11th – 17th June 2017.
Sunday
Moving day, not very far just over the border into Germany, to a site around 30km west of Bremen and roughly the same south east of Oldenburg. I visited Oldenburg in the late 1990’s when I stayed with a German friend of mine, I had thought of looking him up but if he were still with us he would be in his late 80’s – mmm – probably best to let sleeping dogs etc,.
The site we are on centres around a lake that is a favourite with the locals and when we arrived the whole place was frenetic, virtually every pitch taken and so many people swimming and playing in the lake you could almost use them to run across without getting your feet wet. Sadly as the afternoon wore on clouds built and by 4.30 the rain was “persisting down” and all the visitors running for shelter.
Monday
We decided to visit Oldenburg today and toddled off about mid morning. It was only 30 km away but when by early afternoon we were still trying to find somewhere to park we gave up and went back to the site. First thing we did on getting back, after tea that is, was to take the top box off.
Oldenburg Schloss
Tuesday
Bremen today. It didn’t start well, with no top box we were able to enter underground or multi story car parks if only we could find one, there are lots of them and lots of signs but after the third circuit we were just about to give up when we eventually saw up ahead a car park entrance. We had to go to the eleventh floor to find a space but must say the effort expended in getting to the town centre was well worth it. The town (city?) centre boasts many fine buildings, indeed the Rathaus, or City hall, and the statue outside are UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Bremen Rathaus – A UNESCO World Heritage Site
Wednesday
We tried to send emails last night and this morning, which everyone on the mailing list should have received but we kept getting a “cannot access server” message we are hoping it is the fault of the camp Wi-Fi and not our equipment. Of course it may mean that recipients get the email several times or bits of it or even none of it.
Had a chat with a Brit couple this morning the first Brits we have seen since getting off the ferry in Europort, Rotterdam. They are on their way to explore Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. We quite fancy that ourselves but would not drive from Rotterdam to Lithuania almost non-stop before starting to explore, but everyone must do it their own way, as long as they do it.
A visit to Oldenburg this morning, we were feeling a little smug as with no top box on the car it should be easy to find a parking space, was it ‘ell as like!! All car parks in Germany seem to have the most obscure entrances.
The main place to visit in Oldenburg is the castle or Schloss former home of the Earls, Dukes and Grand Dukes of Oldenburg and is now the city museum. We particularly wanted to see it as Sue’s father was there at the end of WW2 and on his visit to the Schloss had “looted” an antique plate which hung on a wall in his family home until accidentally broken in the late 1960’s. The Schloss was interesting overall but of particular interest was the way the events that happened in the town immediately to and during the war particularly the expulsion of Jews and the burning of the synagogue were covered.
Thursday
We have moved further east and a little south today to Campingpark Huttensee which is a few kilometres north of Hanover close to the city of Celle. The distance moved was very small but made up for by traffic jams and road works.
The site is clean but we reserve further judgement until we have been here a while, doubts spring from the fact that there are no marked pitches of any description – so everything is rather haphazard and as the day has passed on more and more outfits are crow-baring themselves in, as of course if you have no marked out pitches you have no limit to numbers.
Friday
Had my watch on charge last night so no alarm this morning and of course, we overslept. Not by a huge amount, just under an hour but it makes all the difference to the day. Still we were staying close today. You can see from the map that there is a large area of water behind the site so we toddled off there for a walk. Going through the site towards the wetlands we passed the site restaurant it looked good with a wide range of food choices at what seemed reasonable price. There is another Brit couple on site who, we believe had eaten there so will try to get a quality report.
A little beyond the restaurant and swimming lake is a very high and substantial gate that will allow you out but not in – should we leave for the unknown? A passing dog walker informed us there was a circular walk that ended back at the site front entrance. We followed his instructions and had a very easy and pleasant walk of around an hour and a half duration.
Saturday
We had decided to go to Celle today not only was it billed as having 500 half timbered houses of which it is inordinately proud but today says of itself that it has Europe’s premier and biggest street jazz festival.
We had done a quick reccy yesterday and found a city centre virtually blocked to traffic, we found no evidence of car parks we could access without taking off the top box but a late discussion with the lady at a Tourist Information Centre provided us with a map and location of an open ie not underground or multi story, car park within easy walking distance of the city centre. Following her advise we arrived at what must be one of the biggest open and mainly free city centre car parks in the world. You probably wondered why I wrote “mainly free”. The car park we parked had heavy trucks at one end motorhomes at the back, cars everywhere else.If you were particularly bone idle you could go to the end closes to the city but, assuming you could find an empty space the parking was subject to a parking fee.
The town was very pretty and thrumming with people but no jazz. It appears that doesn’t start until 6.00pm tonight but if we hadn’t gone we would not have gone to the cathedral coffee shop and when our coffee was put on the table the waitress also left an honesty box to put the€1.00 per beverage fee in – €1.00 per beverage, almost like being back in Portugal.