Where's Bertie? He's in a free Aire in Bad Eilsen, but with an obligation to pay a tourist tax (€3.80)*. Water and electricity are available for a small fee**. Exact location: 52.23867, 9.10239)
Weather: Cool, overcast start, clearing to a sunny and warm afternoon.
The day started with a run around the Schloss grounds and an ascent up the local hill (213m) to visit the viewing tower atop its summit. We both did fundamentally the same route, but Mick started with the Schloss element, and I started with the hill. We stopped for a brief chat as we passed each other.
The route through the wooded hill to the summit was pleasant...
Weather: Cool, overcast start, clearing to a sunny and warm afternoon.
The day started with a run around the Schloss grounds and an ascent up the local hill (213m) to visit the viewing tower atop its summit. We both did fundamentally the same route, but Mick started with the Schloss element, and I started with the hill. We stopped for a brief chat as we passed each other.
The route through the wooded hill to the summit was pleasant...
...but with only glimpses of the view through the trees, I looked forward to seeing it properly from the summit. Alas, the summit is also hemmed in, so the only way to see the view is by ascending the tower, and the tower wasn't open.
We've ascended one of an almost identical design before. Viewing towers and platforms, of all sorts of designs, are a popular thing in Germany.
Having finished my round of the Schloss gardens, I was just on my way back to Bertie when I got distracted by a brass band playing in the market square, so took the short detour to see what was going on.
Having finished my round of the Schloss gardens, I was just on my way back to Bertie when I got distracted by a brass band playing in the market square, so took the short detour to see what was going on.
What you see in this photos is:
- a priest on a temporary stage, delivering a Sunday Mass;
- a brass band just below the lamppost-mounted flower arrangement to the left of the stage;
- the congregation, sitting at typical German outdoor eating/drinking long picnic tables;
- a temporary bar, open and ready for business.
This struck me as incongruous, as if the congregation, having observed the mass, was then going to flock to the bar and start drinking steins of beer at 10am.
Mick and I arrived back at the entrance to the Stellplatz at the same moment, but from different directions, and after second breakfast and showers, it was decision time again: where to go?
As Mick had some work to do, we opted for a short hop, a 9-minute drive to the small town that sits the other side of the hill we'd been up this morning.
Whilst Mick was sitting in front of his keyboard this afternoon, I took a walk through two of the local parks - the Kurpark (Spa Park) and the Englischer Garten. Pleasant enough, but nothing spectacular, except for the fragrance coming off the rose garden:
Back at Bertie I possibly broke the law, by giving myself an al-fresco hair cut with the electric clippers (noise laws in Germany are strict and apply all day on a Sunday). I also provided entertainment for those passing on the adjacent foot/cycle path, as if they've never seen a semi-clad woman standing in a car park cutting her own hair before...
I compounded the offence by then cutting Mick's hair. We're looking uncharacteristically neat and tidy now.
(*The electricity supply here is a little odd, in that it's sold by the kW/h (normal; it's usually either by the kW/h or by a number of hours), but there's no display to say how much is left on each connection. We've plugged into one of two vacant connections still carrying credit, but have no idea how much is available. As it goes, at 50c per kW/h I'd be prepared to throw a coin in the meter if it runs out, but sods law says it'll happen in the middle of the night.
**The Tourist Tax has to be paid at the Tourist Info Office, which isn't open on the weekend. Or, we can use a QR code to download a form, which will give us the bank details to make a direct transfer. As we don't have the ability to make a Euro transfer from our bank accounts, and will be leaving tomorrow before the tourist office opens, we'll probably abscond without paying, but to salve our consciences we nipped out to the ice cream parlour after tea, so at least we have put a few pennies into the local economy.)
- a priest on a temporary stage, delivering a Sunday Mass;
- a brass band just below the lamppost-mounted flower arrangement to the left of the stage;
- the congregation, sitting at typical German outdoor eating/drinking long picnic tables;
- a temporary bar, open and ready for business.
This struck me as incongruous, as if the congregation, having observed the mass, was then going to flock to the bar and start drinking steins of beer at 10am.
Mick and I arrived back at the entrance to the Stellplatz at the same moment, but from different directions, and after second breakfast and showers, it was decision time again: where to go?
As Mick had some work to do, we opted for a short hop, a 9-minute drive to the small town that sits the other side of the hill we'd been up this morning.
Whilst Mick was sitting in front of his keyboard this afternoon, I took a walk through two of the local parks - the Kurpark (Spa Park) and the Englischer Garten. Pleasant enough, but nothing spectacular, except for the fragrance coming off the rose garden:
Back at Bertie I possibly broke the law, by giving myself an al-fresco hair cut with the electric clippers (noise laws in Germany are strict and apply all day on a Sunday). I also provided entertainment for those passing on the adjacent foot/cycle path, as if they've never seen a semi-clad woman standing in a car park cutting her own hair before...
I compounded the offence by then cutting Mick's hair. We're looking uncharacteristically neat and tidy now.
Fountain of the Day
(*The electricity supply here is a little odd, in that it's sold by the kW/h (normal; it's usually either by the kW/h or by a number of hours), but there's no display to say how much is left on each connection. We've plugged into one of two vacant connections still carrying credit, but have no idea how much is available. As it goes, at 50c per kW/h I'd be prepared to throw a coin in the meter if it runs out, but sods law says it'll happen in the middle of the night.
**The Tourist Tax has to be paid at the Tourist Info Office, which isn't open on the weekend. Or, we can use a QR code to download a form, which will give us the bank details to make a direct transfer. As we don't have the ability to make a Euro transfer from our bank accounts, and will be leaving tomorrow before the tourist office opens, we'll probably abscond without paying, but to salve our consciences we nipped out to the ice cream parlour after tea, so at least we have put a few pennies into the local economy.)
What a heavy conscience to suffer having to go for ice cream to absolve.
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