Germany

Hi sorry we've not posted for a while but wifi has been unavailable. Anyhow we have made our way through old West Germany and East Germany ( I we know it's been approx. 30 years since the Berlin Wall came down) Cologne was a pleasant stop over with a great cathedral both inside and out. Everyone cycles here, 60 - 70+ year olds down to tiny tots. Really impressive and puts us to shame over in the UK. In fact everywhere on the continent you see lots of people cycling. It's geared up with dedicated cycle lanes and bike parking areas. Needless to say both of us have made use of this facility.   Our little "Ocho" (car) needs all the help we can give it so apart from driving from one site to another in each country we let him rest. 

All going well here. Had a bit of rain a couple of times but it was only rough in Rugen. It's an island off the north coast in the Baltic Sea. Howling winds and torrential rain for 36 hours, didn't go out much!

Here's a few pictures of Cologne and its cathedral

View across the River Rhine

While in the city drinking a cup of Latte we came across this man blowing bubbles in the park. Look at the little boy getting ready to burst the bubble!

Before arriving in Rugen we traveled from Cologne to Saxony about 650km, near the Czech border. This is real fairy tale Germany with Bavarian style houses with little eye shaped windows in the roof and shutters plus flower boxes in the windows. We visited Königstein Castle, straight out of sleeping beauty. We had a short walk from the campsite to the castle but unfortunately we mistook a turning and it extended to a couple of hours plus many hours looking around the castle and the walk back made it a full day with our return to the tent around 8pm. 

Königstein Castle

The next day we went to Hollistein up in the hills and had a swim in a thunder storm for 1 hour. It was warmer in the pool than out of it! Then found a lovely authentic Biergarten in Porschdorf and had another Latte sat on the balcony in the now blazing sunshine. 

A day or two later we had a days walk through the Saxony sandstone cliffs and over the Bastei Bridge. Once again a mixed day of weather with hot sunshine interspersed with rain and one heck of a thunder and lightening storm as we walked over the bridge, which was to be the highlight of the day. Instead only one picture of people huddled in a rock arch half way across the bridge while the worst of the weather passed. 

Dresden was nearly demolished during the war but to see it now you would not know. The German taxpayers have been funding the rebuilding of it and many other old East German cities and related infrastructure. It's a credit to them as Dresden is beautifully restored and matched with modern architecture. 

We next traveled up to Rugen which was unfortunately not so impressive, probably because of the aforementioned bad weather. However, we did several walks and visited Hitlers People's Holiday Camp location on the coast, which is now being converted into luxury apartments and holiday lets. This is an odd turn of fate as Hitler never actually completed the project only now is it being used for the purpose it was designed. It stretches, one building after another for 4.5km along the seafront in Prora. Part of the old buildings still remain and are currently being used as a museum. This was our last day on the island and we have now moved along the coast near to Rostock and will be taking the ferry to Denmark in about 24 hours.