Germany is so beautiful, has lots to offer and it is really wonderful to be back. Great roads, good food at reasonable prices and the small towns are straight out of picture books!
For our Youtube video of our weekly wrap click here
Heading ever closer to France, which is all of Cake and Eat it 3’s favourite country to visit. In fact, we may duck in and out for Pate, Cheese and Wine where possible while exploring some more of Germany.
Be aware of the auto bahn
For those that have not been to Germany, keep in mind the speed in which some motorists travel on the autobahn! What can seem like a car in the distance in your review mirror when deciding to overtake a vehicle in front of you, can be on you in seconds. Some of them are easily doing 180-200kmph.
Plans are already being discussed about our return next year, which countries, timelines and who we know is also travelling similar areas. We have even thought about the possibility of shipping Betsy back home when we are done, we love her and she is part of the family. Time will tell.
The week that was..
Colditz Castle – 14 July 2018
A visit to Colditz Castle, a Renaissance Castle and a prisoner-of-war camp during World
War II for allied officers who had repeatedly escaped from other camps.
Construction began during 1158. It has amazing history and we really enjoyed reading the lighter side of the war (after how intense last week was) with the many and varied escape attempts made here. 35 prisoners were successful in their escape from Colditz.
From disguises, impersonations, stolen uniforms and tunnels it has it all. 
Colditz Castle has more than its share of stories, pranks and shenanigans. Some prisoners specialized in causing mischief. The prisoners quarters were high up facing a small inner courtyard used for roll calls and exercise. Guards who made the mistake of standing under windows and forgetting to took up often had water poured over their heads (sometimes worse things).
You will enjoy your visit to Colditz Castle.
Berlin in a day August 15
Off exploring Berlin! Great spot we camped in last night meant we were walking distance
to the city. Huge day walking all over Berlin.
Checking out various parts of the Berlin Wall and another history lesson. Crazy that it literally divided the country over night. Incredible the attempts made and risk involved to get 
from East to West or vice versa. Check out the youtube video for some great street art on the wall.
The wall went up in 1961, the East German government changed its design of the barrier four times between 1961 and 1989. The Wall fell on 9 November 1989.
On to Checkpoint Charlie memorial. The checkpoint at Friedrichstase, famous as Checkpoint Charlie. Lots of information boards and timelines to peruse.
Slide in a Shopping Centre – yes please!
Lunch time and today we had decided to eat out! What a treat and found our way to the Mall. So glad we did, not only did we get the yummiest doner kebab wraps for 4 Euro each but we found a very cool slide from the top level to the bottom of the shopping centre!!
Back to exploring, we were covering big kilometres today on foot so have to keep moving. Went by the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. A 19,000m2 field of stelae in the centre of Berlin with over 2,700 concrete blocks and information centre below.
Brandenburg gate
Brandenburg gate, built between 1789 and 1791 it is the last remaining gate of 14 in the
former city wall where guards controlled those passing in and out and an excise tax was levied on the movement of goods. The first, more simple Brandenburg gate was built in 1734.
Humboldt University is beautiful and positioned in a lovely square, just like you would see in a movie.
Part walk, part train back to Betsy as we navigated Trains, Subways and Underground networks – fun! Thank goodness for maps.me
Happy to have feet up and drink in hand – what a day! Estimated 25-30klms of walking (on concrete/stone).
KZ-Gedenkstattie Mittlebau Dora – August 16
KZ-Gedenkstattie Mittlebau Dora, translated – concentration camp Dora. During the final 
stages of WWII at least 20,000 prisoners were worked to death here.
From late 1943, thousands of mostly Russian, French and Polish POWs (many who had survived Auschwitz) were forced to build 20km labryrinth of tunnels in Nordhausen. In these tunnels is where they built the V1 and V2 rockets that bombed London.
The tunnels are only able to be viewed on a tour, they run at limited times and unfortunately we did
not get to see inside them. There is an amazing memorial/museum that you are free to wander through. Before doing so, ask at the information desk to borrow an English guide book which will greatly enhance your visit, you return it on leaving. At the rear of the museum area there are video interviews with prisoners of Dora that are really worth taking the time to watch at least a couple. Some are in English and if not, there are subtitles. The conditions and treatment they survived is incredible. The strength of these survivors is astounding.
You can walk around the grounds and there are various plaques to read.
Onward we went to an absolutely beautiful town called Rothenburg ob de Tauber.
Rothenburg Romantic Road – August 17
WOW, what a gem. Rothenburg, a medieval town that is part of the popular Romantic Road through Southern Germany.
We were staying the night in a caravan park so after setting up, plugging everything in to charge we set off walking into town to explore.
A beautiful town, once fortified you can walk along the length of the town on top of the wall. Lots of small shops with handicrafts to explore. It is a viewing pleasure, old buildings, beautiful gardens, cobblestone streets and cafes and restaurants.
There was even a Christmas shop, with you guessed it, all things Christmas! Was lovely seeing all the trees set up, decorations with prices that were a little extreme for us but still lovely to look at.
Really enjoyed walking around Rothenburg.
Headed back to Betsy to do some work and watched the movie, The Great Escape. Helping Miss B put into perspective what the prison camps she has been visiting would of been like. It is a bit lighter than most movies, mainly due to its age (no blood and guts).
Strasbourg – August 18
Lots of driving today and knowing we were so close to France, we could taste the Pate, so we thought why not duck over check out Strasbourg visit a Carrefour shopping centre and come back with the goodies. So we drove to France LOL! So funny to say that, I am in Germany but I just drove to France for the night.
Arriving at our wild camp for the night, we found there was a large number of swans that also called it home. They were not scared or shy of us at all.
August 19
Up and into Strasbourg we went. It was a Sunday and we had already checked where we wanted to park on park 4 night, left Betsy and walked in.
Nice easy walk, we love France and immediately feel at home.
Exploring the city, having a coffee in the main square, albeit a small one called Grande!
Absorbing the atmosphere and enjoying a very nice coffee (no matter how 
hard I try, I can not get used to instant coffee) then an icecream for Miss B and we wandered back to Betsy.
Lots of shops were shut as it was a Sunday. Something to be aware of in lots of countries
of Europe – make sure you have enough food to get you through a Sunday. Sounds easy enough, especially for planners and list makers like us. But, we have been caught out before.
Continued driving and stopped for the night on the River Rhine, back in Germany.
Stayed in a camp ground, I got some work done and we met a lovely older couple from Holland and had a chat till dinner time.
August 20
Woke up to a flat tyre, which was ironic as yesterday we had decided we were going to go to a tyre place the next day to replace the front two tyres. We always check over Betsy and keep an eye on maintenance.
We had a jack but the front of the car was so low it would not fit under. Our lovely neighbours had a flat.jack which was amazing, raises your tyre up to 12cm and packs away nice and compact. We changed the tyre and headed off in search of a tyre guy. Will be looking at getting one of these jacks, not only could Miss B use it if necessary, it packs away using little space – which is important in a campervan or motorhome. This wonderful device is designed to level out your motorhome or campervan.
Replacement Tyre, no problem
Well, there were a lot of tyre guys where we were. But none which had our size tyre. Visiting tyre place after tyre place, we started ringing around, very few spoke English and if they did they didn’t have it.
I found a place online that would send it somewhere of my choosing. The only thing with that is you, then worry about them understanding exactly what you are wanting and sending the right ones. I eventually found a place in Koblenz that could order it in for the next day. We still called in to show him the tyre that day to ensure the right one was coming. All good.
We stayed at a great spot on the water about 10 minutes away, again with power (definitely getting used to this power so often!)
Planning has already begun for our next year’s adventures and we will be back into Germany for sure.
There are some things we would change. Doing three and a half months last year and five months this year we are seriously fine tuning both what we take and what would make it easier or more enjoyable. More on that later.
Until next week….
What did we take
If you are interested in what we took, electronics, kitchen and all things we needed for the duration of our roadtrip click here. (we are slowly adding each week as we have data/time)
Having done a three and half month roadtrip last year in South Europe we were pretty confident in what we would need this time. Also, what worked and what we would not bother taking again.
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The previous weeks can be found here Weekly Wrap European Roadtrip 2018
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