Hello Ludwig and Heidrun again....Goodbye Ludwig and Heidrun and Hello Holland

 Saturday 27th March, 1982                      fine and sunny and warm

Up to another lovely spring day - Heidrun tells us this is May weather - March or May we are enjoying it - barmy lazy sunny spring days.  

Camping on the Rhine at Bacharach

Walked into Bacharach along lovely old streets then off along the Rhein to Boppard - no chairlift - so on to Koblenz - stopped and filmed the Lorelei.  Lunched near the monument - the German corner - where the Mosel and Rhein meet - then went for a walk around.  Saw 2 well dressed gentlemen riding a bicycle - looks so funny.  Broke Lee up.  On along the Rhein to Remagen where we bade it goodbye and headed inland, where we became lost in the road works maze - incredible network.  A dog walker put us on the right road through Latenschoppen, Wormesdolf and Essig onto Eiskirchen - where we were greeted warmly by Ludwig and Heidrun, but we threw them into utter confusion by our numbers.  John and Sandra, Marie and Lee, Heidrun and Ludwig went out to dinner after a lot of confusion.  Sean and Brett went to town on a bike to collect McDonald's for the kids.  Good sleep after a late start.

Sunday 28th of March            overcast with no sun

Well we have had our three days of sunshine so who's complaining.  Boys left in a.m. to visit a radio station - lunched, then off to Bad Munster Eifel - better day than last overcast.  We walked around the village, crowded today - then right around the wall - home to afternoon tea.  Walk to town - Church at 6:30 p.m. and as we were having a German potato tea we brought the kids chicken and chips to eat on the way home, then when we did arrive back - late of course - Heidrun's German dish was potato fritters so the bigger kids had to force some down.

No such word as “nein” in this house.

Later in the evening an American friend of the Zopinski’s and his wife, Don and Elizabeth came over.  We had an interesting evening until Ludwig went to bed, then one by one the adults disappeared and we were left to entertain till midnight.

Monday 27th of March                       cold and raining

After breakfast, all females off to town to shop - the men minded the kids - the boys kept finding me.  Marie and Sandra tried on every pair of jeans in town - one place we marched out of!  Brought coffee sets, linen and Marie a blouse.

Had lunch in Pinocchio restaurant, house insalada - beautiful - a big salad of lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, olives, ham and grated cheese.

Home to cuppa - walked back later for chickens in the rain.  Sandra feeling guilty offered to take all the kids - well one by one they refused till we were left with Yulia and when she realised she was the only one walking with us she took off home.  Blow me if chickens weren't ready so we had to return without dinner.  John - no he refused - the girls went and bought at other places - and after Essen had a pleasant evening talking - Heidrun likes the boys company - girls a little fed up with the fluttus - naturally the boys like it.  Bet Marie and Sandra will explode before we leave if they aren't careful.

Tuesday 30th March, 1982                       normal Germanic

Breakfast by candlelight - farewell to Ludwig - off to Evoluon - no explosion.  Ludwig woke us for 6 a.m. breakfast - farewell Ludwig.

Evoluon, Eindhoven, Netherlands

Packed up and off on road.  Stopped at Evoluon for lunch - passed by the towns of Gelder -Malsam-Beesd-Nevwegian-Ijesselmeer and Utrecht.  On the way we noticed Shetland ponies and beautiful windmills.  Hello Holland.

Arrived in Amsterdam after an afternoon at Evoluon - quite an impressive place - built like a flying saucer.  It had all technical knowledge -TV, radio, record making - and man and his problems from A.D. to now and his future re food and energy.

As soon as we arrived at the camp we all felt so free, decided to have a drink - well what a funny evening - a knock on door -"come in" says Marie.  An Englishman in gas trouble so boys fixed him - then about three drinks later another knock on door.  "Come in" cries Marie - and through the space appeared poor little fellow - half Indian, half Jew and whole Dutch "I'm alone" he says in bad English, so Marie introduces him "this is Lee Allen, John Allen, Pat Allen, Sandra Allen" well he kind of took over when he discovered Sandra could understand a little French.  His name was Bob - Allen was alone - laugh- we were in hysterics - he disappeared and bought in his family album instead of a photo of his wife as we expected -poor beggar was lonely, wanted a match and company but it was 9:30 p.m. and the kids were tired.  Well after about 1 1/2 hours we got the message through and he left, with Sandra promising him coffee in a.m.  To bed after an hysterical evening.

Was a surprise to drive in here and see so many people - tents, caravans and vans.  We usually are the only ones in the camp areas - about two dozen tents ring the area.  Spring is here the grass has riz the people are on the move!

Wednesday 31st March, 1982                  fine but windy

Slept in till 8:30 a.m., very tired, Marie, Lee and John went into town to find a diamond ring for Marie.  We took children in about 1 p.m. to meet them - walked along the red light area.  Couldn't believe it does happen.  Amsterdam is so full of punk youth - on the way home we nearly collapsed on seeing a ? girl with shaven head, dressed in a silver frosted costume like something from out of space.

Had chips and coffee at McDonalds for afternoon then walked the pedestrian mall looking at the passing parade.  Home by tram.  Salad and to bed.

Have never seen so much way out youth in beautiful Amsterdam - anywhere else except of course London - we also noticed increased numbers of police cars.

John left his run too late and had a cold shower.  Aussie pair Liz and Rob (met in Rome) arrived this p.m..

Thursday 1st April, 1982                fine and sunny

Boys off to Heineken's brewery - lazy morning then lugged all the washing in green garbage bags to laundromat - what a sight Marie with two bags, San with two, Rae and I with one each -paced the 1 1/2 kilometres to the Wasserette only to find, after putting our wash through 4 x 5  kilograms we couldn't dry.  I don't think she liked us - firstly we left the door open (an old Australian custom?) Second I brought two bags and she didn't want to give me a separate change.  I could see her Dutch brain thinking of how to punish us - so she wouldn't let us use the dryers - so off we went with semi-wet clothes which were twice as heavy instead of an anticipated half and dragged ourselves home.

Then when we arrived who should be waiting for us but Sandra and Marie's friend Bob, wanting a drink - Sandra told him "no go away" hopefully he will stay away.  Laughed at Marie she walked into delicatessen and asked for Devon.

John and the boys back - washing strung around the camp.  Met Lee earlier - he had a rotten migraine so tried to sleep whilst we kept children quiet.  About 4 p.m., Lee feeling better, the girls decided to investigate a little more re diamond rings.  So the four of them went into town to window shop.  Home by 6:30 p.m. had dinner - I visited an Australian couple Jim and?  For an hour - Liz and Rob came in for drinks with Marie and Lee.  Warm night.

Friday 2nd April, 1982                       fine and sunny

Lazy morning - leisurely breakfast - John and Lee played big poppas to four young Aussies and got their van going for them - door had fallen off to begin with, then it wouldn't start.  Lots of Australians here - three Top Deck buses arrived, 2 training and one on tour.  Sandra didn't insult her little Dutchman Bob, he came over last night with a pot of water to boil - poor fellow he is lonely.  Into town for a canal ride - hot and sunny - so enjoyed it.  

Waiting for the canal ride in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Lunch at the burger and beer - and the girls walked up to Bonebakker and bought their rings -Sandra brought a lovely nine diamond .3 carat.  Looks great!  Marie brought 2 nice rings then home - sun gone - raining.  Sandra, Brett and I walked around to Ann Frank's house - very moving.  

Ann Frank House, Amsterdam

The kids had been watching a fair being erected at Stationplein and when we arrived they are on the way home, it was blowing and raining so Marie, Sandra and I took off for the camp for washing and tea.  Kids had one miserable hour there.  The lovely sunny weather has gone.

Sandra, John, Lee and Marie went into town after Lee decided he wanted to see the city by night.  They hitched a ride in with a Top Deck bus crew - walked the red light area but were a little apprehensive of the passing unsavoury crowd, so went to a bar then home.  Weren't overly impressed.

Bacharach to Amsterdam

Travelling down the Rhine

 Monday, 5th October, 1981         Beethoven country      overcast but fine

Slept beside the Rhine in the car park.  Very nerve racking.  John parked between a caravan and a large truck so it wasn't as windy as it could have been.  

Last night we walked into Bonn Centrum to see Beethoven's home.  He was born in 1770, Australia's year.  On the way out of Bonn we saw a policeman with his machine gun patrolling outside Arab consulate.  At Melden we stopped to shop and were having morning tea when the lady spoke to us, she is off to Australia next Thursday.  Lucky Lady.  Her husband is English and they are going to a wedding in Brisbane.  We fill the larder then continued our way up the Rhine - beautiful country - the mountains one side with Vineyards and little white houses.  A castle every now and again rears its gables through the trees.

We continued through beautiful countryside to Bad Breisich where there are thermal baths.  It has little narrow streets with older narrow shopfronts.  The River Pavilion is closed to traffic and has private hotels all along the river front.  We are in Rheingold country now.  We are heading out towards Mosel country.  On to Remagen where we had lunch.  Had difficulty in buying brown wholemeal buns - ended up with French rolls, which were very nice.  

Remagen is a little village on the Rhine.  The railway bridge at Remagen over the Rhine was captured almost intact by the Americans on the seventh of April 1945 and helped to speed the final invasion of Germany.  Soon afterwards the bridge collapsed and has never been rebuilt.  

On to Koblenz where the Mosel River meets the Rhine, the promenade along both rivers is 8 km long and meets at the Deutsches Eck.  It was given this name in 1216.  Some of the buildings date back to 836 AD.  The Kastor church and Our Lady’s demonstrate harmonious combination of Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque architecture.  There is a wine village, an exact reproduction of a winegrowing village.  Vineyards line the surrounding hills with unusual castle style buildings amid trees.  The village has buildings late styled as the village - now a city - was razed during the war.  We are just opposite the Deutsches Eck watching the Rhine and Mosel passing by.

Deutsches Eck, Germany

In town, during our walk, we had seen an Australian van like ours so left a note.  About 7:30 p.m. we were watching when the kids became excited - the van had arrived at the camp and amazing thing was, it was people we all knew.  John went to school with Bert Rose.  They lived up behind us at Wyadra Avenue when the children were at school.  Another Aussie couple joined us - Mike and Annette.  They had all been on a boat ride on the Rhine.  Bert and Nan have three girls, Yvette, Tammy and Carolyn.  We had a stimulating evening till midnight.  We need some English conversation every now and then.

Bert was a butcher from Narrabeen - knew him years ago - has his shop at Narrabeen bus terminus. 

Tuesday, 6th October, 1981                   fine and cool

Slept in after our evening.  Then breakfast and casually prepared to begin another day on the Rhine.  Saying goodbye to Philip and Annette, Bert and Nan Rose and the girls we headed off up the winding river bank.  Grape vines dotted the left banks, leisure boats and barges ploughed up and down in the swiftly flowing river.  Little Tudor villages dotted each side of the river with their churches proudly displaying the spires.  There are lots of ………..? in Europe.  At Kapellan we stopped to enquire re boat across the other side but had to be content with a photo - no transport across.  Old homes lined steep narrow lanes down to the riverbank where the foundations of houses are stoned up quite high to hold back the Rhine in flood.

We drove on through Rhens - a real old village with houses leaning towards the road.  The castle Marksburg stands majestic overlooking the village of Braubach.  We had lunch in a park before we moved on to Boppard, a Roman walled city at one part of history.  The children wanted to ride in the chairlift way above the town, so John sat with Rae, and I with Sean and away we went with much trepidation way above the world. 

My mouth was dry, hands clasped tightly on Sean.  Eyes open sometimes, we slowly lifted way up into the trees, grapes grew calmly below us, though the skies were dark and threatening there was very little wind.  As we rose higher than sight from land, Sean commented how quiet and calm it was.  He talked to me to calm my racing pulse and  feeling we would fall.  And it was worth it - every tremor.  The view was magnificent.  

We walked through the shrubs to a lookout, John did some video work and I took some photos from the hill overlooking where 4 lakes meet.  Coming down was definitely better than the ascent.  I was glad to reached terra firma.

The view from the top took in Schloss Liebenech, Stennenberg and Leibenstein castles on the hills above.  We passed through Bad Salzig, St Goars. Hausen Village could be seen on opposite bank through St Goars, Oberswesel to Bacharach.  We passed Lorelei, the sharpest point in the Rhine where legend has it sailors in days gone by heard her singing and failed to navigate the sharp turn and went to their watery graves.  It's so hard to imagine oneself on the Rhine.  It is magnificent!  Bacharach is a small village with the most antiquated typical Rhenish, Renaissance homes and shops, narrow streets.  In every town there is a Rathaus -the town Hall.  We found an area right on the Rhine bank, swans swimming tamely by and now and then the calm sound of a tug.

Wednesday, 7th October, 1981                      fine and cool

Woke to the beautiful sound of bells at 7 a.m.  They tolled for 15 minutes, for whom the Bell tolls, not me.  I went back to sleep for an hour, awoke to a beautiful sunny, but crisp day.  Leisurely breakfast and off down the Rhine to Bingen to spend the day.  We did divert up a hill to see castle Burg Reinstein.  The manager came running down when we parked and started to say something in German when John answered in English he said quickly "next tour in five minutes" and took off.  

As we arrived in Bingen the ferry was preparing to go, so we vacated that van in the fastest time yet,  caught the ferry and took off up river to Rudesheim.  Sandra wanted to have her birthday here so we bought the day forward and decided to eat out at a lovely restaurant in Drosselgrasse - a delightful street in the heart of town with leaning shops and restaurants very narrow.  In every eating house a live band is playing - the one we chose had a Dutch man and wife team who played and sang delightful music - German, Dutch and Waltzing Matilda for us.  We danced to a great beat, "the chicken Song”, had a fantastic meal for only 88 deutsche marks about $33.  John, Rae and Sean had bratwurst; I had Weiner Schnitzel and San a salmon, and a beautiful cappuccino coffee.  John had beer served in a huge glass boot.  We loved it so much we went back for afternoon tea.

The kids had been dying to use the chairlift up to the "Niederwalddenkmal" so after lunch we all lined up.  San brought tickets and was third in line for the chair when she took off, handing us our tickets as she went.

We were kind of forced on before we could reneg.  Rae and John, Sean and I.  It was a lovely trip after, nothing like Boppard was.  It was a covered car like chair and it was lovely.  

All the way up we were saying how mum would have liked this, and up there on top saying wish San was here when up she popped.  Had cashed in token then decided it was now or never and hopped on board the chair before she could change her mind, so another had conquered her fear of ascending.  We spent some time admiring the view then came back in the chairlift, Rae and I led the way, John and Sandra then Sean on his own. 

We walked for awhile around the old streets, and had afternoon tea. Then caught the ferry back to Bingen, but before that we strolled down a wine cellar - a huge concrete cellar, Sandra hesitated on the steps in case the owner closed doors as he stood up top and his wife "like a spider" encouraged us all in - she had a drink in our hands before we could say Jack Spratt, then said three marks! She didn't give John his change back and kept selling the wine at rapid pace and before we knew it she had sold a bottle - we couldn't get out quick enough.  Back to the van, a camping area out of Bingen, baked beans on toast and a contented five into bed -the weather continues to be perfect.

 

Bonn to Bingen, Germany