. When you return and insert your ticket the graphic shows a conveyor belt moving while the machine searches for your bag in the system. Eventually it retrieves it and it is delivered to you when the roller door once again opens. It was rather painless and really didn’t take much longer than a standard keyed locker.

Like the coliseum at Rome, if you catch the train, there is absolutely no way you could miss the cathedral. If you were in any doubt what a tourist attraction it is, that thought is quickly dismissed when you find a camera shop right at the top of the stairs leading to the cathedral – just in case you forgot to bring your camera or decide that you need to lay down 4000 Euros for a camera that will capture it just right. 

You do need a camera though – the cathedral is magnificent. The gothic carvings and the level of detail are superb. The church was built over centuries, starting in the 14^th and its scale is nothing short of breathtaking. I, like everyone else, have seen a billion photos of the cathedral but looking at it close-up is definitely a worthwhile experience. Photos don’t clearly capture the intricate detail of the gargoyles or the sheer scale and many different perspectives of the building. And because photos of buildings are designed to show off the building, they don’t show its proximity to the train station, CBD or indeed, the local Christmas market.

After encircling the church, snapping away, we decided to go inside. The other interesting thing about the cathedral is that it is still a functioning church. We had arrived on Sunday for our visit and there was a church service occurring while we were there. Recognising what a tourist attraction the church is, the congregation still allowed visitors to come inside the church while the service was going on but the front part of the church was roped off. You could still wander about the back, take photos of the soaring arches that made up the cavernous church and listen to the choir sing hymns in what was an acoustically rich environment. In some ways it actually made the experience more enriching and real with the service happening – although it did feel a little bit voyeuristic. I lit a candle at the shrine at the v=back of the church and made a donation.  It seemed appropriate to do that after invading the congregations worship. (No Woman, No Cry – Xavier Rudd. Obviously this is a Marley classic and usually I’d be completely against that but Xavier and his stomp box do quite a good version.)

From the cathedral we found a coffee shop so Dan, who was now suffering from my cold, could have some respite. We found a place that appeared to only have seating outside but later realised it was just because all the smokers were sitting outside. It is only in recent years that smoking has been made illegal indoors in Germany and the outdoor café setups, although there were some rudimentary heaters, weren’t really as advanced as you find in most cafes in Australia, particularly Canberra.

After a coffee and another so-so hot chocolate, we headed toward the Rhine River – probably one of Germany’s most iconic waterways. The cobblestoned pathways along the riverside were lines 15^th and 16^th century buildings, many of which had been revamped into taverns and eateries. And there, moored along the Rhine, as expected, were quite a few of those mega cruise ships full of old people that you see advertised on late night TV. It didn’t look quite so inviting and the ads made it seem. It was raining when we arrived and was still very grey. It was then that my camera gave out – I had forgotten to charge it and it has this unnerving habit of turning on and off in my bag. Thank goodness for my phone camera. We wandered through the taverns and gift shops and suddenly found ourselves in the Christmas market – you can’t really avoid them. Dan had by now caught my cold and was feeling like he needed a good sit down. We found a pub and sat down and Dan had his first brunch beer – it was about 11am – The pub itself was a tourist haunt – all dark wood and velvety interior, complete with an automated organ player. We waited and waited for the waiter to return so I could order some food but alas – no. Eventually Dan felt steeled enough to head out into the Christmas market for some lunch.

Dan had been eyeing off the huge meat shaslicks, loaded with glazed pork. I had a taste – it was quite tasty – a bit of a honey bbbq flavour – ant the pork was also quite unexpectedly lean.  But one piece was about all I could stomach. I was looking for a less greasy, less pork alternative. And I found it. Hot smoked glazed salmon, being smoked in front of me. It was served on a coleslaw type salad in a bun, with a fork because there was so much salmon, you needed to eat some before you could eat it as a sandwich. I was going to get some potato cakes but we decided to try the deep fried potato chips – very thinly sliced potatoes that were fried like the chips you buy in packets at the supermarket. They were yummy but we were too full already to finish them. From here we wandered a bit more and took a few more shots of the cathedral and watched a German Christmas oompa band play Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer. We had actually seen quite a number of different bands gearing up and wondered whether Sunday wasn’t battle of the oompa bands day. From here it was time to get on board the train to our next destination – Stuttgart – entry to the Black forest and home of car museums. (I’m waiting for the man – Lou Reed – RIP one of the true greats. Glad I had the opportunity to see him.)

Christmas themed activities – 11  War museums and model shops – 1.5 Design experiences – 1

Dan was starting to feel poorly so decided to spend the afternoon in bed. I set out to book reser4vations for the trains for the rescheduled part of our journey to Stuttgart, Rothenberg ob der Tauber and Munich and then catch the tram to the Red Dot Design Museum, recommended to me by the photographer of the ducks of Bonn, and the main reason for me planning a stop here. The trams, like the light rail in Boston, actually run from tracks for the first part of their journey from the main station, and then they go out onto the street. The museum, housed in an old coal mine, was a 20 minute journey out of town. Catching the tram was actually really interesting itself. This was virtually my first foray outside the centre of the city and it was a really interesting look at the suburban housing. The centre of Essen is mostly made up of non-descript square concrete and metal buildings, most of which look like they were built in the 60s or 70s. They were utilitarian and kind of added to the working class feel that permeated the city. The suburban areas also had a utilitarian, workers feel to them but they were more like  workers cottages that had probably been built in the early part of the 20^th century so the buildings themselves and the fact they had garden and open spaces around them, were more interesting. They were, like most housing you find here, about three stories tall, with very peaked rooves for the snow and attic windows in the third story. There were huge groups of them the same – sort of like housing estates which is what leads me to believe they are workers’ cottages. (I wanna be Adored – Stone Roses. I remember listening to this quite a lot while working overnight at Coles. I could get away with playing my own music overnight as long as it wasn’t offensive – Stoned Roses are certainly not that.)

When I arrived at the museum, it was close to 4pm so it was already starting to get dark. I wandered across to an information booth at the bottom of a huge red lit escalator that I imagined was the entrance to the museum. It was the entrance to a museum, just not the one I was looking for. The whole site is actually a museum and there are collections of all sorts of things, including displays about how the mine itself worked when operational. It would have been interesting to visit everything but my main focus in the two hours I had before closing time was the design museum. And it was well worth it.

The museum is four floors built into the existing building, without losing the sense of what had been there before. There was a special exhibition of Swedish design and the main collection which included the best products from around the world, as awarded by the red Dot Institute that runs the museum. Other than a small corner for poster art and packaging design, it was all products. Exactly the kind of thing that you have trouble finding collections of, especially anywhere in Australia. Australians pay little attention to the design of the products they use every day and there is no culture of supporting intuitive, inventive design. In fact probably less interest in Australian design in 2013 than there was in 1983. Successive Governments have stripped away support for R&D funding, preferring instead to prop up dwindling manufacturing industries where the design and engineering is done offshore or into agricultural subsidies so that we can maintain some cultural stereotype that Australia rides on the sheep’s back. Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe in food security, in sustainable agriculture and, as it happens, in manufacturing. But we should be looking at all of these industries as high end industries with the value add of Australian innovation in science, technology and design. Australians have long been good at finding inventive solutions to the problems of everyday life – we should be harnessing that. It was telling that amongst the hundreds of designs for medical equipment, furniture, appliances, accessories, vacuum cleaners, bicycles, lighting, Kitchen utensils and even sex toys, I found not one Australian designed product. And to add insult to injury, even the kiwis had a few. Now really might be the time to think about moving to New Zealand. (Aunty Pauline – H-Block 101 – One od the best political ditties about someone who never should have been elected to Parliament.)

There were, however, some very exciting and clever designs in the collection as I weaved my way through the many exhibits. You had to really pay attention – the exhibits were attached to the walls between pieces of the machinery of the old factory. The day after my visit, the museum was holding an auction to sell o9ff some of the products in the collection (and make room for next year’s winning designs). The proceeds of the auction were to go to charity but it was probably a good thing I wasn’t there for that. There is still quite a bit of our holiday to go yet. After two hours in the museum, I called it a day and headed back to the hotel to wake Dan for dinner.

Dan wasn’t up to Christmas markets dinner that evening so we tried looking for a restaurant. I am sure there must have been some in Essen but we found little more than cafes. After venturing into a department store – Dan wanted to look at the lego – we decided to try out the restaurant on the top floor. It was set up like those old school bistros you used to find in Coles and woolies. You get a tray and choose what you want and then pay at the counter. The difference here is that beer is one of the things you can choose. The alcohol laws here aren’t very strict – you can buy beer from the kiosks on train platforms but you don’t see a huge amount of public drunkenness or brattish behavior like you see at home. Or perhaps it’s just that we haven’t really been out late enough for that. We both had Weiner Schnitzel which came with pretty good chips and over cooked veges with passable hollandaise. All in all for the seven or eight euros it cost, it was pretty good. There is quite a lot of cheap, hearty food in Germany. It is actually staggeringly cheap in comparison to Scandinavia where nothing was under 10 euros. We are eating reasonably well here for less than at home. (Jane Says – Jane’s Addiction – this reminds me of a particularly memorable time in my life jam-packed with parties and people. A time of living rather than achieving)

Dan was feeling a little better after some dinner so we took a stroll through the Christmas Market where I bought what I thought was a quite unusual necklace (except that it appeared in the next Christmas market we attended). We also found what was fast becoming one of Dan’s favourite stalls, the hot sugar roasted nuts, and went on the Ferris wheel. It was quite a large one. We shared a gondola with two eight year old girls. It is amazing how similar the inflections and behavior are despite the language difference. They were doing exactly what you’d expect eight year old girls to do – giggling, whispering to each other and trying to find their friends on the ground. After our brief Christmas market sojourn it was time for bed.

Christmas themed activities – 10  (because a second visit to the same Christmas Market doesn’t count)  War museums and model shops – 1.5 Design experiences – 1

When we navigated our way out of the Essen Hauptbahnhoff (main train station) we were confronted by yet another Christmas market. Thankfully we had learned a good lesson from our Hamburg experience and had downloaded the Google Map of how to get to the hotel in Essen. If you looked hard enough, you could probably actually see the sign from the train station. I think we had to walk further from the platform to the train station entrance than we did to the hotel. The girl who checked us in was really helpful and found a Laundromat for us (we were getting a bit desperate by now).

After checking in, we decided to go to the train station for some bathroom supplies and then head to the Christmas market. I surprised myself in the supermarket at the train station. The checkout chick didn’t speak English but my high school German kicked in enough for me to understand the price and to interact with her politely. As Essen is not really a big ticket item on the tourist trail, the Christmas market reflected that, although there were still plenty of gifts, including at least a couple of stalls selling chocolate that looked just like rusty old tools and a stall selling dental tools. Yep dental tools. We decided to go searching for some dinner. We stopped at the bratwurst stand. The rather large bratwurst came in a rather small bread roll so that about a third of it stuck out at each end. After a third of mine, that was enough for me- so I ate the bun and donated the rest of the bratwurst to Dan. I was still hungry though and decided the potato cakes with Apple sauce (another staple at these markets) was the go. They were good when they were freshly cooked but they are pretty greasy when the cool down, which is pretty quickly in Germany in winter. Next up, Dan went in search of a beer. He queued at what seemed like a very busy bar. It was. But it only served gluhwein. Dan got one anyway. The way it appears to work in Essen is that you pay for the glass with the first drink and then keep the glass for subsequent drinks. Presumably there is also some type of returns system so you get the money back on the glass at the end of the night. Although we couldn’t work it out so just took the glass with us. (Aloha Steve and Dano – Radio Birdman – I was fortunate enough to see a reformed Radio Birdman perform this at the ANU in about January 1996 – seminal Australian punk band is not quite enough.)

The next morning when we woke I had finally broken the back of my cold. But we needed to get some domestic chores done. So it was off to find the Laundromat. In the pouring rain. We wandered through town, following the directions the girl had given us at check in. And then we took a wrong turn and wound up on a street full of furniture shops. Back we went to the train station that was supposed to be just across the road from the Laundromat. I remembered the girl had said something about it being the dodgy end of town so I found the dodgiest looking road I could see – it kind of looked like a desolate area where housing projects had been polled down to make way for rows of new high rises. And there appeared to be a hospital or university or something nearby. After 19 more minutes of walking and getting completely drenched – I don’t think my cheapo Lowes spray jacket is as waterproof as it claimed – we were ready to give up. It was time to use the standby mode and turn the data roaming on just so we could use Google maps to locate the Laundromat. It was one block ahead and if I had better eyesight I probably would have been able to see the sign. While I washed and dried Dan went out on the hunt for plastic bags to carry the stuff that couldn’t go in the dryer (although I was a lot more ruthless about what really could go in the dryer than I ever am at home. The laundromat instructions were of course in German but I deciphered them and learnt a new word – Trockner – it means dryer. What you have to do in these Laundromats is put all your stuff in and then enter the machine number and pay on a central board. There was also this weird flashing light saying coffee with neon palm trees – it kind of looked like it belonged in the Copa Cabana – but there was no evidence of anywhere to procure coffee. Sitting there in the laundromat, looking out at the drizzly grey skies, I was reminded of a photo given to me by a friend some years ago when he lived in Bonn a bit south of Essen but in the same industrial heartland. Although Bonn, the capital was probably a bit more like Canberra. The photo was called the ducks of Bonn. I kept it, not just because it was part of a long running personal joke but because the ducks sitting in the grey wet winter cold typified the misery of a cold, dark winter. Sitting in the laundromat, after days on end of no sun, made me remember the photo. (Ulysses – Deine Lakein – Deine Lakein were a German outfit – I guess electro Gothic would be the best way to describe them – from the early 90s – I was introduced to them by the duck photographer so this seems an appropriate tune.)

Eventually Dan reappeared – he did get the bags but had been sidetracked by a rather large flea market in the adjacent university. Of course that lifted his spirits somewhat. I was still a bit weak from the tail end of my cold so was happy for Dan to be out doing what he loves while I waited for the clothes to dry and then set about folding them. It was already 2pm by this stage so our day in Essen was getting away from us.  We packed up the washing, pulled on my waterproof pack cover that I haven’t ever had to use before and headed back to the hotel.

Christmas themed activities – 10  War museums and model shops – 1.5

Whenever you tell people you are heading to Germany for Christmas, they inevitable say don’t miss the Christmas markets. You couldn’t possibly. Every square inch of every square in every neighbourhood in Germany has a Christmas market. Every time you turn a corner, there’s another one. If vineyards are the cane toads of South Australia, then Christmas markets are the German equivalent. Having said that, you can’t help but wander through. After a bit of a sleep in, we headed out to take a look around Hamburg. We wandered through the streets toward the Esplanade and what I imagine is a very inner harbour. The first point of interest we came across was a Christmas market. We had a bit of a wander and kept heading toward the harbour, about 100 metres away, where there was another Christmas market. After a short stroll Dan, ever the bargain hunter spied a waterfront café that was serving buffet breakfast for *.80 Euros. You had to pay for the drinks on top of that but they had a pretty extensive buffet which included, bacon, eggs, sausages, cold meats and cheeses, cereals and breads. And it was nice to just be able to sit inside and eat before we braved the cold to see the sights (and Christmas markets of Hamburg.  We kept walking back toward the train station, all the while being funneled through more and more Christmas markets with their Bratwurst, Gluhwein and Christmas gift ideas.  Each market was slightly different to the last. The one near the waterfront was all white domed pavilions, clearly geared to tourists. Further on there was a more traditional market with wood hewn huts constructed to look almost like a mountain village market.

The end of the Christmas markets coincided with the beginning of the main shopping street but after we had wandered down it for a while, I suggested we take a different route that would take us past some of the city’s churches and along the Reperbahn. My original intention was that we would wander along the Reperbahn the previous night but my lurgy induced sleepwalking state had kind of ruled it out. And yes I am fully aware that the impact of the Reperbahn would be much better experienced in the midnight hours. But so would death by lurgy. (Metropolis Pt 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper – Dream Theatre – a former housemate introduced me to Dream Theatre about 15 years ago – it spends quite a bit of time on my car stereo in the winter)

Our route took us past a church that had been bombed during World War II. Only about half of it was still standing but German engineering and persistence has made sure that it continues to stand. It was quite a sight and the bells rang while we were there. They sounded out of tune, maybe from damage.  But it was an eerie feeling walking around the ruins of the church and a reminder of just how devastated countries throughout Europe were from the spectre of war. These are events that happened during my parents’ lifetimes and you forget how blessed Australia is to have hardly been touched by modern warfare. (Is it a Lie – Bodyjar – This album and my phone calls from Dan kept me alert on my road trip to Melbourne and Roma at Christmas 11 years ago. OMG 11 years ago).

As we continued along the major thoroughfare that circled the town, we came across more churches and other interesting buildings, including an outstanding modern building one the corner of where the Reeperbahn started. When we arrived there were police cars everywhere. We had in mind some sleazy drug bust but no – it was a car accident – a car had t-boned a police car, which like all cities in the world meant that every police car in Hamburg was required. As we suspected the Reeperbahn was a bit ho hum during the daytime – just a strip of sex shops and casinos shut up for the daylight hours with a few stragglers and beggars about. And then we spotted it. Of course. The Reeperbahn had its very own Christmas market. There were the usual Christmas market treats like gluhwein and (somewhat appropriately) bratwurst. But then there was a whole plethora of other, Reeperbahn appropriate, gifts and party favours available. The Reeperbahn may have been sleeping but its Christmas Market had started to wake. It was definitely worth a visit here just to see that.

We headed back to the hotel, grabbed our bags, caught a cab to the station and hopped on board the train to Essen, our non-tourist destination in Germany’s industrial heartland.

Christmas themed activities – 9 (because Hamburg is just one big Christmas market)   War museums and model shops – 1.5