Lauda & Tübingen

After we left Hamburg the GPS navigator said we’d get to Lauda about 4.30pm, but in the end there was so much roadworks that it was just after 6pm.  There were quite a lot of places where the motorway was cut down to one or two lanes in each direction and I got so sick of crawling along in first or second gear.  We didn’t stop anywhere on the way other than driver changes and toilet breaks and I think we even ate lunch on the go.

Lauda was full of cool old buildings like these, I'm sure they've actually been "renovated" to look like this though, as we saw an ad in a window for it and they look far too fresh and clean and new.

When we got to Lauda it was dark but the navigator took us straight to our hotel in the centre of town (a very small town!) and the guy was expecting us and very friendly.  He told us where to find a restaurant nearby serving German food but unfortunately it was closed 🙁  So we wandered around and found somewhere that looked good, it wasn’t German food in the end but it was delicious and there was a young guy serving who was quite happy to practice his “Oxford English” on us and told us about his relatives in Australia.  Lauda was such a cool little town, narrow cobblestoned streets and interesting buildings.  We went for a walk around after dinner and saw their town band (with lots of brass!) practicing in the Rathaus which made the place seem really friendly and homely.

Most of our accommodation included breakfast and it was interesting seeing what we would get in each country.  In Dover it was an English breakfast with cereal, baked beans on toast and sausages, bacon etc.  In France it was a buffet of cereal, juice, coffee, boiled eggs, bread, cheese, cold meats and jam.  In Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria it was the same less the cereal, apart from at Chris and Maurice’s house where we had many options, even chocolate!  The boiled eggs for the hotel breakfasts were either warm or cold (not hot!) so they were prepared in advance and usually presented in a basket.  I have to admit by the end of the trip I was ready for something different; bread and cheese is nice but I like a bit of cereal first.

In the morning we had another wander round Lauda and took some photos before we left.  On the way out of town we took a wrong turn and so the GPS navigator recalculated and took us up this little country road over a hill, we had a fantastic view and it was great being out in the country in the crisp autumn air – we were both really pleased we’d taken the detour.  After what seemed like quite a long time we made the main road again and carried on to Tubingen where Tim, another of Reece’s nephews, is studying at university.

Tim didn’t finish at uni until 4pm so we had a few hours to wander around and we did our usual thing of setting the navigator for the town centre and just looking for a car park when we got close.  Once again the centre was little cobblestoned streets and cool buildings, we sifted around looking in shops and Reece got a shot glass for Jill.

We spent the afternoon wandering around Tubingen looking at the buildings and shops, and bought snacks for afternoon tea from a local bakery

After 4pm we went to see Tim where he’s living in the university halls and had a couple of drinks (Reece brought him a whole lot of Westmalle Trappist beer) before we walked into town for dinner.  Reece had texted Tim earlier and said he wanted traditional German food so he took us to a place that was in a little brewery, but they ended up not having the sausage and potato that Reece wanted – thwarted again!  It was really cool meeting Tim, who’s from Australia, and it made Tubingen a good memory because we enjoyed our afternoon and evening there.  He was also able to explain some things about the town as we walked around which we would never have found out on our own.  The toilet room in his flat was interesting – the walls were covered in photos of the same room decorated all different ways, it looks like people have just kept redecorating it and taken another photo every time.  Unfortunately none of the current tenants there know about it – it was just like that when they arrived but it was very cool and definitely a studenty thing to do.

Next day – Switzerland and Simone!!!!