The wurst day to be hungry

Ja! Ich liebe the Deutsch countryside

August 17, 2012 Friday

After getting up reluctantly and being thoroughly exhausted, we made our way out of the campsite when Hanako got a pinch flat before we even got to the main road. So we pulled over, unloaded it, and fixed it right quick. Seeing as how we were starving, we headed to the market and bought up everything, then headed out to find a restaurant in order to power up and make good time. Unfortunately we didn't find anything open that was serving meals since it was later in the afternoon and places in the German countryside are only open for ice cream, coffee and beer.
So we kept on trucking. It was a super hard day as we were both cranky without much food and physically exhausted. It did have its high point of course, with butterflies fluttering around our heads and a beautiful moment of watching a horse teaching its young to trot in a field.
Finally we had an absolutely delicious meal (probably because we were so hungry) with a great view of the river (meaning it was overpriced). With our bellies full and our spirits high, we took off to make it to our next destination. First we crossed over a truly wonderful bridge over one part of the river and then a rickety wooden slats bridge alongside the railroad. We continued through the beautiful German countryside along the south side of the Elbe as the sun started to set.

Bridge view right after our meal

Other side of the bridge

We hauled ass to the next campingplatz only to not know exactly where it was. From our map we could tell we were close, but there weren't many sign markers along this part of the route. There was a rumble of motorbikes from a dirt path near by, and we stopped two young guys to ask the way. They told us to go down the path, then at the crossing make a right. We headed that way, but the right side of the path didn't seem as promising and we heard voices straight ahead. We decided to continue straight only to find a field with a bunch of guys playing soccer as well as some sort of athletic complex. We tried asking one guy who seemed to be finishing his workout if he spoke English and if he knew where a campingplatz was, but he wasn't having it (probably the only person in Germany who didn't try to help us). Then we found three guys, two of them looking like brothers, twins maybe, who were drinking beer and riding bikes and we asked if they spoke English. One said "a little bit" and for the first time, someone in Germany was being accurate about their English language levels. He knew as much English as we did German, but we did our best to work together. They took us down the dirt path that we should have turned right on, which seeemd to go on for a while. Hanako rode behind two of them who kept trying to cheers their beers as they rode, while I made my attempts at communicating with the other. We seemed to go deeper into the meadow and wooded area, and Hanako and I were both warry in case they were not taking us to the camping platz. We came to an area with a big swimming pool, and one of the guys went to find out if it was the right place (since we speak no German). He came back pointing us the right way. So we spoke the international language of high fives and parted ways.
Upon entering the campsite, a guy camping there met us to tell us that we could pay in the morning since the keeper had left for the day. The guy told us that he spoke English for his work, and explained that he was bike touring with his wife and daughter and with another family and their two kids. They pulled the two little ones in a trailer, and the 8 year old rode by herself. He told us that they put in about 60 km a day, with enough breaks for the kids. We were very impressed and decided that we hope to do that one day with a family of our own.
We had gotten to the campingplatz pretty late, had time to shower and rest our bodies for a moment, only to start making food at a late hour (maybe 10:30 or 11). There were only a few people at the campingplatz, and besides the touring families, the rest were in Wohnwagens. One of the ladies in the Wohnwagen next to our tent came over to see what we were doing. She spoke only German, and us English so it took a moment. It seemed that she thought we were asleep already, then saw our lights and our small camping stove. She looked at the instant potato soup with Gnocci that we were making, and made the international sign for "wait just a moment" and went to the trailer. When she came back, she had a plate of wurst, chicken, and steak and a glass of wine in her hands. She brought us ketchup, then told us to just come sit with her and her husband by the Wohnwagen.
We were so grateful and probably said "Danke" about a thousand times. Even though we didn´t know exactly how to communicate with each other, with the help of hand gestures and our pocket dictionary of German to English, we did pretty well. We were even able to tell them about camping in the backyard of the former mayors house in Wittorf! Turns out they are Doris and Manfred of Rothenow, which is a town somewhat in the direction of the rest of our travels to Berlin. They have camped a lot through Germany and gave us suggestions on the route to take the next day (since we wouldn´t be following the Elbe anymore) and of a campingplatz just outside of their town. They told us that if we were ever in Rothenow when they were there, that we could stay with them. As for right then, they were expecting their daughter, son-in-law, and grandaughter on Saturday and planning to stay at the campingplatz until Wednesday. We enjoyed the food thoroughly and even shared a a night cap of some sort of Jager (delicious!) and Schnapps and felt the most relaxed and at home than we had in days. Doris asked when we planned to leave the next morning- we said probably noon or so- and she invited us to have breakfast with them. With full stomachs and tired bodies we fell asleep in no time flat.