Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Saarburg

We have driven many miles down the autobahn....there is NO speed limit on the freeway here so we were often driving along at at 100km only to have a car shoot past us, they must have been doing 180 to 200km's!!!!!! Sheesh!!! Makes me shiver!!! Anyway we were puttering along and ran out of autobahn, we had printed instructions to follow but they didn't tally to where we were........is hard when there isn't a road number on any sign and we only have road numbers!!!!! Mmmmmmmm.........we ended up in a place called Hillesheim where we found a petrol station and after much mucking around found a map and our way back to the new part of the freeway. The young man in the shop had no idea where we were???????? He  only lived and worked there .......then a lady with a very loud voice cam and spoke to us in German....I picked up one in 10 words, and eventually worked out we had a walking map not a driving map, she got the right one and we were finally back under way.
We arrived at the nearest town to where we were going about an hour later and promptly got lost again....finally I asked a couple who were getting in their car...they had no idea but put the town in their sat nav (note to self, very good idea for next time lol) and kindly said to follow them to the village. This we did and when thanking them for their help found out they were from Romania......they were lovely people but had no more idea than we did!! Our next job was to find the street.....no luck...we are talking a small village here...the sun is going down
So we did what we should have done hours ago and rang the couple we were staying with. They said stay where you are and we will come and find you.........sensational advice!!!!! Thye said, when they found us, they knew it was us as I had parked on the wrong side of the road!!!! Yep I forgot I was driving on the right side!!!!!!
We had a great evening, load of food and drink and the next afternoon went to Saarburg to have a look around It is a beautiful village on the banks of the Saar river
Amazing old house

The noise of the water is quite loud...imagine living here

The river running past the old power station, that was powered by a water wheel

Hansjorge, Edith and David

Edith, me and David

The local church

The river from the opposite side looking back to the market square

The remains of the castle at Saarburg

The King in his castle!!! Love a few steps to climb my DH!!
Off for some more exploring now!




Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Xanthan

We were talking taken out in the afternoon to this place, where there is a huge area where there used to be a Roman city. Some has been rebuilt, some foundations were left but not a lot of the original buildings, but it is amazing what has been recreated.
As soon as we entered the old city space these chariots were spied and of course we had to try them out!!

Luckily there was a German man here with them and he gave his ok, he said they were having races with them later

Of course when in Rome!!!!!!

Underneath the ampitheatre

Tried a panorama of the ampitheatre area


And again

This is the last remaining part of the temple, it is slowly being rebuilt

I spy a windmill in the distance

A better view of the temple
we drove back in  to Dusseldorf late in the afternoon a big damp and bedraggled, had time for a cuppa or in my case a G & T and then off into the city for dinner
Woo hoo!! This is my dinner, grilled pork knuckle!!

Didn't manage to get through all of it but the meat  was beautiful and tender, just an awful lot of it!!!

Peter and Ellie........he with the schnitzel and she with the sausage lovers plate, plus sauerkraut.
See you like later.


Dusseldorf part 2

When we were in the old part of town I was taken into a department store and to the fabric and habadashery dept......I am sure that is a spelling mistake ....ah well.....and found some lovely goodies
Yummy fabric all together

Love this one so much,  thinking cushion, table runner.......mmmm....

Aren't the little christmas people cute......could have done a lot more damage, but know how big the suitcase is and how little spare room there is, although I could be encouraged to leave some clothes behind.......hee hee that is a good idea!!!!


Happy sewing.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Dusseldorf

And so we made it to Dusseldorf, fine on the autobahn but I once we got to the city we had some hairy moments finding the right street!
This windmill was at a petrol and food stop, the information about it was all in German so, we didn't understand much of it, but it had been here a long time

Beside it was a small brick building containing this alter, people had put in lit candles and written messages in the book by the door
Peter and Ellie who we were staying with, took us into the old part of the city to have a look around


Down by the Rhein, there is a light misty rain this morning

The walk along the river side

A bit closer to the old tower at the end of the old town walls

Lovely old building

And another I think this was part of the town hall

Love the Christmas display outside a florist

A couple of tourists by the canal

Joined by Ellie

An old cathedral that is now a theatre

The spire of the old cathedral, the centre of the city was lovely to wander around in not too big and lots of interesting things to look at.
I have been joined by Lucy now, aged 2 and a half who wants to watch Peppa Pig so time to sign off!!



Germany

Our first night on the continent we spent at a lovely hotel at the Hook of Holland and then drove through Holland and then stopped for the night at Buderich. We found a hotel right on the Rhein river, which was an expensive treat!
We went for a walk down to the local shops, only a few of them and got some food for lunch and dinner...the restaurant food at the hotel was  very expensive....I went to the cafe part for a peppermint tea and it cost me $6.50!!!! There weren't any tea or coffee making facilities in the room.

One end of the market square

We came across this memorial to men lost in the Franco Prussian, WW1 AMD WW2 wars, it was a very peaceful place and had lovely gardens and two tabby cats sitting at each end of the flower beds!!

Boat traffic on the Rhein

Looking out the window to the left

More barge traffic...this was pretty much constant

The hotel from the walking path along the river.
We had a lovely breakfast the next morning, and  now off to Dusseldorf!
Bye for now.

Harwich and the ferry crossing

So we made it to Harwich, despite bad weather predictions, checked to see if the ferry was running the next morning....were told it runs every day regardless of the weather....ok....big swallow!!!!! The weather that was coming through was the remains of a hurricane that had gone through Barbados earlier in the week.....rain all gone but the wind was coming. The weather when we got to Harwich was windy and huge rain squalls kept coming over, so we checked into the hotel, got some lunch from the supermarket next door, enjoyed that an SD then went for a drive to see what there was to see in Harwich....actually DH said lets go and buy you a birthday present....who am I to say no!! So off we went!!
Here is the sea front, it looks ok but boy it was windy

Looking back the other way

Love the colourful beach boxes on the sea front


One of the old light houses that took ships aground after silt built up in the area

Great old building

Time to rush inside....rain is coming....and sadly  no suitable shops for birthday presents!!!!
8am and in the queue for the ferry

DH working out our route once we got to Holland with the tried and tested toffee method (thank you Diane the toffees were wonderful! !) Did you know that one toffee measures almost 25km?????? ) Lol!!

Asked DH to take my photo,  thought I would get in on the holiday snaps too!! 😆 

Our last view of Harwich

Amazing skys on the way over. We got a bit bored on the crossing as the ferry was nearly 2 and a half hours late leaving, but I did get a lot of stitching done
Very happy with my progress.
Bye for now.