Where's Bertie? He's in a Stellplatz in Ettlingen at a cost of €10 per 24hrs. Water and electricity are available for extra fees. Exact location: 48.935810, 8.417224
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine and hot (31 degrees)
I don't think it would be an outlandish estimate to say that at 5.45 this morning 99.99% of kerbstones in Karlsruhe were untroubled by human backsides. The exception was outside of Bertie. After five minutes or so of listening to voices and wondering what was going on, I climbed out of bed and peered out of a window to see a group of chaps sitting along the kerb immediately next to Bertie, having a good old chat. I suspect it hadn't occurred to them that someone might be asleep in that big white box of a sleeping vehicle.
About ten minutes later there was another commotion and I got out of bed again, just out of curiosity. A mini-bus had pulled up alongside Bertie, and these chaps were just climbing in (I reckon the one nearest to me as I looked out of the window was approximately a foot away from me). They were all wearing matching t-shirts with some logo on the back. My best guess (considering we were by the sports club) was that it was part of the local football team, off to an away game.
I got back into bed, but by then I was awake and thinking that if I was going to go for a sightseeing trot around Karlsruhe, then earlier was going to be better than later, given that it was forecast to be 25 degrees at 9am.
The Schloss was my objective. What a lot of windows!
The back of the building. It always surprises me when you can walk right up to a Palace; moreover when you can wander freely around to the back garden.
It was just a brief foray into the Schlossgarten. The 'lake' was a disappointment (so much so that I've just had to undelete this photo in order to share it)
I also went through the Marktplatz, looked at some grand buildings but didn't find out what they were, and read a few signs about art in the city.
I also discovered that if we stayed put until tonight, we could go to the light display at the Schloss (no spoiler to say that we decided against, as there was nothing else we wanted to do in Karlsruhe to warrant spending an extra day there).
A cold shower and second breakfast then a big drive ... all of 6.5km down to Ettlingen, which sits just to the S of Karlsruhe. I'd picked out two potential park-ups here: the official Stellplatz, or some road-side parking on the other side of town. On the basis of shade and ability to open all of the windows and doors, we opted to pay the €10 for the official parking.
The reason we didn't come here yesterday is because the motorhome parking is within the (huge) car park for the open air swimming complex. On a hot and sunny weekend, immediately before schools go back, I predicted that it would be bedlam by noon this weekend. I wasn't wrong! We got parked no problem (there were two spots free, one having been vacated a few seconds before we arrived), but by 1130 the car park was full. By this afternoon there were cars abandoned in every place where one could reasonably squeeze a car - except not in the motorhome spaces, as we've seen in many a swimming pool car park. Perhaps the difference here is that the rest of the car park is free, but you have to pay to park in this particular row.
We're not far at all from the town, which is to where we wandered at lunchtime. Pretty quiet, as you would expect on a Sunday with all the shops shut, but it's a nice, clean and tidy town with some historic buildings (although we didn't find out if they're post-war reconstructions)...
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine and hot (31 degrees)
I don't think it would be an outlandish estimate to say that at 5.45 this morning 99.99% of kerbstones in Karlsruhe were untroubled by human backsides. The exception was outside of Bertie. After five minutes or so of listening to voices and wondering what was going on, I climbed out of bed and peered out of a window to see a group of chaps sitting along the kerb immediately next to Bertie, having a good old chat. I suspect it hadn't occurred to them that someone might be asleep in that big white box of a sleeping vehicle.
About ten minutes later there was another commotion and I got out of bed again, just out of curiosity. A mini-bus had pulled up alongside Bertie, and these chaps were just climbing in (I reckon the one nearest to me as I looked out of the window was approximately a foot away from me). They were all wearing matching t-shirts with some logo on the back. My best guess (considering we were by the sports club) was that it was part of the local football team, off to an away game.
I got back into bed, but by then I was awake and thinking that if I was going to go for a sightseeing trot around Karlsruhe, then earlier was going to be better than later, given that it was forecast to be 25 degrees at 9am.
I also went through the Marktplatz, looked at some grand buildings but didn't find out what they were, and read a few signs about art in the city.
A cold shower and second breakfast then a big drive ... all of 6.5km down to Ettlingen, which sits just to the S of Karlsruhe. I'd picked out two potential park-ups here: the official Stellplatz, or some road-side parking on the other side of town. On the basis of shade and ability to open all of the windows and doors, we opted to pay the €10 for the official parking.
The reason we didn't come here yesterday is because the motorhome parking is within the (huge) car park for the open air swimming complex. On a hot and sunny weekend, immediately before schools go back, I predicted that it would be bedlam by noon this weekend. I wasn't wrong! We got parked no problem (there were two spots free, one having been vacated a few seconds before we arrived), but by 1130 the car park was full. By this afternoon there were cars abandoned in every place where one could reasonably squeeze a car - except not in the motorhome spaces, as we've seen in many a swimming pool car park. Perhaps the difference here is that the rest of the car park is free, but you have to pay to park in this particular row.
We're not far at all from the town, which is to where we wandered at lunchtime. Pretty quiet, as you would expect on a Sunday with all the shops shut, but it's a nice, clean and tidy town with some historic buildings (although we didn't find out if they're post-war reconstructions)...
...and a Schloss:
I'm not sure how well it comes across in the photo, but it's an excellent example of trompe l'oeil.
By the time we'd wandered the streets, food was needed...
Currywurst mit pommen
...after which I was so full that I declared that none of the town's ice cream parlours would be getting my business.
What do you know? Ten minutes later I changed my mind.
After all that food, on top of the early start to the day, it seemed entirely reasonable to get the bed down to read my book this afternoon. That soon went wrong, my book remains unfinished, and I woke up some while later.
By the time we'd wandered the streets, food was needed...
...after which I was so full that I declared that none of the town's ice cream parlours would be getting my business.
After all that food, on top of the early start to the day, it seemed entirely reasonable to get the bed down to read my book this afternoon. That soon went wrong, my book remains unfinished, and I woke up some while later.
A choice of five fountain photos for today's fountain of the day.
Things are looking up. More food and ice cream
ReplyDeleteIt's strange how many night disturbances one gets on away trips when that is rare at home. I have had many including one when I called the police to get rid of a gang of youths throwing things at my tent.
When we have a disturbed night I do think about your nights on LEJOG on the village green at Easton-in-Gourdano (I think that's where it was - it was somewhere thereabouts), and at the campsite in Peebles. At least in Bertie we always have the option of just driving off, without going outside, which isn't feasible in a tent.
DeleteOften the reason for a disturbed night, in our case, is because we've chosen to sleep in a dodgy location - although the expectation then is usually revellers (or doggers!) late at night, rather than people having a chat at approaching 5.45am!