Posts From Germany

Today we were looking for a camping ground on the outside of Munich. We wanted a place to park for two nights so that we could visit some Gig Harbor friends who are spending a year living in and experiencing the German lifestyle in Munich.

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It is catchup time; our last entry was 9 days ago so what has happened since then?

Today we were headed for the home of some travelers we met back in 2010 in South America. According to the instructions we had, their house was in a small village called Thilhove east of Cologne. We feared that it would require some squeezing through tight streets and a bit of careful navigation. So after waking up to a nice sunny day, getting some fuel (Euro 1.47/liter) we headed east along the A313/A4/E40 (all the same road, A313 is the Belgium designation, A4 the German and E40 the European - and I forgot what its called in the Netherlands. But we only spent 20 minutes in that country today.)

Wolfgang had offered to drive us into Koln this morning so that we could at least get a taste of the city and see its famous cathedral. So after a pleasant breakfast outside in the morning sun we piled into his Landrover 110 and got going.

Much of today was occupied simply driving west along the A4(E40) motorway and hence there is not much to say about that part of the day; except perhaps how pretty the German countryside is. However towards mid afternoon as we passed by the city of Dresden we exited into the town of Radeburg and negotiated our way to the village of Konigsbruk in order to visit Romy's (our hostess in Thilhove) father and step mother.

We are in a transition period between traveling with our truck and our adventure in Africa so there is a lot of boring organizational stuff going on which I deem to be not of much interest but just to complete the picture I will give a very brief summary of recent days.

In the past few days we have put on a lot of miles, traveling from Zagreb all the way across Slovenia, Austria and Germany to the Black Forest area in the South West corner of Germany. We will spend a few days in this area, catch up with our son Brendon and prepare the truck for 6 months in storage while we go do some other things outside Europe.

As you can see we are "back on the air" and if you are one of our "subscribers" you may be surprised to get the email announcing this "update" to whiteacorn. During our extended break from travels we received a number of enquiries asking about our situation and/or health and so I feel a brief explanation of the six-plus months gap in this journal is required.

There is not much to say about today, simply a day of driving and organizing. But in order to put the reader in the pciture I should say we are on our way to Hirtshals in Denmark to catch a ferry to Iceland, we hope our story will become a bit more interesting after that.

So today was more driving and another truck stop. But the good news is that the very conjested traffic of yesterday has thinned a bit and driving today was a little more relaxed. We also had another round of supermarket shopping in prepararion for our 4 weeks in Iceland. We have been led to believe that supplies will be limited and expensive once in Iceland so we are taking the opportunity to stock up.

It seems like there is some work lined up for me in Berlin. Our son Brendon wants to install an auxiliary battery in his VW van and I have been asked, and offered, to help with the project. Hence we have spent some time over the past 24 hours looking at various campgrounds around Berlin trying to find a place that is not too far from Brendon's apartment. The place we finally settled on is the Kopernicker-Hof. Situated south-east of the city it is just outside the S-bahn "ring" and hence convenient for transport. It turned out to be a funky collection of old buildings that were once a gas works. But seems to have the necessary facilities for a lengthy stay.

Brendon and I have spent the past week working on his VW van. We eventually parked the van at the Kopernicker-Hof so that we could leave it in pieces overnight. The days have been filled with numerous trips to a nearby Hornbach hardware store, lots of grinding, drilling and sawing, but we finally got the second battery, charger and various wires installed under the driver seat. That project now seems complete. It is worth noting that as the week progressed a heat wave descended on Berlin and most of our work on the VW has been done in the blazing sun with temperatures in the high 90's ° F.

So what about my dental problem? With the help of Brendon and his girlfriend Jessica I found a dentist in Berlin who advised me that I needed a "root canal" treatment and that this would take 3 visits. This morning at 8:30 was the second visit, a short 10 minute affair during which anti-biotic medicine was placed around the root of the offending tooth. The staff at the dentist office speak very little English so during my first visit, last week, I explained my problem using Google Translate app on my iPhone. That explanation, together with an x-ray and examination, was enough for the lady dentist to figure out what was going on. So far the two visits have cost me a total of Euro 200 (about US$220) so provided the treatment works and lasts it will probably turn out to be cheaper than getting it fixed in the US.

Yesterday we continued our "escape from the heat". Our northerly route eventually took us to Stralsund on the German north coast and then across to Rugen Island. Traffic on the island's main road was very heavy and slow so we started looking for a campground and eventually settled on Ostseecamp Suhrendorf which just happened to be on the west side of Ummanz Island which in turn was off the west coast of Rugen.

We left Ostseecamping Monday afternoon and spent the night at another truck stop in order to get a head start on our return to Berlin (and the Kopernicker-Hof campground) in time for my third and final dental appointment today (today cost Euro 150 bringing the total to Euro 350 or about US$390). Berlin was still in the grip of its heat wave so last night and today we are once again sweating like little "oinkers". The dentist went off without a hitch and hopefully that is the end of that problem.

We are back in Berlin for a month long visit with our son, and while this will be a great family experience it is not going to generate any material for this journal. So there will be no more updates until after Berlin.

Looking over the map last night we discovered that our overnight spot was close to another jumbo supermarket and so once underway this morning that was our first stop.

Today we had a specific destination, the village of Badenweiler, which is located in the Black Forest and is known for its thermal spa. There is a nice campground in the town (that we have stayed in previously) and it is close to where our son and fiancee live (when not in Berlin). We plan on staying in Badenweiler 5 days or so for a "family catchup".