Roadworks

Hello from Sweden!

Yesterday we left Germany, took a ferry to Denmark and then drove into Sweden. I must say, Sweden could very well have been the American mid-west, all that flat farmland.

I must comment on the Roadworks insanity that was northern Germany. It was really not to be believed. Of the 500 or so miles we drove in Germany, about 400 of them were under Roadworks. I'm not kidding. They take their roads very seriously. This has the benefit of creating roads that are amazingly smooth to drive on, but the downside is that they must constantly be under some sort of construction in order to keep them that way.

We would drive along 4 km of roadworks, then have 2km of smooth road, followed by another 6km of works. It kind of took away from the amazing speeds we were expecting to see on the Autobahn, because on these roadwork stretches, you can only drive about 50 mph. And those Germans obey their speed limits.

This foiled our plan to gain loads of time by driving 190mph. And I was kind of disappointed after all I have heard of the famed Autobahn, to not get to see some cars traveling at the speed of sound. I will say that even on the stretches where you genuinely could go as fast as you want, we didn't see anything that crazy; certainly nothing that seemed dangerous. They are very safe drivers, the best we've seen thus far, even in the rain that pelted down during a portion of the drive.

In fact, most of the drivers on the road seemed to be doing around 80mph. I imagine that psychologically, if you are used to being able to drive as fast as you want all the time, it's not something exciting and new to be abused, it's just normal, so you choose a speed that's comfortable and safe rather than one that makes the car you're in shudder.

I have to admit that before I went to Germany, I harbored a bit of a prejudice. I don't like to admit it, but I had it in my head that I didn't like Germans, or the German language, and that therefore I wouldn't like Germany. I know that this comes from being Jewish and harboring old grudges, or being given an impression from war movies and war footage that just isn't a contemporary representation of who these people are. Everywhere we went, the people in Germany were so wonderful to us, and they were always happy to speak English, and never made us feel bad about the fact that we can't speak any German!

And, I must add, that Germany is home to the most fab toilet ever. At some point on the road, we stopped at a rather large rest area, complete with restaurants, shops, etc. Normally I fear public toilets, especially those off of interstates, but boy was I surprised.

I had to pay .70 to get into the bathroom, but then you are given a coupon for .50 off of anything in the shops, so really you're not paying very much. The stalls are all spotless, and after you do your business and stand up, the toilet automatically flushes itself. It is then that the magic begins.

While the toilet is flushing, an arm extends from behind the seat, and releases a cleaning solution into the bowl. The seat then begins to turn in a circle-a full circle. The bottom of this arm has a kind of a squeegee on the underside of it, and this rests against the seat. So while the seat is turning, it is being cleaned with disinfectant and squeegeed dry.

It is my dream toilet. I think I may have cried a little as the seat rotated and cleaned itself. Seriously I want to figure out how to install one in my home. Although I do think, what if it broke, or just went rogue, while someone was still sitting on it, and it started turning and squeegeeing? You could wind up upside down on the seat with your feet against the wall and your head on the floor or something.

I would risk it, though.

Today we might drive up to Oslo and spend a couple of days there. Hopefully I will have internet.

All Work and no Play

Here are some shots of our lovely Landhaus St. Urban Hotel.

If you are wondering why it looks like there’s no one there….it’s because there is no one there. And when I say no one, I mean NO ONE!!

On Monday the receptionist informed us that Tuesday and Wednesday were their Days of Rest, and that the kitchen was closed. She also informed us that we could just take our key to open and close the main door to the hotel.

It began to occur to us that it was everybody’s day of rest, not just the kitchen staff’s, but then we thought, well surely they can't just leave us alone in the hotel. But sure enough, Tuesday morning, they gave the remaining guests breakfast before they checked out, cleaned the rooms and everywhere else, and locked the door behind them.

There were no other guests staying, so we had the entire hotel to ourselves all day yesterday and all night. I sort of couldn’t believe how trusting they were: the kitchen door remained unlocked, as did all of the booze at the bar. They trusted us to lock the door of the hotel behind us when we came and went.

It was kind of cool having the run of the place, and at the same time a bit eery. It was hard for me not to look down the long hallway to the rooms and imagine those freaky blond twins from The Shining standing there holding hands saying “Come and play with us, Danny. For ever. And ever. And ever.”

Not to mention the freaky naked woman in the bathtub.

Today we start our drive to Norway. We will miss Germany. The people here have been the friendliest of anywhere on the trip, the Schitzel has been delicious, and the drivers are all excellent.

Mosel

We are currently in the Mosel region of Germany, and it is absolutely stunning.

We are staying at a wonderful small hotel called Russel's Landhaus St. Urban, and it is exactly what we were looking for: quiet, in the middle of trees, with a little pond at the back where we can sit and read, have tea or lunch and just relax.

The amazing thing was that yesterday, we spent the afternoon lounging at the hotel and then drove toward a small village for dinner; we had driven about 4 miles through woods, and came around a corner and suddenly there was this spectacular view of the valley, the Mosel River, two small villages and vineyards as far as the eye can see. It just seemed to appear out of nowhere.

These vineyards are wild; they are almost vertical in places, and the vines seem to cling to edges of rock. I can only imagine how difficult and dangerous the harvest must be.

The nice thing about this area is that where we are staying doesn't feel touristy at all: nothing is written in English, which can make reading a menu challenging, (though I was able to figure out that schwein was pork, because it sounds like swine), and everybody in the hotel and restaurants we have been to is speaking German.

For dinner I had the pork schnitzel with spaetzle and an absolutely delectable sauce made from Chanterelle mushrooms. It was probably one of the most delicious things I've eaten on this whole trip. Spaetzle is impossible to describe; it's kind of like a very firm egg pasta, and it is just delicious with the schnitzel. I can say this for Germany: they know how to Schnitzel.

The one dark cloud over the whole thing has been that Steve is still not fully recovered yet from his stomach bug or food poisoning, whichever it was. So he's exhausted and not really able to do much, and since I still (yes, still) can't drive a stick shift car, I am a bit stuck as well, and not able to be very helpful when he needs something.

A big thanks to my parents, who spoke to him on the phone for a while tonight, my dad giving doctorly advice along with my mother's motherly advice, and together they sang the praises of the jam sandwich and banana diet.

I also had a rather funny session of charades with the German woman at the pharmacy as we both did the "I don't speak your language" dance of poop gestures until we figured out that I needed the German equivalent of Kaopectate. I think it's going to catch on, that dance. It's going to be bigger than the Macarena. Trust me.