Deutschland

From Amsterdam, we were met by Franz, one of Sam's four uncles residing in Germany, who drove us back across the imaginary border into Germany to a small town called Werlte in the Upper Northwest part of the country. This conservative hamlet, which owes it's quaint development to regional subsistence farming and a nearby truck manufacturing factory, is an interesting mix of Germany both old and new. Russian and Polish immigrants mingle with middle class German families, most of whom have lived and owned homes in this area for generations. Indeed this is the case for Franz, who has built himself a large home on the land his mother and father once lived on, and at the site where him and his four brothers were born and raised. Franz has recently - on the back of his African Sky hotel chain here in South Africa - built a luxury hotel in Werlte, run now by his daughter and son-in-law. So while it was at his lavish home that we slept and rested, the newly built hotel was to be where we dined and after our budget-tailored diet of the past few weeks, we reveled in the daily feasting of imported red meats, seafood's, salads, red wines and the selection of specialty brewed German beers. In between these daily banquets, we explored the countryside on bike marveling at the tranquility and emptiness of the German landscape. We visited an empty field of deserted world war two tanks, were humbled by a visit former Nazi concentration camp, consumed tea and strudel in equally charming neighboring towns and toured a German cruise-shipyard. It was a week or two of rest and fulfillment where we could unpack our bags, re-awaken our appetites, trim our scraggly beards whilst sampling our first taste of Germania; our European home for the next month.

Sam and her cousin Sarah and husband Mark - the mangers of African Sky Hotel in Werlte.

Daily bike stroll between villages

scale model of German concentration camp.

Don't act like you're not impressed.

Mid-morning tea spread.

The hotel; a dining room, if you will, for our first week in Germany

The home of Franz and Margaret van Helt; our hosts.

Sam on tour with her two aunts; Christa and Margaret

Germany has advocated the removal of all her nuclear power plants within the next few years and is subsequently leading the way in alternative energy sources. These wind turbines number in the thousands across the Northern part of the county.

Standing tall in Deutchsland