From Partition to Biker Expedition.

Europe is a history lesson, events that we all learned at school and some lived through, embedded in the very continent I am lucky enough to live in.

I am constantly reminded of events in history as I travel around Europe but none more powerful, or more recent as the two world wars and it's consequences. Of course the USA was involved in both theaters of war but, unless you are visiting Hawaii, you are unlikely to come across visual reminders in America of those world shaping events.

This past weekend I was traveling on the back of Martin's motorcycle around the region of the Harz mountains in Germany. A popular biker destination, with it's curvy roads & open spaces, particularly popular to those of us who live in the "lowlands" and crave hills and mountains!

The group of six bikes and seven people was made up with bikers from the international biker group, started by Martin. I always enjoy the eclectic mix in a biker group but the international flavor means a very varied group of people and nationalities. This time we had two Greek brothers, a lady rider from Romania who was engaged to one of the Greeks, a Russian nuclear physicist , a Scot and us, the Brit/Americans! As you can imagine the conversations over the weekend were culturally interesting and funny, and we all learned a lot about life on an oil-rig, Greek traditions and each other! There was much laughter and a great deal of support and kindness, brought on by the extremely hot temperatures....motorcycling in full gear is not pleasant in temperatures of 33C (91F) and yet no-one lost their temper or caused ill feeling.

International Bikers

The Harz is an area of 2,226  square km and is in Lower Saxony, with a national park, 17 dams, lakes, mountains, a steam train and towns full of timbered houses, it really is a beautiful area to explore. Of course I was there with bikers so it was all about the riding so no hiking for me this visit! The area is full of history, from being one of Goethe favorite places to the weird Walpurgis Night, a sort of Halloween when witches cavort, apparently naked, in the forest!

The most recent of Harz's history was what made me sit up and think. Through the Harz area ran the infamous dividing line that ran from the Baltic to Czechoslovakia, splitting Germany in half and Eastern Europe from the West, the "Iron Curtain". Here I was riding freely in an area that was once fringed by electric fences, patrolled by soldiers armed with machine guns, that divided towns, families and the world's opinion for 45 years. I remembered watching the changes in 1989 as Europe became whole again and marveled that I was riding here.... with a Russian! How Europe has changed since those post war years, but it continues to experience "growing pains" and I feel so strongly that a unified Europe is absolutely what we owe ourselves. When "the Wall" fell 100,000 Germans climbed to top of the Harz  mountains, to the Brocken peak, to celebrate ....a peak once denied them as it was home to one of the East's "listening posts." The bonus of the traffic-free border zone is that it became a rich nature reserve over those 45 years and now is a prospective conservation/memorial area with the European Greenbelt Initiative, a nature reserve running for 12,500 km through Europe....so out of something so tragic, something positive for all of us and our planet is occurring....... an ecological  phoenix.

http://www.europeangreenbelt.org

http://www.erlebnisgruenesband.de/en/startseite.html

Would You Like To Boodschappen With Me?

One of the every day, common experiences that become a daily adventure for ex-pats is the thrill that, here in the Netherlands, is known as "boodschappen"......grocery shopping! You might think this unlikely to become a thrill but, believe me, until you have wandered the aisles of a foreign supermarket and successfully checked items off your list you haven't experienced the frisson of fear or the exhilaration of success!

When I first moved to America I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the supermarkets....the aisle just dedicated to cereals involved stretching exercises & a good pair of sneakers! The whole event of filling my trolley or cart took me hours, partly due to the fact that I needed a map to find my way around but mostly due to having to learn new products and brands. Which laundry detergent to choose? I had always used the one my mum used but now I had to make a "blind" choice...when you meet the new locals you don't automatically say, "So nice to meet you and, what detergent do you use?" Which teabags...very important to a Brit? What on earth is cheese in a can? What is cilantro? Which of the 200 types of chips/crisps? All these things seem so small yet on that first visit I felt close to tears. The moment that turned it from being an overpowering experience to one of humor was when I found a small amount of British items stacked on a shelf; some Cadbury's chocolate, Irish teabags and a packet of digestive biscuits. My first reaction was quickly tempered from joy to a chilling sense of reality, here were "my" foods next to the Mexican & Jewish sections...I was a minority!


Of course I was soon indoctrinated and the amount of favorite British goods that were shipped over in suitcases became less and less (other than teabags and chocolate....America really can't fill those shoes!). I felt at home wandering the aisles of Shaws or Stop'n'Shop and soon could dispense with the GPS completely. The irony of all this is that now, as I live in the Netherlands, I occasionally long for those vast supermarkets and the immense selection of goods....life experiences change us!

Now in the Netherlands my challenges are different, caused primarily by the language. The first time my daughter and I went shopping it took us hours...not because of the vastness of the stores (believe me Dutch supermarkets are tiny!) but because we were trying to work out what wasverzachter was! It's fabric softener! After three years I am able to read, and find, most things on the shelves, although occasionally the translator app comes in very useful. Foods are different and interesting when ever you travel. The Dutch love...hagelslag- sprinkles, every Dutch child has these on bread for breakfast before school; Drops - licorice, salty and sweet; stroopwafels - caramel cookies; pap -ready made porridge and lots of bread and cheese just to name a few basics. The Dutch system is, admirably, anchored in the idea of keeping the small independent stores thriving and so the supermarkets remain small (read that as cramped!) and locals shop at the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker with the weekly visit to the wonderful markets. I do still miss the brightly lit, colorful, familiar US supermarkets but can visit Sainsburys in the UK for the taste of home.... or Carrefore in Belgium or Leclerc in France (how European!)

Ask me what I totally detest about shopping in a Dutch supermarket....the lack of packing help! In the UK the smiling cashier will help you pack your groceries, or find someone to help and in the US there is always someone at the end of the checkout packing your purchases away. In the Netherlands there is no help, no matter how much you have spent or how big the supermarket is. Picture this....the cashier scans and moves your goods down to the bagging area while you start to pack your stuff in your reusable (of course!) bags. When the area becomes too full does she/he stop to help or slow down? No! They just force everything down, forcing, jamming, cramming until the pile threatens to spill over the sides and she smiles and says, very nicely in Dutch, "That's €80 and would you like the receipt?" You pay whilst looking frantically at the pile of goods yet to be packed, now comes the time where you break out in a sweat, as the next person's shopping is scanned the cashier rams the divider onto your section causing your goods to be crushed sideways as well, and you are sharing the area with another shopper. Obviously the Dutch expect nothing different and seem to take this calmly and in their stride. I'm the one who is by this time stressed, frantic and sweating!

So, after you've wandered around your familiar cheery grocery store, and as you watch your shopping being packed into bags and loaded into your cart by someone, spare a thought for me and thank those kind folk profusely for helping make what is a boring chore just a little less stressful. Me, I'm the one leaving Albert Hein with a red face, sweat stains on the back of my t-shirt, struggling with a cart full of overloaded, badly packed bags...heading to the nearest bar for a calming glass of something reassuring!