Round and about: Biberach Day 5 (20 Sep 2013)

Some “Bad” towns

We decided to spend the morning of our last day in Swabia exploring a couple of “bad” or bath/spa towns, and so headed off for Bad Schussenried and Bad Buchau. We discovered that Bad Schüssenried contained one of the 111 Prehistoric Pile Dwellings which have been “gathered ” together to create a UNESCO World Heritage site, documenting early agrarian life, from 5000 to 500BC. Of course we wanted to see the site at Bad Schüssenried didn’t we? So, off we set with GPS in the car, and Wikipedia, the UNESCO listing, and Apple Maps on the iPad to find it. Could we find it? No! We are talking here about a few hectares of forest (wald), albeit of the dark, dense European variety. The locals we asked seemed to have no idea … except for a cyclist we found in the wald where we believed the site was. He seemed to have some idea but his idea sure wasn’t going to be accessible by either our car or by unprepared hikers in muddy forest. We decided: one, this particular site was probably pretty minimal and perhaps just a few simple holes and poles or markers; and two, that those in the know wanted to preserve it. Hmm … There’s preservation and there’s access, but perhaps other sites in this “serial property”, most of which is in Switzerland, are more accessible.

So, we had a little wander around the town itself, where Len recognised an old drinking hole, had a cuppa, and then drove a few more kilometres to …

Bad Buchau where we walked on the Federsee boardwalk to see, yes, the Federsee. It was a 3 km round trip mostly flanked by tall reeds, but we did see various birds including ducks and Eurasian coots, and, at the end, several white swans. A pleasant outing on a cool, grey but not rainy day.

We spent the rest of the day doing some shopping (a skivvy for Len and a light jacket for Sue), and pottering around Biberach, checking out the old artisan or weavers’ quarter (Webergasse) again with its 14th century half-timbered buildings.

More on gasthof life aka Chatting with some co-diners

We ate in again at the gasthof, sharing a table with one older woman and, a little later, with another one around our age. Sue enjoyed her meal of poached salmon with basmati rice and a red lentil concoction, and Len his grilled rump steak with green pepper sauce and pommes frites.

Sue encouraged Len to talk to our table companions feeling he was holding back a bit because it would leave her out … but the practice is good for Len and he could always fill her in later. And anyhow, it’s amazing how a few familiar words, gestures and tones of voice can communicate more than you expect. It was fun for Len and a nice way to spend some time – and Sue was happy just being the pretty face! Ha!

When we talked in a recent post about having our washing done by housekeeping, for the price of a tip, we didn’t say how well it was done. Both times we returned to our room to find the washing sorted, folded and ironed (!) waiting for us on the sofa in our room. After the first occasion, the lovely putzfrau asked us at breakfast the next morning whether it was alright! Was it ever! We could get used to that, but unfortunately it was to be back on the road the next day.

Technological challenges

While our stay in Biberach was great laundry-wise, it was a challenge technologically. Gasthof Grüner Baum was the first place we’ve stayed at to not have free wi-fi, but we could pay to access Germany’s Telekom hotspot. We did this for the laptop – first for 24 hours to start, and then for a month, believing it would be useful to have out and about for the rest of our trip. We didn’t do it for the iPad as the iPad couldn’t seem to even find the network, the signal was so weak. So, the next day we visited the little mobile communications store across the road and bought a German SIM. It’s frustrating that you apparently can’t buy a European SIM which we’d have liked to do to cover the whole trip.

Sue was thrilled and for the next 24 hours felt like she had her old iPad back, being able to access the Internet whenever! So useful when you are out and about (and don’t, like us, have your smart phones hooked in overseas). But then, after 24 hours, service was lost and didn’t reappear for 36 hours. Did we happen to mention it was a Vodaphone service we bought!

We sound spoilt, we know, but this is how we communicate now isn’t it? Not through international phone calls, aerogrammes and postcards, but through emails, blogs and social media. We make no apologies for expecting decent service!

Three-words

LEN: Down memory lane
SUE: Fresh air, Connecting

and the stills…

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and the videos…

Scenes of birdlife on the Federsee