Detmold

After an arduous journey with my fellow Rheinland Pfalz friends on too many a slow "regional" train with my Schoenes Wochenende cheap ticket, all I did in Detmold was drink in Simon's flat, sing Happy Birthday to Simon as he blew out the candles on his birthday cake, take a bus into the town centre and drink some more in a Detmold bar. A great night was had by all but not much proper travelling was done! On the way home we yet again found some pathetic amusement when the train conductor pronounced that the next stop was to be "Aalen Westfalen". Then we got off mid journey for something to eat in Essen ("essen"= the verb "to eat" - get it?!). Not very funny to most sane people I know, but funny to me in my hungover-and-going-mad-with-long-journey-syndrome-and-no-sleep state of mind at the time!

What I remember most was how "normal" Detmold seemed, by that, I mean how it felt the most like my hometown in the central belt of Scotland. I wasn't surrounded by vineyards and boats like I was in Boppard. I didn't see any musicians in the town square or visit any markets on the high street and the buildings and houses were mostly new and modern. Nordrhein Westfalen is a highly populated region and there is such a dramatic difference between this industrialised state and the more picturesque southern states of Rheinland Pfalz and Baden Wuertemmberg. Which isn't a bad thing, it's just different to much of the Germany that I had experienced so far.