Travels with Auntie M: Grafenwohr Germany

Driving across Germany I kept seeing these tall strange buildings:

They are water towers and each one has a different style. Across from my training site in Heidelberg was this one:

This week I’m back in Grafenwöhr…it’s a small town in eastern Bavaria, surrounded by many even smaller towns. This year they are celebrating their 650th anniversary. The Training Area, which the Army installation now occupies, celebrated it’s 100th Anniversary last year. As did it’s tallest building, the water tower:

This historic landmark in on everything: store signs, travel brochures, lace curtains, sweatshirts, magnets, beer mugs, souvenirs of all types.

The museum had antique post cards of the water tower:

This time, I stayed at the hotel on base across from the water tower which is located inside the Army gates. The hotel is made up of several small buildings, this one was mine:

Gate one is only a block away and just around the corner I found another roster wind vane…

…attached to an 1875 church:

The hotel lobby building also had an interesting wind vane:

I was told the small local Cultural and Military Museum had an Elvis exhibit. It must change every so often because one internet visitor had an image of an Elvis figure next to a jukebox and another had an Elvis figure in the famous white Vegas outfit…but, I found an unrecognizable Elvis next to a jeep:

Looks like a female mannequin with a double-joined wrist:

He sent all of 6 weeks in training at Grafenwöhr:

At least his image fared better than these folks:

There were a few signs in English, one stated: “The barber not only cut hair and shaved beards but also acted as masseur, health care assistant, doctor and dentist. Pulling teeth and bloodletting were his main business besides hair cutting.”

There were three floors and several rooms of exhibits including one with current paintings, but the most artistic item I found was this window:

And this door across the street:

Traveling in Germany – 2 FEB 2011

Foreign travel is different. Some of the differences I love, some I am learing to live with. My hardest obstacle has been the lack of elevators (lifts)...most hotels are not handicap friendly. In Wiesbaden, I stayed at a Best Western, it had a stairway to access the very small, three-person lift...then, at the end of the hall, several more steps up to my room. Being a Senior Citizen pushing 135+ pounds of luggage...stairs are a challenge. The room was the size of a prison cell. There was a double bed made up of two single 6" high futon mats and only 12-18" on either side of the bed. The four feet at the foot of the bed was filled with a desk and a chair. To one side of the bed was the bathroom which was only the length of the bed since there was also a built-in wardrobe cabinet. My current location is in the small town of Grafenwohr. I am staying in a German Style hotel. This time I took pictures:

This felt like a castle compared to the room in Wiesbaden.

The women who checked me in, spoke very little English. There was the choice of a single room or a double. I wanted to know the location of each since there were no ground floor rooms...small - two, large -one...I took the large...then I only had to navigate one staircase. It took me several slow trips to get my luggage up to the room.

A co-worker described this hotel as "It's clean, my room is a decent size with it's own bathroom, the internet works well, I have a dorm refrigerator in my room, and tv gets CNN. Having said that, it's not the worst place in the world, but I think it would be kind to call my room austere, at least by American standards; think 'dorm furniture,' two twin beds pushed together, and carpeting with no padding underneath." He moved to another hotel further away...opening this large room for me. I like being 3 minutes from the installation gate. In addition, the restaurant at this hotel is excellent, by any standards!

Notice the toilet brush...all German toilets have their own brush, even public facilities and office buildings. Below is a close-up of the sticker on the inside of the toilet lid.

Plus, all public toilets (office buildings included) have long doors, 6-10 feet high, that run from a few inches above the floor...lots of privacy.

I have been listening to 'Old Time Radio Shows' I brought with me on my MP3 player. One of the series is the "Lux Radio Theater" recorded in the 30's & 40's. They are complete including Lux Soap commercials. I've been wondering whatever happen to LUX. Look at the soap the hotel supplies:

It is Tinky Winky size. The Lux brand started as the 'Sunlight Flakes' laundry soap in 1899 by the British Lever Brothers. Name changed to Lux in 1900, launched in the US in 1925 and 1928 in the UK. Merged with a Dutch company in 1930 it became Unilever. They own Chesebrough-Ponds, Faberge, Elizabeth Arden, Helene Curtis, Suave, Finesse, Degree, Best Foods, Ben and Jerry's, Slim Fast, Lipton, Dove, Knorr and more. Lux is alive and doing well!

This is the alarm clock that was in my room. I tested it. You wind it up in the back. Although the alarm would ring, it would not work automatically. I had to put it in the wardrobe cabinet to muffle the ticking sound until it wound-down. We were told to buy a Handy (disposable phone) when we arrived. On Sunday I found someone to set the default language to English so now I can just use my cell phone as an alarm clock...just like when I'm traveling in the US.

All beer is served with a large head of foam.

When I came out this morning, I found a light covering of snow on everything. My two 2-day classes usually run back-to-back, but this week I had Wednesday off. I headed over to the installation to do my laundry. Below is the jukebox in the laundrette.

Below is the very clean toilet at the Laundrette...notice the toilet brush?

This is the device on the right:

Close-up of instructions:

Before making my three-hour drive on the autobahnen, from Wiesbaden to Grafenwohr, I was concerned if I would have trouble finding a WC (toilet). Turns out every 28-40 kms, there is a gas station/Burger King truck stop with very clean toilets that cost .70 Euro ($1.00) and they have an automatic cleaning device. I stopped at the Towel Hotel to check my reservation for later this month and found they also had these devices in the ladies room next to their conference rooms. Here's how it works...this box comes out and sprays disinfectant while the toilet seat rotates.

My class room is located in this building:

Along the drive to the classroom:

Above is divided road where both sides have two-way traffic, only the right side is for tanks & army trucks and the left for cars...see I am driving in the right lane on the left side.