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In this blogposting...
*AGM XVI
*Robinson’s Grand Tour: Third Day

AGM XVI
...takes place at 1100 tomorrow, Wednesday 2 June, at Birkheads Nursery. Be there.

A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

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ROBINSON’S GRAND TOUR: THIRD DAY
COLOGNE TO MUNICH
SUNDAY MARCH 21

Every few weeks I have breakfast with Lawrence Hepple, the piano-tuning, speedway-obsessed truckshunter of otherwise sensible repute. There is nothing whatever untoward or salacious about these regular dates. They are rather a noble tradition which began when I was presenting The Nightshift - and doesn’t that seem like aeons ago?

Once a week or so, when the live programme had ended at 0630, Lawrence would turn up at the Pink Palace and we would record a hopelessly undisciplined On Your Doorstep chat on some unlikely subject of local fascination. Afterwards, we would repair to Motorbike Hill to one of the two ‘greasy spoon’ cafes which mercifully open their doors before rosey-fingered dawn creeps over our window-sills (as a colourful friend of mine used to say before they took him away).

The regular repasts we enjoyed there would be recognised instantly and everywhere as a a ‘typical’ English breakfast; fried eggs, baked beans (an American import, surely), tomatoes, mushrooms, sausages, hash browns (another American import), fried bread and a pint of tea. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, that is how the English start their day.

It is not, of course, how the rest of the world starts its day. As far as the English are concerned, the rest of the world has got it badly wrong. The French dunk sweetened bread into huge, steaming bowls of coffee, the Swiss eat nuts on an Alp, the Italians drink very strong coffee with their eyes only half-open and the Germans munch on a sausage bap.

My Grand Tour showed me just how wrong these impressions are.

The Swiss, for example, have a favourite kind of small almond cake which they devour voraciously, along with what looked to me like a small mountain of Danish pastries. (I was going to make a joke here about the Danes eating Swiss Roll, but thought it was just too silly.)

In Italy, a couple of slices of cold ham followed by a small - and very potent - espresso coffee are usually enough to get the day going.

French people really do dunk ‘raw’ croissants into their coffee and slurp the resulting mush - or perform a similar routine with sweet, dry Breton biscuits.

But when German people break their fast, they beat the rest of Europe into a cocked hat.

As I entered the dining room of my lovely little hotel ( - the Lyskirchen, just in case you’re thinking of giving Cologne a whirl - ) I was confronted by the biggest and most varied breakfast buffet I have ever seen or am ever likely to see. At least ten different kinds of bread - including, of course, those mouth-watering ‘heavy’ German breads; huge ewers of fruit juice; a dozen varieties of cheese; jams and preserves that would put the WI to shame; various cooked sausages, eggs (fried, scrambled, coddled and poached); chicken drumsticks; twelve assorted cooked meats; tea (which no-one seemed to want) and coffee (in all its confusing manifestations). It was all very beautifully presented; the boiled eggs had even been dyed different colours. I’m not joking.

I was only halfway through the hundredweight of food I had decided to consume ( - I had a long train journey to Munich ahead of me, after all) when Hanno, the Head Receptionist (he’s on the right in the picture, holding Hildie’s ludicrous lighter) joined me at my table, weighed down as it was with ham, cheese and pumpernickel.

He was a friendly fellow - and one of those people who are immensely proud of their native city. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the ‘other side’ of Cologne; that its citizens consider it to be Germany’s most cultured and ‘civilised’ city - and also its most cosmopolitan and liberal. Hanno told me that, astonishingly, at the last census more than 10% of the population freely ticked the box marked ‘gay’ - a far higher proportion than in, say, Amsterdam, London and many other gay-friendly cities.

It was only then, some 45 minutes before my train to Munich was due to leave, that I discovered that the hotel lay within yards of Cologne’s gay scene - which explained the overwhelmingly (attractively? satisfyingly?) male clientele around us.

But it was too late for me to ‘exploit’ Hanno’s information. My exploration of Cologne’s liberality would have to wait for another time.

And believe me, there will definitely be another time.

As I walked along the riverside to the station, exchanging greetings with almost everyone I encountered, I felt profoundly melancholy. At first unprepossessing (to say the least), Cologne had captured me completely. After one last, awestruck look at the cathedral’s mighty spires, I walked slowly to the ticket-gate.

But I’ll be back.

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Here is a short list of some commonly-held misconceptions, fallacies, old wives’ tales and urban myths
*Hair and fingernails continue to grow after a person dies
*The Pyramids and the Great Wall of China are visible from the moon
*a duck’s quack does not echo
*Napoleon was only 5’ 2” tall
*lightning never strikes the same place twice
*German trains run on time

You’ll have noticed that last one.

I reckon I travelled on eighteen trains during my Grand Tour. Only one of them was late. And it was a German ‘ICE’ (Inter-City Express) train.

To be fair, it was late in a very German kind of way. ICE trains consist of two sets of eight carriages joined together. When I arrived at the platform I was surprised to find only half of the train waiting there. Eight carriages were missing - including the carriage my seat was in.

My half of the train had apparently broken down so the decision had been taken to run the half that was still in working order. It left on time.

The other eight carriages arrived 20 minutes later and I found myself in the unusual position of travelling on a train only half of which was late.

And it got later and later. Just south of Cologne, at Bonn (the old capital of West Germany), all the lights went out. We were stranded for an hour on a siding in the middle of what looked like the Bonn Cleansing Department’s worst nightmare.

After that, nothing at all could redeem the journey, which thus became even longer than timetabled. To be honest, though, I didn’t care. There was nowhere I had to be on time; I had no connexions to miss. So I could sit back and enjoy the admittedly languorous, snail-paced journey and smile smugly at everyone else’s frustration.

The journey to Munich is a long one at the best of times; you drop down through two-thirds of the length of the entire country. Open fields contrast with distant, heavily-wooded hills. There are sharp differences, as I guess there are everywhere, between the larger, industrialised settlements and smaller, almost unbelievably rural villages along the way. The green-ness of the lush countryside always contrasts prettily with the preference most German people seem to have for light-coloured houses with almost Alpine rooflines.

Another national predilection seems to be for palatial allotments. At home, I was used to seeing rough-and-ready collections of often unkempt parcelled land surrounded by rusty chicken-wire. In western Germany, a family’s allotment is its castle. The sheds are immaculately maintained Alpine log cabins, most of which looked like they could sleep a family of four; every patch has a razored lawn, a larch tree, a flower border and a corner for fruit and vegetables.

Their sheer number and quality is awe-inspiring. Each allotment is a miniature Wallington or Cragside and, collectively, they are a surprising and very satisfying adornment to the passing scene.

Which - I am sorry to say - is a lot more than can be said for many of the towns I passed through that day. I know that railway lines almost always attract the undersides of the towns they traverse, but I somehow expected more from names I had known all my life; Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Augsburg.

And, at the risk of upsetting at least one truckshunter, I feel constrained to report that Ulm - at least from the railway, and apart from its amazing cathedral spire (the tallest Gothic spire in Europe) - looked like an inland German version of West Hartlepool.

We were almost two hours late when we arrived in Munich.

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Munich - the capital of the self-consciously proud state of Bavaria - is Germany’s second city; it is, in fact, Germany’s Birmingham. But there, the comparison very definitely ends.

For a start - and on a deeply personal level - Frank doesn’t live in Birmingham. He very much lives in Munich.

I had had the very good sense to arrange to meet up with Frank (which is not a naff name in Germany) via the internet. I did this because it’s always good to be shown round a city by someone who knows it and loves it - and who wants to meet you, get to know you a little and share his love and passion.
I could easily have walked through the twilight into Munich’s central square (the Marienplatz - above) but decided to take the tram instead - naturally. As I waited nervously for Frank to appear, I watched the mechanical figures below the clock in the Town Hall tower come to life as it struck the hour. Before the chimes had faded away, he arrived.

I needn’t have been nervous. Our mutual hug was one of genuine pleasure and delight. Frank was proud to welcome me to his city and I was elated to meet, face-to-face, a man I had only chatted to on a gay travellers’ website before I set out on my Tour. He had organised a special evening for me; it included a tour of the wonderfully floodlit buildings in and around the Marienplatz, wiener-schnitzel at Frank’s favourite bistro (Der Pschorr) and an excursion into the vibrant gay scene of the city.
It was quite a night. One way or another, it banished from my mind all the melancholy I had felt when I left Cologne. It reminded me that my Grand Tour wasn’t simply an intellectual exercise. I was on holiday, and on holiday a little shallowness and superficiality are allowed. I decided to indulge myself just a bit. After all, this was the first day of Spring, and in Spring, even an old man’s fancies are not immune.

I am not known for being coy. But on this occasion....

Not all those who wander are lost...

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CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or email me: truckshunters@googlemail.com

11 comments:

mim said...

Hi Ian,

The part of Ulm you see from the railway station is neu Ulm which is the new industrial part you have to get off the train to see the rally lovely part!!!

Margaret

Ian Robinson said...

That's exactly what Frank said, Margaret. Maybe you've both given me an excuse to go back and investigate further...

mim said...

Well yes you must go back because Frank is right. It's a lovely city with bars and restaurants and the square on which the cathedral stands is beautiful.

I have been in summer and winter and it's just as nice whenever you go and as you have found the people are lovely..

Neu Ulm is very industrial , all factories and chimneys and you can't see the real Ulm at all.

My son Michael is due to come home this year unless he decides to do post grad. research but Nick and I want to go to Berlin next year and I would go back to Ulm any time.

You can fly to Stutgart or Munich from Edinburgh
I think so get yourself back there asap!!

Love Margaret xx

Unknown said...

Just to say thank you to Ian and the other Truckshunters at the AGM (my first) today. I had a wonderful time and it was so pleasant sitting in the sun in the beautiful gardens at Birkheads and enjoying the conversation and the laughter and the fortune cookies. If I could have bottled every moment - I would have.
Thank you.

Alison

Vivienne said...

Hi Everyone,

Many thanks to all of you who attended today's AGM (I've lost count of which number we're up to). It was a thrill to have two new members join our Mad Hatter's Tea Party! Alison and Linda I hope you'll become regulars. I'm sorry that some familiar faces weren't able to come along, but hopefully we'll see you next month. I promise not to spill your coffee next time, Alison!

I've posted some of my photos on murphyanddorastravels.blogspot.com

Linda, I hope you have more success at posting a comment than you've had previously. I meant to say that you may be more successful if you use a google email account.

Hildie said...

Sunshine!!! And I have to go to work! Thought I'd pop in to say thank you all for a splendid time at Birkheads .... bottling every moment ... oh,if only we could have done!

The Fortune Cookies (which we had in place of Ambient Sausage Rolls)
... this is what they said:

Vivienne: Your skill will accomplish what the force of many cannot.

Gerry: Never quit.

Hilary: The strong person understands how to withstand substantial loss.

Ian: Your love-life will be happy and harmonious. (Ummm?)

Alison: Where bees are, there is honey.

Sid: Everybody will look at you strangely.

Maureen: Love is sunny, but you are not lucky today.

Linda: Believe me, time is the best cure for all trouble.

And mine said exactly what Alison's had said. Anybody know what that stuff about the bees could maybe mean?

It all left me wondering about Sid really .... do you think he's got a black eye or something?

And Ian ... hope you understood it was a compliment when I said that the story of the Grand Tour is getting better ....
you know how it is, when you're enjoying a good book, there gets to be a point where you snuggle down- just that little bit further -into your armchair, and you curl up your knees ... and woe betide anyone who dares to disturb you ... you just want to read on
... well, that's the point I'm at!

Lovely to see you all yesterday!

Val said...

Quite right Hildie - I'm printing it so I can snuggle up and read it properly and my other half's enjoying it too!
He was horrified when I told him Ian thought Geneva was dull, but reading the whole post he understood. A few years ago we spent a few hours there between planes and trains at either end of a trip to France. The Jet d'eau wasn't on and we ended up eating somewhere we never go to here- Burger King!
On our long way home from Leipzig [due to volcanic ash you my remember] Brussels felt uncomfortable arriving late at night with signs to beware pickpockets - never felt that way in Germany at all. Our hotel was on a mainly cobbled street full of boutiques and restaurants only 10 mins walk from the breathtaking Grand Place. Unfortunately on the first night there was loud drunken behaviour outside until 4am! Maybe they were English? [a website review of the hotel from the same week we were there said the same so we weren't just over-sensitive]
By 5am the binmen/street cleaners arrived! Closing the windows the next 2 nights meant we could hear the man in the next room snore, turn over in bed and use the loo!
But totally agree about the general lack of 'boisterous' young people who think the whole place belongs to them - even during the day.

Will get to an AGM someday - I almost came to the one before last but my cold got better so I couldn't pull a sickie!!

Sid said...

No black eye Hildie, but in my last job people did look at me strangely, especially if they had parked in the wrong place....and they knew they had......

Hildie said...

I'm pleased you've not got a black eye, Sid! I have mused, and further mused, over what the Fortune Cookies said to Alison and myself. I was intent on finding the hidden meaning of "Where bees are, there is honey". I was trying my utmost to find that it meant .... "Hildie , you are going to win the lottery." The conclusion I came to was: it was talking about our little gathering in the Secret Garden at Birkheads
.... we were the little bees, around the honey which was Ian!!!

Which, inevitably, means ....
I'm not going to win the lottery!

Val ..... with any sort of luck, you may be able to get to the very next AGM :

AGM XVII
WEDNESDAY 7TH JULY
1100 HOURS
AT
THE YELLOW COFFEE VAN
ON THE QUAYSIDE


Ian will post this on his main blog posting but, remember, you heard it here first!

So, who's coming along?

Maureen said...

Glad that you all had a good time. Sorry I missed it everyone but I'm really busy at the moment and will definitely try for the next one. Did someone say bacon sandwich?

Linda South Shields said...

Hello all

Thank you all at AGM for making me feel so welcome! I had a fabulous time swapping barbs with my old friend Ian whom I must say is looking fabulous these days !! I am enjoying the Grand Tour blogs immensely... who needs Bill Bryson when we've got our lad here! Looking forward to seeing you all next month.