Day 29 – 28th July 2020 – Oldenburg and Wilhelmshaven
Today I’m staying over with Dori and Janine in Oldenburg and the plan is to visit a couple of Dori’s friends, Nikki and Anji this morning.
Dori says it’s just 10 minutes away… now judging by the 2 hours that became 4 hours yesterday I’m not convinced this is going to be that short… and it’s not, more like 40 minutes!
I get the impression they have all been friends for many years. Nikki and Anji have been together for quite some time and are tying the knot this weekend so Dori is going to be house sitting for them. We also have a look at the house Dori is going to be moving into in a couple of months… it’s enormous.. I am so jealous of all the space and buildings one of which is destined to become the Dykes on Bikes Rhine-Weser Clubhouse… oh wouldn’t it be wonderful if DoB London could have something like this… I wish someone would win the lottery!
The weather is pretty grey today with some sunny spells and Dori has planned a ride to Wilhelmshaven on the North Sea… I’m really looking forward to that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmshaven
We have our photos taken in front of the main attraction, the Emperor Wilhelm Bridge, a swing bridge apparently that was built between 1905 and 1907.
I think you can tell it’s pretty cold… and bloody windy too… a joy to ride in of course!!
And above all there are… ships, oh yes… I love a ship, especially military ships… fab
Oh.. and aircraft of course too..
We decide to try and get warm by having some coffee and cake… unfortunately, this particular restaurant will only let you sit inside if you are having a meal… bah! We brave the cold and I can see other people who have managed to snag a basket chair.. these look great and are reminiscent of victorian beach chairs one often sees in period films and dramas, such as Death in Venice…. I think. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of one, but this is something similar I found online.. fabulous
We try and wait for the sun to come, it does eventually but we are already back on the road. This morning I had mentioned to Dori that I need to purchase another external hard drive as mine is now full so we plan to visit an IT store at some point.
On the way back home we stop of for some Chinese food, it is very good, but way too much for me. There is a supermarket here too and it looks like they may have an electronics department so I wander off for a look.
I find the right department, but can’t see any hard drives… they have mice and keyboards and usb hubs etc. etc. so I decide to try and ask the guy at the desk… of course he doesn’t speak English and my Germish doesn’t stretch to anything as specialised as this.. I try gesturing but to no avail. I thank the man and he wanders off.. I try another look around and yep there they are in a locked glass case. Now I can’t find the man so I have to wait for him to come back. Eventually he returns and gets one out for me, but it seems I have to go to the information desk to pay for it and pick it up.
I make my way there, stopping to pick up a couple of bits on the way… just to give the guy time to get the hard drive over there! I wait in the queue and then I have to ask the woman for the hard drive… I have looked it up and in German it is festplatte… so I try saying this… she looks blank… I try again… she says ‘passport???’ erm no… then Dori and Janine come to my rescue and explain that the tech guy has told me to come over to collect and pay for my item… so now all is clear, she has it under her counter… then she makes a phone call, I think she doesn’t know the price.. anyway eventually all is sorted out, phew! Huge thanks to the grrrls for the help.
Off we go back to Dori’s house… we sit and chat for a while.. well I talk, they fall asleep.. no, but it is scary how much I am talking!!
About 9pm I am feeling peckish so ask if I can have a cheese roll… this causes some merriment, it seems to be not something Germans do of an evening, but they very kindly make me one….
Oh… very funny…. and delicious.. yum!
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