Mel B Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Off tomorrow to Germany. Eurotunnel is booked for Wednesday morning but hoping to be able to get a late afternoon/early evening crossing tomorrow instead as I've managed get the whole day off work so have gotta grovel to Eurotunnel. :D Not sure where we'll end up, hubby has been doing the planning so it'll be a surprise! Make sure you behave yourselves whilst I'm away!!!! :-D Or maybe not! >:-) B-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankkia Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 We are in Germany now. The weather hasn't been behaving itself but is forecast to get better. It hasn't dampened our spirits as we enjoy the country whenever we come. Enjoy your visit and have a bratwurst or two. Looking forward to the Dusseldorf show but will be keeping the cheque book locked away. Prost! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onecal Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Hi Mel.Enjoy, have a lovely trip,Regards,Brendan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
postnote Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Mel B - 2011-08-15 10:11 PM Off tomorrow to Germany. Eurotunnel is booked for Wednesday morning but hoping to be able to get a late afternoon/early evening crossing tomorrow instead as I've managed get the whole day off work so have gotta grovel to Eurotunnel. :D Not sure where we'll end up, hubby has been doing the planning so it'll be a surprise! Make sure you behave yourselves whilst I'm away!!!! :-D Or maybe not! >:-) B-) Don't eat too much German sausage Mel. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Lovely country Germany and very motorhome friendly. But the food has got to be the most boring and lacking in choice throughout Europe *-) Bavaria and Fussen in particular are lovely.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney123 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Come off it JudgeMental....................where do you eat ????? Macdonalds ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Barney123 - 2011-08-16 12:10 PM Come off it JudgeMental....................where do you eat ????? Macdonalds ?? No hardly ever, and not once on this 4.5 week trip.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithR Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 bratties, currywurst and zigeunerschnitzel. who needs owt else? cept loadsa herforder pils!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 KeithR - 2011-08-16 6:33 PM bratties, currywurst and zigeunerschnitzel. who needs owt else? cept loadsa herforder pils!!! Mrs Mental is a vegetarian and they are very poorly catered for :-S We can agree on your last bit........The beer is wonderful! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithR Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 have to agree, love the germans as i do, they ARE well named sausage noshers :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly58 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 JudgeMental - 2011-08-16 7:46 PMKeithR - 2011-08-16 6:33 PMbratties, currywurst and zigeunerschnitzel. who needs owt else? cept loadsa herforder pils!!!Mrs Mental is a vegetarian and they are very poorly catered for :-S We can agree on your last bit........The beer is wonderful! :-D Being an ex Butcher and Slaughterman it always puzzled me why vegetarians do not eat meat when most farm animals are also vegetarians. !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I think maybe it's the fact that Mrs M is vegetarian that has given you the bad impression of German food. It's the "wrong country" for vegetarians, in exactly the same way that India would be the "wrong country" for me (since I can't even stand the smell of curry, so I've never got as far as the taste!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
art338 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Don't forget Mel to tell all where you go and what you see. art Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Tony Jones - 2011-08-16 10:15 PM I think maybe it's the fact that Mrs M is vegetarian that has given you the bad impression of German food. It's the "wrong country" for vegetarians, in exactly the same way that India would be the "wrong country" for me (since I can't even stand the smell of curry, so I've never got as far as the taste!). Agree with you Tony (about Curry) I can't stand the smell either. BUT it did not stop me going to India, and fortunetly they do have European food in the hotels. A very interesting country to visit. Have a good holiday Mel, let us have updates , as and when you can Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 You can eat decent western food in India at least in Goa anyway...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliB Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 JudgeMental - 2011-08-16 7:46 PM KeithR - 2011-08-16 6:33 PM bratties, currywurst and zigeunerschnitzel. who needs owt else? cept loadsa herforder pils!!! Mrs Mental is a vegetarian and they are very poorly catered for :-S We can agree on your last bit........The beer is wonderful! :-D Well done for Mrs Mental going veggie. 9% of Germany is veggie. One of the highest in Europe, so it should not be a problem. Speaking a little of the language helped. They are very helpful and will usually cook some something special for you. 1st night in Germany this year we stayed at a stellplatze in Gundersheim. After cooking a meal in the van we wandered to the restaurant that owned the site to pay our fee only to discover they had a full page of veggie stuff on the menu. Lidl wheat beer, 33cents a 500mL bottle - one reason why we have a 4000kg van! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliB Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Mel B - 2011-08-15 10:11 PM Off tomorrow to Germany. Eurotunnel is booked for Wednesday morning but hoping to be able to get a late afternoon/early evening crossing tomorrow instead as I've managed get the whole day off work so have gotta grovel to Eurotunnel. :D Not sure where we'll end up, hubby has been doing the planning so it'll be a surprise! Make sure you behave yourselves whilst I'm away!!!! :-D Or maybe not! >:-) B-) Try the Rurstausee, a lovely lake. We hired Canadian style canoes and tried to paddle to the end of the lake. It keeps going round a corner so we never made it. Lovely scenery, nice picnic on an island. Loads of campsites nearby, we used the stellpatze at Heimbach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 I'm back!!!! Despite the weather and Eurotunnel trying to prevent it!!!! :D First problem: We were having 'fun' trying to get fuel - when we eventually found a fuel station that wasn't charging an arm and a leg, the checkout lady, who happened to be English (with a German husband), told us that we could now have a difficulty finding anywhere that would accept our credit or debit cards to pay for it and unless we were willing to pay an extortionate rate for the fuel (10c more per litre) we'd have to pay for it with cash. It appears, from what we were told, that may places will only accept a 'European' credit card, not just a British one and that we should always check before filling to ensure it was accepted. As we'd only taken 400 euros with us, as we usually put as much as we can on the credit card as it gets a better exchange rate, that was going to prove to be a bit of a problem as it wouldn't cover the fuel cost for what we had planned. After a bit of a rethink and the fact that we weren't heading for anywhere in particular as a 'must see' place in Germany, we deciced to do an itsy-bitsy bit of Germany, then went and spent a few days in Belgium before going into France for most of the holiday. Second problem: I fell out of my canoe :$ ... stop laughing!!!! >:-( We were at the Pont Canal at Briare and had stopped overnight at the side of the canal which was very nice. In the morning we decided to get the canoes out and have a paddle along the 'Loire' canal, then carried the canoes up to the Pont Canal and went along it as it crosses over the Loire itself, joining the canals at either side. Once across hubby thought it might be niced to drop the canoe into the Loire itself and go across it then back into the Loire canal and to our 'van. I offered to get out of my canoe and have a shuftie, and found that the Loire was too far away for us to do it, so as I was getting back into the canoe at the side of the canal on some small steps, I'm not sure if my hand slipped on the wet canoe, or on the steps, but I was almost in the canoe when it did a massive wobble and I tumbled out, hitting my coccyk (the base of my spine) on the concrete steps in the process .... I can tell you it bl**dy well hurt like hell!!!!! I actually sat in the water on the steps for a few minutes to ease it and prevent it bruising too much, then had to get back into the canoe and paddle back along, carry the canoes down to the Loire canal and paddle back to the van. To say it was painful is an understatement, so the last week of our holiday has been a bit uncomfortable, just trying to get in and out of the van was bad enough, bending, lifting ... you name it ... painful. Fortunately it is a bit better now but I think it's gonna be a while before its back to normal. Third problem: Lily was poorly and we had to get the emergency vet out on Sunday. She'd had 3 tics, 1 about 2 weeks ago, then another 2 in quick succession on Friday and Saturday - one of which was an absolute monster and had obviously been sucking away on her all Thursday night. On Friday she brought up some of her dinner but was otherwise fine, we put this down to our travelling on after she'd been fed and upsetting her tummy. She was find all day Saturday but she wouldn't eat her dinner that night, or anything else for that matter, but was still drinking and fairly lively and, as she'd does this on odd occasions at home, we didn't think anything was too untoward. On Sunday morning she was lively and running around on the beach, but still not interested in food so we thought we'd see how she went on for a couple of hours and try to entice her with some smelly sausages and her favourite treats. By lunchtime she was quiet and a bit sleepy and wasn't doing her usual 'shaking jelly' impersonation when we travelled (which she always did), so we knew something was defintely amiss so we stopped and found details of a vet and called her out. Fortunately her daughter had spent a year in England so was fairly fluent as the vet was quite limited and our French is a bit rusty! The vet thinks thought that it could be a case of piroplasmosis infection, passed on from the ticks so treated her as such, giving her an injection and hydration/glucose fluid, anti-vomiting medicine and a medication for the possible tick infection. We were told that if she hadn't strated to eat by the end of the day, we'd have to take her back again in the morning. Fortunately within a few hours she was 'shaking' as usual and eating like a good-un and has completed got back to her usual self. The below give some info no the piroplasmosis but note that we think she got it from Normandy NORTH of the Loire, so the fact that it says it is only below the Loire doesn't hold true - the vet also told us it is in the Northern edge of France now. http://www.frenchhorseandcountry.com/c5/horse-talk/articles/piroplasmosis/ Fourth Problem ... Eurotunnel Sorry ... have to go and get a bath etc ready for work tomorrow ... will type more when I get a chance! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Welcome back you poor thing! :-S Next year you come along with us and we will look after you..... *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Mel B - 2011-09-06 8:58 PM I'm back!!!! Despite the weather and Eurotunnel trying to prevent it!!!! :D First problem: We were having 'fun' trying to get fuel - when we eventually found a fuel station that wasn't charging an arm and a leg, the checkout lady, who happened to be English (with a German husband), told us that we could now have a difficulty finding anywhere that would accept our credit or debit cards to pay for it and unless we were willing to pay an extortionate rate for the fuel (10c more per litre) we'd have to pay for it with cash. It appears, from what we were told, that may places will only accept a 'European' credit card, not just a British one and that we should always check before filling to ensure it was accepted. :-D Mel hi Sorry you had a few problems - hope the holiday was worth it overall though? :-D I am interested in your fuel problems as I am off to Germany in a week. Does all this apply to fuel stations on the Autobahns as well or was it just on normal roads? I am trying to work out how much cash I need to take with me. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Way2Go Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Mel B - 2011-09-06 8:58 PM . . . . it appears, from what we were told, that may places will only accept a 'European' credit card, not just a British one and that we should always check before filling to ensure it was accepted. Hi Mel, could you clarify the difference between a British card and a Euronean card please? I appreciate that something like a Tesco credit card might be a problem but are you saying that all British Bank Visa Debit cards draw an additional premium at the pump? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Having spent a good amount of time in Germany, including returning from there only this weekend, I've never come up against the situation described. Historically, use of Credit Cards in Germany was much lower than in the UK, (it still lags, so don't assume all shops, etc. will take them), and it was common to find that many petrol stations didn't honour Visa or Mastercard, etc. At that time, we used to buy fuel on the autobahns (where there was universal acceptance), but of course, the fuel was at a premium over off-autobahn stations. For a good few years now, (though I always check that Visa/Mastercard is accepted before filling, via the logo either on the main price sign, or on the kiosk door), I've not hit a station off-autobahn that didn't accept them, so we buy off-Autobahn now. I have never (in Germany) been charged a premium for use of a UK credit or debit card, anywhere cards in general are accepted. Having visited Denmark on this holiday, however, things are certainly different there - and I went pre-armed with the info thanks to a posting on another site. Danish law allows the addition of a conversion rate supplement to the value of a credit/debit card purchase on a foreign card - though it must be publicised and made clear in advance. From experience this varied from 2.5 to 4% depending on the particular supplier. We've come back once again feeling that, at least for near-Europe, Germany is probably the best location for a good holiday, campsites, shopping and eating/drinking out still being economically viable. (I generally like the German people as well!). BTW, I do find that Belgian Autoroute petrol stations won't accept my UK credit card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliB Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 This year in July/August, we drove from North Germany right down to the South of the Black Forest and found no problems paying for fuel with our Visa or Mastercard. Motorway service area prices were about 10 cents higher than in most towns or villages. Has something changed in the last 4 weeks? I've always found it hit or miss (usually miss) whether restaurants take credit cards. They only seem to like those that say EuroCard on the rear. I hope your coccyx and other problems are soon resolved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Mel Sorry you had such a time of it, I was interested in your comment on canoes and wondered what type you had, and how often you used them, are you keen canoeists :-S or is it just fun to have them with you (?) 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 We passed through Germany twice this summer and no problem with Visa credit card either.....Probably didn't like the look of Mel's hubby (a bit shifty looking.....*-)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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