Monday August 22, Bad Neustadt

Schmalkalden...beautiful town

 It seems to have been quite a busy day. We walked into the town this morning, and really got a wonderful surprise. It was street after street of beautifully restored half-timbered houses dating back to the 1500’s. We just went WOW with every corner we turned, and the bunting gave it such a lively atmosphere. It was only 10am and the streets were relatively quiet with cafes putting up their umbrellas and setting out tables and chairs. My camera kept clicking!!!

We set off to find a Vodafone store as wanted to see what we could do about extra data, but when we finally found it, the chap was most helpful but said he couldn’t help and sent us off to the “Expert” store which was on the other side of town. Eventually found it, and turned out to be a NZ Harvey Norman type of store. Headed to the “phone” counter and found some guys who spoke good English. After explaining what we wanted he suggested we buy a Lebara Card which can be used throughout EU countries without a contract. They didn’t have any in stock so sent us off to the neighbouring supermarket to see if they had any and said to come back and he would get it registered for us. Delighted to find the card, headed back to Expert, very pleased only to find that they needed my passport to register it! And that was back in the camper. So we headed back and after a lunch and coffee I set off back into town with my passport. These guys were so good and got everything set up for me. I wanted to test it but it needed 2 hours for the registration to process but they explained everything for me and sure enough when I put the SIM card in tonight and linked it onto their network, I now have data in my phone. Next issue is to get it to Hotspot to our iPads. But that is another day’s job!

Interesting we have just realised why we have gone through so much of our UK 3 Network data cards, which would normally last us all our travels and have some left over. As UK is no longer in the EU we have to use roaming which means we only get 30% of our data. It explains so much.

We set off with a stop at the local Edeka store to stock up on quite a list of things, then onto to a spot we had found in P4N in Nordheim. We are really finding this area of the country to be so picturesque with rolling hills, little villages, large areas of cropping land and bush covered hills. And it is not too busy. We squeezed through small villages most with half-timbered houses and rather narrow streets. But no issues and we arrived at the site. It was very nice but really held no charm on a hot afternoon so got out the app and found another site, a 20 minute drive away. The town itself proved to be quite industrial and busy, but found the site and it is okay for €8 a night, and we are looking out onto a grassy field.

Ended up chatting with our German neighbours, Frank and Gabby, who both speak good English and after a long chat Frank arrived over with a beer for Ian. We ended up pulling out our chairs and over a few drinks had a great chat. It is so good to have a good conversation as for so many, English is not easy.

And as I went to have a sip of my beer, I managed to get stung by a wasp who was also trying to have a drink. I tend to swell badly from stings so immediately took 2 antihistamine tablets and thankfully after swelling up quite a lot, it appears to be getting smaller. Ian suggested I look like I have had Botox! But feeling a bit groggy tonight after the drugs.

Neat pushchairs for the day care.

 

NZ Gold kiwifruit in the supermarket
at .50 Euro EACH!!!

Just part of a huge field of sunflowers, the best
we have seen.

Bringing home the firewood!