Years ago there was an Italian racer called Felice Tedeschi, who we used to call Happy Germans, with appropriate artistic licence. I am sure to find a few gleeful Goths and happy Hun today as I am off to the Federal Republic this morning, down that well-beaten path known as the A4 autoroute, by way of Meaux (of mustard fame), Reims (the land of champagne), the Argonne, Verdun (today called “la ville de la paix”, the town of peace) where generations of French and Germans were slaughtered a century ago, and on from there to Metz (pronounced “mess”) and on to the border at Saarbrucken. I’ll probably turn off there and send my way through the Pfälzerwald forest until I get to the Rhine at Speyer, a place that is easy to find thanks to it having a Jumbo Jet on stilts overlooking the town (strange but true). From there Hockenheim is just minutes away, smuggled in its flat forest, with the fans no doubt already ensconced in their tents, with a few dozen beers for company. It will be a happy place this weekend: Germany is celebrating its soccer victories and will be willing Nico Rosberg to win. Lewis Hamilton will be there to spoil the party. Fun, fun.
Schnitzel for dinner!
You may also want to check out their pink MiG-21. Or the submarine which you can climb inside.
Enjoy your journey Joe. If you have the time you can stop off at the Technik Museum in Speyer and take a ‘wing walk’ on that Jumbo Jet – quite a surreal experience I can tell you!!
Hope this weekends another great race.
I know it well. I used to stay on the hotel next door
If it is the hotel converted from army barracks that is where we stayed.
Don’t know what it is like now but was fine for the cost 7 years ago.
Very nice part of the world. And bit a bloody airplane in sight! Hateful things…….
Proper Schnitzel and a cheeky Reisling? Proper lager and lovely countryside, and getting paid to be there….lucky man! Although definitely safer now, I still hanker for the old Hockenheimring, the new one is too short and those long blasts through the trees used to give the engines a proper hammering! Have a great weekend Joe!
I can see the scene now:
Having arrived late at night and in pitch darkness, the weary traveller climbs the stairs of their local hostelry, grateful that a long and tiring journey is behind them and looking forward to a restful nights sleep.
Awoken by the sun’s rays pouring between the gap in the blinds, the bleary eyed traveller climbs out of bed and pulls back the curtains to take in his new surroundings in yet another foreign land.
At this point there may have been an expletive or two, as Damn! that plane is about to land in the hotels front car park!!
I think I’ll go back to bed, I’m clearly not a well man, maybe the local schnitzel doesn’t agree with me after all……..
A bit like Kai Tak used to be then.
The two Sinshiem (spelling?) museums are amazing, massive variety of machinery including a Russian space shuttle, tupolev Tu-144, f1 cars, blue flame, and a thousand more machines of every description. Well worth a visit.
I always love your blog Joe and here I am at 2:00 am reading it before I turn in. as a testimony to that statement. What caught my eye tonight was a rate error, which read ” .. And happy Hun..” Referring to Germans. Not as anything derogatory of course, only as a discription in a matter of fun. The term Hun was given to the Germans in WW I, as I understand it, in an attempt to portray them as the ransacking and pilfering tribes from the east that ran through Europe somewhere around the fifth century or so. Fact is, Germans are not Huns at all. The defenders of Atila are the HUNgarians, Eastonians, and the Finns. As a matter of fact, back in those days several groups of Germans fled the continent and sailed to England. These people were members of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes tribes, many of whom stayed in Germania. It’s easy to see why the English call themselves Anglo Saxons. Up until about 1300 A.D. someone from London could hold a conversation with someone from Berlin and they would understand each other. This is why Hitler did not want a war with England, as the English were of German heritage, biologically speaking. The Fino-Uralic peoples, or Huns, have no biological connections with any other groups.
Have a great time in Germany and be sure to grab a good beer to go with that schnitzel!
No Huns were a tribe in Germany centuries ago, along with goths, Visigoths etc
Goths are usually to be found in 6th Forms of schools in the UK…..bit outdated I’d say, but they keep going.
I can’t be the only one wondering how an Italian would come to be nicknamed ‘Happy Germans’. Joe – care to enlighten me/us?
Because “happy german” in Italian is “felice Tedesco”. Hence the point about artistic licence.
I was just going to mention Tedeschi felici…
Ahh, schnitzel. Just stay in a restaurant and eat hot schnitzel.
Joe, surely Meaux is better known for its wonderful Brie….?
Ring the mairie and ask. For me Meaux is mustard but it does also have Brie
Joe Enjoy the journey.
The Jumbo Jet on stilts at Speyer is one small part of the Technical Museum which is well worth the visit if you have the time.
Visited it 7 years ago ahead of a Tourist Driving Day, or more accurately named by the locals as Terrorist Driving! What an experience that was trying to avoid cars overshooting the hairpin. After a few laps the butters had self selected the gravel traps or Armco leaving the track clear for the rest of us to enjoy.
Been there, done that. And Sinsheim too.
Metz (pronounced “mess”) is relatively straightforward. Try asking for Reims with school-boy French. It’s a French plot I think.
Ach so! Deutschland im Sommer. Alles is wunderschön!
Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann,
Und mir steckt’s auch im Blut;
Drum wandr’ ich flott, so lang ich kann,
Und schwenke meinen Hut.
Faleri, falera, faleri,
Falera ha ha ha ha ha ha
Faleri, falera,
Und schwenke meinen Hut.
Und so weiter…
Joe, ein Prosit!!
I though meaux was the noise a French cat made?
Safe journey, Joe. It would be nice if Lewis could ruin the party but Nico has the fan factor willin him on!
I see FIFA is as allergic to good (and free) promotion as the FIA, forcing Rosberg to change his helmet design celebrating the German team’s World Cup success, as it infringes their intellectual property rights. Another opportunity missed for both sports.
“From there Hockenheim is just minutes away, smuggled in its flat forest, …” I presume you meant to use an “n”, but fingers being what they are these days…
I enjoy your travel commentaries.
We always travel via Saarbrucken, lovely little b&b called the Sonnenhof just past the Luxembourg border in Perl.
I really enjoy these travel commentaries Joe, they’re a good read and provide a moment of escapism. Travelling by car through various countries is not something an Aussie can do…
Your states are like entire countries in themselves ! Queensland is the same size as western europe if I recall ?