Journal Extract: Trip To Germany - September 2017

JOURNAL EXTRACT: TRIP TO GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 2017

Eric J Drysdale

(Updated February 2022)

I dedicated my novel THE PRICE TO PAY, which will be published during the next 12 months, to Norma.

‘To my dear Norma, who embodies so many of Adrian’s qualities, and who, in a thousand years, is the best mate I could find.’

The veracity of every word of this dedication was reinforced once again in our sojourn to Germany and cruise down the Danube. In the days and years of a life I could not want for a better fellow sojourner and companion than Norma.

In our approach and descent to Munich Airport, looking down at miles of productive, peaceful farmland, it seemed to me, particularly to people who are well read and knowledgeable of world history and politics, you could not but think of the inherent anomalies and anachronisms. 75 years ago, Spitfires and Messerschmitts engaged in dogfights in English and German skies, V-2s rained down on British soil and the English response devastated many German cities.

At a time when travelling is fraught with dangers not even thought of three decades ago, the truth of the adage of the repetition of history is demonstrated again and again. When we have at out fingertips, and literally at the push of buttons, the facilities to improve the lives of countless millions around the world, we refuse to learn from the past and succumb to the dictates of greed and the lust for power.

As many of you know I have a fascination with what I call ‘The-Fork-In-The-Road-Syndrome’. I expect to have 6 volumes of short stories with the general title of THE FORK IN THE ROAD on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. by the middle of 2022. About 60% of these have been published or broadcast before.

Even the most mundane of days have many forks in many roads. These choices or chances are multiplied many fold when one arrives on the other side of the world after a 27 hour flight, in a country where the majority of the population speak a foreign language and have limited English.

A few notable forks for us were:

• Arrived Munich – after collecting luggage I left Norma with the luggage to locate a taxi or shuttle bus, then could not re-enter the airport. If it had not been for the assistance of an Emirates staff member we could still be there separated by a security door and an unrelenting security officer.

• Rang Cruise Line to confirm sailing – found embarkation point had been changed and the ship was now departing from Deggendorf, maybe 50-60 kilometres from original departure port.

• Plan: to go by train from Munich to Deggendorf the next day, a trip of about one and a half hours. Thanks to the excellent service and kindness of the Team Leader at the Excelsior Hotel, one of her staff took me to the station and arranged for me to buy two tickets to Deggendorf. He then took me to platform 25. “Just check the notice board tomorrow and you are all set for departure at 12:24.” We arrived just after 11:30am – all good, however, in the next 45 minutes they announced in German that the train would be about 25 minutes late. Fortunately for us, Armin, a lovely, helpful middle aged German gentleman was seated on the same seat, waiting for the same train, and we stuck to him like glue. At 1:24 (an hour late), the train departed for Deggendorf from platform 24, carrying the three of us. If it had not been for Armin we would probably have taken the wrong fork in the road and been on our way to Nuremberg. He lived in Munich, but was going to Deggendorf to see his 94 year old mum – lucky us. He instructed us when to get off, helped with the luggage, and took us in his cab to the ship, the Swiss Tiara, which was about a kilometre down the road on the way to his mum’s home. As Norma said, “you can tell your mother you’ve been a very good boy today.” Thanks to Armin, a veritable disaster was turned into a happy memory of one man’s kindness and unhesitating assistance.

Footnote: I am pleased to say we have maintained contact with Armin and nearly five years later still exchange Christmas greetings and occasional emails. I sent him a copy of this Journal extract and he wrote back: “I laughed at being a middle aged German gentleman. That means I will reach 134 as I am now 67.” We thought a fit 45-50.

There are definitely one or two short stories just waiting to be written from those incidents.

THE CRUISE AND ON BOARD:

• We cruised from Deggendorf to Mainz, passing many lovely Medieval German towns and cities such as Nuremberg, Wertheim and Miltenberg. Quite remarkable that some of these 4-500 year old cities, which were largely destroyed during WW11, have been re-built or restored to how they looked in the Middle-Ages.

• Sarah co-ordinated our tours and did a great job of preventing us from getting lost.

• Pedro from Portugal was our waiter and you could not want for better. Across a crowded room he noticed that your glass of water had reduced below 50%, or you need more of their yummy German bread, or your plate was empty and needed to be cleared away. He was poetry in motion: no wasted movement or time.

• We went through over 50 locks. Not a normal experience in Australia, and an engineering marvel.

• Interestingly, my ‘writer find for the year’, Alex Gerlis, has written three wonderful espionage novels set in England and Europe during WW11, and I read the third one, VIENNA SPIES as we travelled in the general area where the novel is set. For more details see my Review on Amazon.

MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS, OBSERVATIONS AND NOTES:

• They drive on the wrong side of the road – quite disconcerting for us coming from Australia. Fortunately (for them) I didn’t drive, and couldn’t imagine I would unless I was living in a country where they drove on the right hand side of the road for some time.

• A big percentage of cars/vehicles are luxury brands – Mercedes, BMWs, Audis, etc. Not surprising I guess. I think all our taxies were Mercedes.

• All the taxies are cream – not yellow, but cream.

• All the TV channels seem to be in German. There was one import that gave financial news in English, but that seemed to be it. We happened on MASH and Criminal Minds, and it really was strange listening to Hawkeye speaking German.

• They are running up to a national election on 24th September. Posters all over the place. Don’t know what they said, but a lot of pretty pictures of pretty politicians. Angela Merkel is the definite front runner and there seems little doubt she will win her fourth term in office, which, speaking as a foreign interloper and admirer of AM, I feel will be good for Germany. After all, the Vice President in my novel is a woman, so I’m not sexist. Interesting that the election will be on Sunday. Held on various days around the world, but Saturday, as we have it here in Australia, seems to make sense.

• Driving from Munich airport into our hotel I noticed no shortage of graffiti, just like in Australia and probably most western countries – probably not in Singapore and Japan. This is not art; to deface a building or wall, be it public or private, is an appalling antisocial behaviour and should be punished accordingly. Cut their right hand off, or left if they’re left handed, or both if they’re ambidextrous – just joking, but is should be dealt with more sternly. It is in my novel.

• I don’t know what the average rainfall is in Germany, but based on the miles and miles of lush, green countryside we saw it must be good.

• We also saw many wind farms – no doubt a concession to the Green idiots and the Climate Change crap, just like in Australia, although they no doubt don’t have the rich coal resources we do, so there may be some justification. In our situation here, how do you have the vast resources we do and end up with the highest electricity bills in the world? Answer: gutless politicians on both sides. What a shame we don’t have people like Piers Ackerman, Andrew Bolt and Miranda Devine in the seats of power.

• Although the Excelsior in Munich and the Savoy in Frankfurt were supposed to be 5 Star hotels the Savoy certainly didn’t qualify and was nowhere in the same class as the Excelsior. We were upgraded to the next level and didn’t have to pay 10 Euros for air-conditioning and had a free mini bar. I think the air-conditioning was an open window, and the drunk or junkie screaming out in the street six floors below all night was free as well. There was no tea and coffee making facilities and the tiles were breaking down and flaking off in the ceiling of the bathroom; the towels were like gauze, with Norma making the comment that she wouldn’t have used it to dry her dog with. It had a very definite old feeling about it, and I think Hitler probably stayed there in 1945 on his way to South America. In line with that, I’m pretty sure I saw Martin Bormann, or his ghost, lurking in the foyer. However, it was only for one night, and served, by counterpoint, to reinforce the excellent quality of the rest of the holiday.

End note: It is now nearly five years since I wrote this on the plane on the way back from Germany. I have shared it with various friends, but felt people in Australia, plus other countries and backgrounds would find it both interesting and wryly amusing. It pleases me that my thoughts and observations remain unchanged, so I am both consistent and constant in my appreciations, likes and dislikes.

Any thoughts or comments would be welcome.

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