Day 19 Wednesday 19 April 2017

Have I happened to mention how cold it is here!  As I was walking around today it started to snow, so I took shelter in a doorway to do up my coat and get my camera into its bag.  As I was standing there I chatted to the English couple next to me.  Now the forecast was for sleet but what was falling on me looked like snow so I asked the English couple if it was sleet or snow and they confirmed that it certainly was snow.

Pretty ordinary snow pictures

I am leaving Berlin tomorrow and going to Prague.  I have a few hours on the train to Prague so will do a further update then.  Dinner time now and I can hear a big deep fried schnitzel calling out to me.

Days 17 & 18 Monday & Tuesday 17 & 18 April 2017

I am in the bar of the Augustiner am Gendarmenmarket in Berlin, it is 6.00pm and they have just tapped a wooden keg in the traditional manner.  Just prior to that I asked the barman, ‘do you have wi fi in here?’ (although I made it sound more Germanic than that), he looked at me weirdly and said ‘nein’ which is German for no.

I am drinking Augustiner Dunkel, which is a dark beer and I have a suspicion it may be a little stronger than what I am used to.

Lets get the food stuff out of the way, last night for dinner I had wiener schnitzel with fried potatoes.  Note, that it was made from veal, not chicken, not pork but little cows. It was delicious, very, very thin veal coated with something, probably deep fried to a golden colour and served with fried potatoes with little bits of fried onion through it. Accompanied by a couple of glasses of Rhine reisling.

Flashy, the place is as Germanic as ever, then again what would you expect, it is Germany after all, the people are direct, which can come across as rudeness, but it isn’t, it is just their manner.  If you ask for assistance or advice they are only too happy assist, sometimes it just doesn’t seem like it.

Did I mention that it has been cold today, almost NYC 2008 cold but not quite. Maximum 7 or 8 degrees through the day.  It actually snowed today, would you believe snow, or sleet.  No wonder my man flu is lingering.

As an observation, every wine bottle in Europe is still sealed with a cork.  Apparently some cheap wines from Portugal or similar may use the compound cork but no way known are they using the screw tops that are being used in Australia.

I am staying at the Sofitel am Gendarmenmarket.  Great location and so far walking distance to everything I have wanted to visit.  This is in the old East Berlin, the whole focus of the city has changed since the wall came down in 1989 and since I was last here in 1986.

I did a walking tour yesterday, that was very well done, two different guides, an Englishman and a Canadian (can’t get away from em), both had lived here for a number of years and were up on their history.  I tested them early in their respective tours just to make sure.  Combined it was a 6 hour tour and cost 15 euros (if anybody at the Shrine is reading this, please note).  The beauty of these tours is that you cover a lot of territory reasonably superficially but with a wealth of information to delve into later.

The Dunkels might be kicking in so time to give it a rest and come back when making more sense.......

Day 16 Sunday 16 April 2017 (Easter Sunday)

This is a bit of an experiment as I am using the WiFi on the train to post the blog, it is very slow (the WiFi, not the train) so we will see if it works or not.

I left Lille at about 9.00 this morning and had to go back to Paris, the train came in to Gare du Nord and then I had to walk from Gare Du Nord to Gare Du Est to catch my next train in the general direction of Germany.  This was done successfully if not slightly panicky, as I didnt have a lot of time.  This train went to Karlsruhe which is just inside Germany, after a short stop in Strasbourg. I thought to myself I wouldn't have minded getting off in Strasbourg for a couple of days.  But not to be.

Changed trains in Karlsruhe and this time caiught a train to Berlin via Frankfurt.  This journey is a little over 5 hours so I dont get into Berlin until close to 7.30 this evening.  I've already had a beer and a toasted ham & cheese sandwich but I reckon I will be looking for the buffet car before this journey is over.  Dayumn, I forgot to take a photo of my beer and ham and cheese sandwich.  Maybe next time, I am not even going to try and upload any photos on the train WiFi.

I like Germany and I always get a bit of a thrill when I cross the border a bit of a return to ancestral homelands maybe, or the thought of roasted ham hocks and pitchers of beer, one or the other or both.

Not much to write about so far, sitting on a train going backwards through pleasant German countryside.

I will be back if anything interesting happens or I think of any pearls of wisdom to cast before you.  I've got another 3-4 hours to think of something.  As they say here Auf Wiedersehn (or something like that).  I studied German at high school for 4 years and still learnt more from watching re runs of Hogans Heroes.  (Maybe study was to strong a word).

Day 15 Saturday 15 April 2017

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated, good news about Alyssa and the team of mooters in the USA.  Just one question though, is winning or losing a moot a moot point?  Just wondering.

Andrew, thanks for appreciating the food descriptions but you know that there will not be any food photos unless certain previously stated conditions are met.

Today's blog will be a short one as so far nothing interesting has happened.

This morning I drove from Ypres to Lille and had the usual problem with finding the drop off point for the hire car.  A little bit of background for you. I am staying in a Novotel Suites hotel opposite the Lille TGV railway station.  This is a massive station and services all the high speed and express trains to and from this part of France.  Now, under the station are 4 or 5 multi level underground carparks all with very similar looking entrances.  For some reason known only to themselves the hire car companies refuse to put any signage at the entrance to the car park that is the one to return the car to.  It is only once you are in the car park and down a level or two that the hire car company's signs start to appear.  If I didnt know better and if the French weren't such a kind and helpful people I would suggest that it was done this way as a sheer act of bastadry, but they wouldnt do that, would they?

A little about the car I had, it was a neat little Peugot 308 that I got quite attached to.  Like pretty much all the hire cars here it was a 6 speed manual and zipped along nicely, sat on the speed limit of 130 km with heaps to spare.  It had only done about 9,000k and I reckon I did a further 1,000.  The only disconcerting thing I found was the keyless locking and ignition.  When I left the car I was never quite sure if it was locked or not.  The French certainly know how to make good cars, dont they Flashy!

A photo of the car

I am off to Berlin tomorrow and I must admit I am a bit excited about that.  Last time I was in Berlin was 1986 and the wall was still up so it is going to be very different this trip.  I have already booked to go up to the dome of the Reichstag, this was quite a complicated process and had to be booked well in advance with all sorts of details provided.  Probably due to security concerns.  And I have also arranged to do a walking tour on the Monday.  

It is a grey, dull day in Lille so I havent bothered with any photos.  Lille is a bit like Newcastle, Glasgow and Ballarat in that it has lost its traditional manufacturing economic base and is battling to find something to replace it.  It is certainly busy around the stations, but still lots of homeless around the place.  And the Gypsies are back, actually saw some Gypsy men begging today, that would be like going to work for them, they usually leave it up to the woment and the children.

As the hotel is on the edge of nowhere and I have a proper table and chair I am catering in house tonight.  Bread, ham, cheese, creamy pastry thing and a bottle of bordeux.

A donkey

Day 14 Friday 14 April 2017 (Good Friday)

Thanks for the tip Jo, I will certainly be keeping an eye out for some of that Becherovka, it must have some medicinal benefits by the sound of it.

Flashy, the Regina Hotel where you stayed the 1st time here is closed for renovations.

A quiet day in Ypres today, I have been coming down with a cold for the last few days so I decided to have a bit of a rest day.  So I got up late and wandered up to to the market square for an omlette for brunch, with orange juice and coffee.  It is amazing for a town that is in the middle of rich farm land and proud of their local produce they you give you milk for your coffee in one of those little plastic tub things.

Another interesting thing here is that although Belgium has a strong Catholic population Good Friday is not a public holiday, in fact there is nothing happening here to indicate that it is any different than any other day.

Ypres from the Zonnebeke ridge

The above photo shows you what the fighting was all about.  Whoever held the high ground had the advantage, and the high ground didn't have to be very high.  Just think, you have your artillery spotters on the ridge with the guns on the reverse of the ridge and you can fire away all day.  The photo was taken using my zoom lense, Ypres is about 7 - 10 km away.  Even the lightest of the German artillery had a range of at least 12 km.

Although suffering terribly from my man flu I decided to go for a walk around Ypres and get some photos to pad out this episode of the blog, so I hope you appreciate the pics and the effort that has been made to take them.

Market Square Ypres

Inscription on the Menin Gate

Two Goats

Day 13 Thursday 13 April 2017

If you are ever visiting this part of Belgium remember this, do not ever, and I repeat do not ever stand in the path of a middle aged Belgium riding their bicycle towards you, they will not try and avoid you but will keep on coming at you with a steely determination, leaving it up to you to get out of the way.

For those of you who may be interested in what I had for dinner last night, I had prawn croquettes and sole menuire.  Sole is a fish similar to our flounder and last night's offering was cooked in a very light buttery sauce.  The croquets were, as usual, delicious.  How can you go wrong with something made of prawns and deep fried.

Has anbody noticed what the temperature is going to be in Berlin next week, maximum of 9 degrees for the time that I am there and Prague is similar.  Now thats cold!

Out and about again today.  Visited the Hooge wood crater.  This is a mine crater that was exploded by the British under the German lines in 1915.  The whole area was fought over many times between 1914 and 1918.  This is only about 5 km out of Ypres.
The crater is in the grounds of a hotel and you can walk around a path around it which inlcudes some German blockhouses and piles of battlefield detrius.  Now this is located in an area that was known to the British, and the Australians as Chateau Wood.

Detrius of War

There is a famous photo, taken by Frank Hurley, of 5 Australian soldiers walking on duckboards through Chateau wood, although it didn't exist as a wood at the time, it was just a wasteland of mud and flooded shell craters and splintered tree stumps.  We have an enlarged copy of the photo in the galleries at the Shrine it is one of the things that I talk about to school groups.  So I was inerested in what Chateau Wood looks like now, well there is a bloody big amusement park there and ironically there are a lot of water based rides.

I also went to Polygon Wood, Flashy they havent identified anymore of the 5 Australians that you helped bury.  Still 2 51st btn men, 1 49th (I think) and 2 soldiers of the great war, known unto god.

5th Division Memorial - Polygon Wood

As well as visiting the revamped museum at Zonnebeke I went to the large British cemetery at Tyne Cot.

On previous trips I have been unsuccessful in finding Sgt Lewis McGee's grave.  McGee was a 40th Btn soldier from Campbell Town in Tasmania, he was 29 years old, worked as an engine driver and was married with a small child.  He was awarded the Victoria Cross during the fighting for Passchendaele.  He single handedly took on a German pill box, known as the Hamburger, in front of where Tyne Cot now stands.  He was killed in subsequent fighting in the same area before he knew that he had been awarded the VC.  From memory his wife received the VC from a visiting member of royalty after the war in Central Park in Launceston.

I wonder what delights dinner holds for me tonight, prawn croquettes maybe??

A deer

Day 12 Wednesday 12 April 2017

Dear reader, I have been gently chastised for not providing detailed descriptions of my food and drink.  You may recall that I arrived in Ypres in Belgium yesterday, well Ypres is world renowned for its prawn croquettes.  Some readers may recall that during my last visit to Ypres I became slightly obsessed with prawn croquets.  So last night I decided that I would have prawn croquettes for my entree and they were delicious, two deep fried croquets sharing a plate with a little salad.  The ony unfortunate part is that the prawns themselves are ugly little grey wormy things and the restaurants insist on putting them around the plate as a garnish.

For main course I had a traditional Flemish beef stew, this is served in an iron casserol thing and was accompanied by chips (with mayonaise of course) and another salad.  This also was delicious and extremely filling.  Both courses were accompanied by a V & T for starters and a pitcher of the house red, both most acceptable.

Now that is out of the way lets get back to the real business at hand.  Today I decided that I would revisit the Messines battlefield.  Messines is a great battlefield to visit, because if you are standing on the Messines ridge (the high ground held by the Germans) the whole battlefield is laid out before you.  This is also the first major battle fought by the Australian 3rd Division and most importantly it is a battle that we won.

Now, this is a battlefield

Messines was a lead up to the battles of 3rd Ypres (which turned into a disaster, more of that tomorrow), and used a tactic known as 'bite and hold'.  Instead of trying to achieve a massive breakthrough and gallop all the way to Berlin the British generals decided to attack and advance in small stages.  Attack, hold the territory against the German counter attacks, bring up your artillery and attack again and repeat until you had achieved your objectives.

My grandfather's battalion, the 40th AIF, as part of the 3rd Division was an integral
part of this attack and achieved their objectives with, for the time, minimal casualties.

I followed some of the 40th battalion's advance through Ploegsteert Wood (or Plugstreet to the British and Australians) although it was difficult as much of the wood is in private hands and access is limited.  As I was walking through the forest there was nobody else around and I recalled the description from the 40th btn history of their approach of the front line through the wood.  It was described as a warm and humid night, very dark, and the Germans started to shell the British  support areas.  The shells went plop, plop, plop and at first the Australians thought that they were duds, then they realised that they were gas shells, so they had to put their gas masks on and continue their advance.  The 40th lost a number of men that night even before they reached the front line.

Ploegsteert Wood

I visited a number of other sites of interest in the Messines, Ploegsteert area including the Ploegsteert experience. This is a relatively new museum, oops sorry interpretive centre that has a small but well presented range of audio visual presentations and battlefield artifacts.  The staff were very helpful with some queries I had and happily spent some time with me trying the sort out some discrepancies in places and locations on the battlefield.

Well that is enough for now, have drinks in the bar at the Novotel, Jeffe Blonde, to be exact.

A cow (for no reason)