06 December 2011

Not good but Baaaaad Fallingbostel

Its Flybe to Hamburg Today

Civilised airline - but we boarded much too early, left way too late but still arrived on time - strange!
American DJ and technical team

Fresh from a gig in Bristol and traveling to Hamburg. We talked Creme Egg Clucking Easter Bunny and the Star DJ ignored all the "personal electronic equipment" exhortations - turning his Iphone back on as soon as the cabin attendant had passed down the aisle.

Gorgeous Gänsebraten

This at the very stylish but rather a chilly walk from the associated hotel "Anders" at Walsrode (http://www.mercurewalsrode.de/anders-erlebnis-gasthaus/)


Menu A at the factory

You can have "Menu A, Menu B and Salatbar!" (helps if you bark it in the style of Helga from Allo Allo). The meat thingie was tasty - sort of a local "all the bits of a pig you would not really like to think about made into something a bit like haggis"


A very nice and clearly family run hotel - Germany's success is based on such businesses
No - I did not!

The local firewater - 50% alcohol and very smooth and minty - my host did not join me in a glass though



"Heidegeist is a herbal liquor , in particular in the Lüneburg Heath is widespread.
Heidegeist contains a total of 31 heathers and has an alcohol content of 50%. It is clear in color and strong flavor [1] ."

I really doubt if there are 31 species of heather on the Lüneburg Heath - I had thought of visiting next summer (and in daylight for a change) but contacts who have lived in Fallingbostel for 16 years claim "it is flat and boring"


My glass of "guter heidegeist" was "on-the-house" and Germany was also LOTS cheaper than Dublin - how is that possible?


Public view of the factory - strange that driving past the previous evening the lit up "Kraft" sign gave me a sort of warm "I'm home, there are friends here" feeling - and its not yet been two years



This shop is open to the public - but not at 07:30 in the morning


Bad Fallingbostel used to just be Fallingbostel but then it passed the test set by the German Spas and Bathing Facility Authority and since 2002 it can call itself "Bad"

More Gorgeous Gänsebraten
The sprouts were delicious and were mixed with very salty cubes of bacon - yum yum - having the same for Xmas I think.

Inexpensive Pizza at Hanover Airport

I don't understand about HAJ - huge carparks, huge buildings, offices and towerblocks - but hardly any flights and tiny antiquated terminals.  Perhaps most of the buildings are not directly associated with the flying part of the business.  There is no restaurant airside at terminal B - so I ate before security - somewhat confusing as the staff had German as a second language and I have it as about 300 words - once I had established that the staff came from a) Italy - Pizza Oven and b) Sri-Lanka - till - we switched to a more useful combination of Italian and English.


Hanover seems to be a gateway to Russia and the CIS


I have been to six out of 19!

Ceiling in Terminal B - Non-Schengen Gate
HAJ was very quiet - no queue for check-in and no queue for security - six staff, two lanes - and just me.  I have no idea what all the little pipes are for in the ceiling - perhaps they are sunlight guides?

London with the dome to the centre left
A very familiar sight for those who fly from points south and east into BHX - standard routing is along the north side of the Thames estuary and then turn somewhere over Ealing and straight into Runway 33

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