beer is good
12th February 2014, 08:02 PM
Last August my other half (Wine is Good) and I had a month in Germany. WIG has relatives there who she had not seen for years so it was time for a visit.
We stayed in the very pretty village of Altena (nearest big town is Dortmund) in the only hotel for two weeks and got driven everywhere by the family. Altena was founded in the 1600’s because the river there could be used to power the wire industry which the locals are very proud of, and there are about 10-15 wire factories in operation today. We don’t pay much attention to wire but someone has to make paper clips, fencing, cables for ships and of course, copper wire for all our electrical gadgets.
The people are proud of their wire (draht) industry and there are a few sculptures in the town to acknowledge and commemorate the workers and the industry. It was a tough job in the old days. There is even a museum with machines and photos. Altena is a very hilly place, especially for us sandgropers, and all the houses are perched on almost vertical hills.
Another amazing place was the “Westfalalisches Frielichtmuseum Hagen”. This is 50-60kms from Altena and I don’t know about the public transport in in Hagen as we were driven there, but the trains and buses are good.
It is a museum displaying industry over the centuries, and the exhibits are displayed in 60 workshops over 42 hectares. The workshops are built in the style of the day.
Some of the industries on show are iron and steel, forging, printing, woodworking, hides and skins and black smithing.
You need to spend a day there to do it justice.
The website is http://www.lwl.org/LWL/Kultur/LWL-Freilichtmuseum_Hagen/Englisch
A real treat for me was a trip to the Mercedes Benz museum and factory in Stuttgart. The museum is a six storey building containing about 100 cars worth billions.
The factory is about 50km from Stuttgart but the trains are fast and frequent. Even if you are not a car nut it is really interesting to see how a really big business operates. The only downside was they didn’t give away any samples!!
We had four days in Berlin which was very interesting and we then went to Frankfurt for two days (not much in Frankfurt) and then came home.
Overall, Germany is great - perfect weather, interesting people, and 5000 different beers!!
(I didn’t quite get to sample all of them.):no:
We stayed in the very pretty village of Altena (nearest big town is Dortmund) in the only hotel for two weeks and got driven everywhere by the family. Altena was founded in the 1600’s because the river there could be used to power the wire industry which the locals are very proud of, and there are about 10-15 wire factories in operation today. We don’t pay much attention to wire but someone has to make paper clips, fencing, cables for ships and of course, copper wire for all our electrical gadgets.
The people are proud of their wire (draht) industry and there are a few sculptures in the town to acknowledge and commemorate the workers and the industry. It was a tough job in the old days. There is even a museum with machines and photos. Altena is a very hilly place, especially for us sandgropers, and all the houses are perched on almost vertical hills.
Another amazing place was the “Westfalalisches Frielichtmuseum Hagen”. This is 50-60kms from Altena and I don’t know about the public transport in in Hagen as we were driven there, but the trains and buses are good.
It is a museum displaying industry over the centuries, and the exhibits are displayed in 60 workshops over 42 hectares. The workshops are built in the style of the day.
Some of the industries on show are iron and steel, forging, printing, woodworking, hides and skins and black smithing.
You need to spend a day there to do it justice.
The website is http://www.lwl.org/LWL/Kultur/LWL-Freilichtmuseum_Hagen/Englisch
A real treat for me was a trip to the Mercedes Benz museum and factory in Stuttgart. The museum is a six storey building containing about 100 cars worth billions.
The factory is about 50km from Stuttgart but the trains are fast and frequent. Even if you are not a car nut it is really interesting to see how a really big business operates. The only downside was they didn’t give away any samples!!
We had four days in Berlin which was very interesting and we then went to Frankfurt for two days (not much in Frankfurt) and then came home.
Overall, Germany is great - perfect weather, interesting people, and 5000 different beers!!
(I didn’t quite get to sample all of them.):no: