Kaufbeuren town wall
Monday 22nd September 2014 – Steve goes to work and Svenja’s parents join us in Kaufbeuren
Monday the start of the working week – well for Steve anyway. Svenja being on uni holidays it was a little bit of sister time in the morning before her parents joined us for their holidays.
So after Steve left us for work at 4am we went back to sleep to wake up at a decent hour and got up and planned our day.
Now what better way to start the day then go for a drive, and even better a drive down a country road with less traffic so I could drive!
Coll’s driving! 😀
It was like being a learner driver all over again having to double think everything you do and what side of the road you are on, while also trying to get a feel for a new car is quite an experience. Thankfully I am well practised with petrol cars and their tricky clutches – as anyone who has driven my car knows (I hope someone at home has taken the Rav for a drive for me as it is probably missing the road as much as I am!). It didn’t take me long to be more relaxed than Svenja was (it is never easy being a passenger in your own car as some of my poor friends know all too well) and comfortably pass trucks and cars on the road, turn at intersections and travel faster than I thought I would be comfortable doing (don’t worry Mum never over the speed limit). After driving a little bit through the picturesque green country with little cottages and houses and barns (I didn’t see a full wooden barn to take a photo of they were all half concrete and half wooden – next time I will try harder) I was happy to let Svenja drive to the shops.
Now shopping is different in different countries as I have learned, our supermarkets are much the same but in Europe (including the UK) supermarkets sell alcohol and actually have quite a range that are decently priced – Australia seems to be the most expensive for alcohol. Australia usually has closed freezers but a lot of Europe have theirs open and well let’s face it Australia is too hot most of the time to waste cold air. However the biggest difference I have found is when you get to the check-out. In Australia you put your things on the counter and the person at the check-out scans your items and then bags them into plastic bags (unless you have reusable ones or don’t need one for a few items). In England I ignorantly assumed this would be the same as Australia. It wasn’t until the person had scanned a few of my items and asked “Would you like help to bag your items?” that I realised while I was looking for my wallet the items were being piled up next to the bag and it was expected of me to stack my own items (haha sorry check-out person just an ignorant Aussie). I honestly think the Australian system is a lot quicker but I suppose the upside to the English way is things are stacked the way you want them. Now in Germany they don’t use bags at all, you are expected to bring in a basket or a box or your own bags to carry your items – yep no bags at all! How’s your balancing skills? 😉
Kaufbeuren City Hall
However in no time at all Svenja’s parents (Alwin & Nicky) and their dog (Vitus [pronounced Veetus]) were already here and ready to join us so after a quick stop in to buy a dirndl for Oktoberfest (sorry you are going to have to wait for Friday’s blog for those photos) and buying my first European loop scarf it was off for lunch. Finding somewhere that allows a big dog isn’t a big deal in Germany as dogs are allowed nearly everywhere it is only if they have a sign that says no dogs that they are not allowed (they are even allowed on buses). We found a very nice Bavarian feeling restaurant and ordered four German style dishes to share. Now Bavarians are big on their big meals and big drinks – even my coke was the same height as a 1L Maß glass although not as wide, and we were unable to finish all of the meals even though they were all delicious (and you know they must have been as I am usually quite a fussy eater). These delicious meals involved Jägerschnitzel, Kässpatzen, a salat (salad) with turkey and a pork dish. (Sorry I didn’t take any photos of any food as I was already looking like too much of a tourist as it was so you will have to use your imaginations and take my word on how good it all was – or better yet get on a plane and see for yourselves!)
Kaufbeuren Town Map (3D with brail)
We then went and explored the town of Kaufbeuren including seeing the very cool town map that is a 3D model and has brail printed for people who are blind to be able to read and get a feel of the city. Part of this exploration included seeing a beautiful Protestant church which you just couldn’t help but be silent and feel reverent in (yes my time in Catholic schools has made me able to appreciate this and I think even a prep child would have felt the need to be silent and still in this church, well at least for a little while). We also saw the town hall that is known for being a beautiful building and for having brides get married in (having to navigate the cobbled stones in their heels to get to and from the limo would be interesting to see) and we also saw some of the jewellery the town is known for.
Town Jewellery
Town Jewellery
Large door way in City Hall – if you have money you flaunt it!
Steps in hall (you can understand why brides would like this place)
Stairs to wall (well some of them)
We then climbed up some lovely steps (nice wide steps unlike the small English ones that I really dislike due to being the klutz that I am – downside to being tall and dangly), only to reach what looked like the top to see that we had to climb just as many steps again! I understand why Germans eat such big meals – they need the energy to climb all of their steps and mountains! We got to the top and had quite a view of the town and could read about the history of the wall. I can’t read German so I am not sure if the sign had this information but Steve being a Bavarian and quite a good story teller (even though he claims he can’t speak English well) shared a story of the town wall. Now Kaufbeuren was under siege by an attacking army (my memory is terrible so Steve please feel free to remind me what army it was) the town was nearly completely out of food and water and getting very desperate. The attacking army realised they would be running out of provisions and were waiting and watching around the castle. An old man in the castle with a goatee (a pointy beard for those who are unsure) decided to walk around the top of the wall and see what is going on. The surrounding enemy saw him walking on the wall and thought “Well if they can parade a goat around on the top of their wall they are clearly still not starving” and the army left! Therefore the town was saved. To this day the locals still call the town wall ‘Goat wall.’(I really would hate to have been the commanding officer who made the call to leave!)
“Goat wall”
Shows how the wall was extended over the years in the picture
View from the wall (see if you can see something that looks strange)
We then ended our day walking around the forest with Vitus who decided to find a hidden black cat and chase it – it wasn’t a good sign for his upcoming meeting with Steve & Svenja’s cats! We also got to play with the Indian jumping seeds again (check out the video on facebook).
While walking around, because the town is very catholic, you often find catholic monuments around to pray at and they are more than likely in hidden places like the edge of a forest pictured below.
Catholic monument on edge of forest
We made it back to the apartment and Vitus got acquainted with the cats. I soon learned ‘no’ in German to let the dog know he isn’t to go near the cats “Nein Vitus” and with my teacher voice apparently it is quite a good accent. 4 Germans then looked at me “You can speak German”
“Nein, one word is not German.” Granted I can say please, thank-you and Good Morning as that was instilled into me at a young age by my German great-grandmother but that is about its extent. However Germans are more than happy if you say that much and pretty much everyone can speak a little English and they are very understanding if you can’t speak German and smile and say “English? That’s okay.” It is a lot different to how Australians often treat tourists who don’t speak English and I think we could learn a lot from European countries. However German is quite a hard language to learn and in fact the sentence “Sorry I don’t speak German” is actually quite hard to pronounce in Deutsch and so I was very thankful to have Svenja to always translate a menu or a shopkeeper’s question as I looked taken aback when they spoke in German and I remembered I still couldn’t say that phrase!
We managed to keep the cats and dogs separated enough and happy. Once more it was early to bed beacuse we planned on exploring the Neuschwanstein castle the next day (and Steve had another 4am start at work)!
Vitus and Nicky at the “Goat wall”
Coll's Travels 