Hello From Near Bad Sarrow, Germany:
“Speedy” Schickedanz (Wilson) was stopped for speeding by the German Police today on Schwarmutzelsee Lake. Speedy, aka Marlene, was caught driving her speedboat at 25 kmh in an 8 kmh zone near the shore in front of expensive homes. The police boat exploded out of a boat house, overtaking Speedy and her passengers. Upon pulling along side Speedy’s vessel, the police officer barked out commands in German (naturally). Speedy nervously reached into her small purse and offered a Macys credit card, then was heard mumbling something like “you don’t happen to know Sgt. Schickedanz?” Speedy eventually produced an invalid Hawaii drivers license. Her husband and children looked on curiously. All three had taken turns captaining the small speedboat, when Speedy asked if she could have a turn at the wheel on the way back to the harbor. It wasn’t long after she took the wheel that she was spotted by the German Police. Given that the police could not understand Speedy, and weren’t quite sure about the rainbow design on the Hawaii drivers license, they motioned to her to slow down and let her go. Speedy’s passengers found the incident quite humorous, given that Speedy is known to be critical of her husband’s driving characteristics and the speed at which he drives a four wheel vehicle.
It’s Friday evening (June 27) and today was supposed to be the nicest day weather wise. It was mostly sunny and in the low 70s, so we were thrilled. Rain is on the docket the next two days. Marlene and I headed out to see the nearby sights. We first went to Bad Sarrow to set up the late afternoon boat rental and then traveled on to Wendisch-Rietz and the south end of Schmarmutzelsee Lake. We saw some interesting resorts, from a five-star resort, Arosa, with five golf courses, to a smaller boating community in Wendisch-Rietz.
Lunch was on the schedule. We ended up stopping at a bikers’ lunch wagon, with two tables inside and five picnic tables outside under a roof. The little restaurant, called a buffet, is in the parking lot of the Wendisch-Rietz train station. This little dive proved without doubt that we have gone to diners’ heaven here in Germany. My gosh, you can eat when you want to and get very eatable and inexpensive food. We had two plates of food and two Coca-Colas for 11 euros (about $15). See the photo of Marlene’s plate. She literally pointed to a long German word on the menu, since the cook/order taker/only employee in the place could not speak English. I went with the safe choice of wiener schnitzel (breaded pork). Marlene had two fried eggs, fried potatoes and carrots and peas. Hey, a real meal! She trade me an egg for some of my wiener schnitzel, which you see at the top of the plate. See the photo of the train station, about 100 feet across the parking lot from the sweet little diner. The station is all about 1950s communist construction, with one train each hour going to Berlin and one train each hour going to Frankfurt Oder near the Germany-Poland border.
We eventually gathered up Sophia and Keaka and went back to the harbor at Bad Sarrow, about a five minute drive from our apartment in Reichenwalde. We had a nice little speedboat, top speed of 25 kmh, which Speedy obviously was able to reach. We got a nice photo of Keaka on the boat and a photo of Sophia. The photos pretty much make up a nice little family album. Keaka had fun at the wheel of the boat. Sophia has fear in her eyes in the photo with Marlene, because she is scared to death with Keaka at the wheel. And, Sophia looks a bit apprehensive while she is at the wheel, even with the captain of the boat at her side.
We keep trying to learn more about the days of communism here and the transition that has taken place since 1989. The place we are staying is owned by a man who was 19-years-old in 1989 and had grown up living in East Berlin. Among many things he noted, was something we’ve heard more than once. The transition was difficult for older people (50+) in all of the former communist countries. All of a sudden the security provided by communism was gone and life changed. As our inn owner pointed out, using a German phrase, now “the door is open and it is up to you how you do in life”. We also learned more about Bad Sarrow. It has been “a summer resort for the aristocracy and wealthy for hundreds of years”, and it is “where Communist Party elite had dachas”. There are some fabulous houses, where the Soviet Army members lived with their families. The beach area was enclosed by a wooden wall, so only the Soviet military could use the area. I also read that there was a sports medical facility in Bad Sarrow, connected with the development of performance enhancing drugs for East German athletes. We did run across an area with about a dozen buildings and a big soccer field, all abandoned. There are three five-story buildings that still have curtains in the windows. It very much looks like an abandoned facility that would have housed Soviet troops or possibly been involved with the sports drug development.
I’m still attempting to figure out how land ownership went. Obviously, the houses in Bad Sarrow, for instance, were owned by private individuals prior to 1945 and the Soviet takeover. Then, in 1989 the Soviets disappeared from Bad Sarrow. Did the ownership revert back to the owners from 1945? Our inn owner says you see lots of undeveloped land and that it is costly and difficult to purchase. He says you have to go through difficult lawyers in Berlin and, sometimes, there are American owners and you have to deal with lawyers in the United States.
We’re trying to learn and understand.
Marz and I really like Germany! There are real people here ---- overweight people. There are lots of folks overweight and very few skinny people. Boy, can they drink beer. Hardly a glass of wine can be seen, but the women are pounding down the hops.
Rain tomorrow, but we’re hoping it does not interfere with our late afternoon ride on segways.
The Vilzons (the Germans make the “W” a “v” sound and the “s” becomes a “z”)
