[babupaul]

Sam, amazing narration, Practical pictures, breath taking locations.Man, feels like I've just returned from this place, it really was a virtual journey for me :-), BTW I try to pen dowm my travels but it just does not seem to fall in place, any tips?

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by babupaul

BTW I try to pen dowm my travels but it just does not seem to fall in place, any tips?

Thanks for the kind words.
Tip: Never plan to write while travelling. Live your travel, breathe and enjoy it.

That way, when you do sit to write, it will come naturally.

[NIP]

wow ! fantastic pictures and terrific narration sam !! thanks for sharing. it was thoroughly enjoyable.

[Kontoo]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

I am sorry, that was rude of me.

Kontoo said (in between the Wow and super, lol) that it was a good story and that the description and photos were super.
I replied saying Many thanks and that he was kind.

Yep, rude of me too. Sorry.
Just a suggestion Sam, a better way of saying "that's kind of you" would be "Das is sehr nett von Dir". But your deutsch is already quite good.

[nripin]

Man i truly appreciate your narration skills

[Sagittarian]

The pictures brought out pure nostalgia. Nürnberg, Glüwine, the famous Christmas market and the monotonous winter monochrome. I remember, the church has a small ring attached to the front grillwork; people throng there to hold it and make wishes. It is supposed to make one's wishes come true. Mine is yet to come true, but :-(

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by Sagittarian

I remember, the church has a small ring attached to the front grillwork; people throng there to hold it and make wishes. It is supposed to make one's wishes come true. Mine is yet to come true, but :-(

I will let TheOne® answer that one about the ring in front of the church. She will be posting here as soon as she gets over her 8 page(!) intro thread, lol.

Meanwhile here is a very amusing picture she took, while I was making some beautiful early morning low light shots from the window.

[TheOne®]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

It's winter. The German population is low and has been declining for years now. People don't have kids.

The pictures that you see are a normal non-touristic scenario. This is how things are in smaller towns of Germany.

Yes and no! Population is declining, yes. Government is working on a system to turn this development around again, yes. Successfully? Debatable. The lack of people in this countryside because of those reasons: no!

For everybody's understanding: we were in the deepest "pampa" even I have ever been in Germany. TINY little villages, number of inhabitants a few hundred maybe. Next town maybe something like 3.000-5.000. So this is the real reason lol.

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

The reaction of someone (who has been born and brought up in a similar small German countryside) ...

You are comparing my hometown with this? Was there something wrong with your eyes? Yes, nice countryside around my hometown, woods, fields, lakes and much more - but I did NOT grow up in the pampa lol.

Originally Posted by benbsb29

A blog through the eyes of TheOne® on the above scenario would be highly interesting. Hope there is one to see.

Lol, after I finally made it through my overwhelming introduction thread, I will read myself through this story here and express my opinion on a view things. If there is something you want to know in particular let me know

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

Oh Sam look! Look at that car's licence plate. I only saw this NOW - hadn't noticed when we were there. We were in the middle of nowhere and so was somebody else from my little hometown. This is rare! Wherever I am in Germany I actually never see cars/people from my hometown.

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by TheOne®

Was there something wrong with your eyes?

All BHPians please note: ONLY she can talk to me like that. Thank you.

[v1p3r]

Too late, mate. Sharks circling and all that.

You're quite the Maneka Gandhi in the towel, by the by.

[TheOne®]

Originally Posted by Nitin

Exactly,thats the reason I asked. A sudden rise/drop in temperature can disrupt the flow of blood to & from the heart.

Before I will explain the way of "saunaing" lol, for anybody interested in what the place looked like that we went to here is the link:

Therme Obernsees - Saunaparadies - Saunen

The last sauna on this page, "Kelo Blockhaussauna", is where Sam was confronted with this honey business, lol. As one can see, even without knowing any German, average temperature is 90 - 100 degrees Celsius, so considering this, it was clearly more than 100 degrees during this "Aufguss" time.

I searched and searched but there is no translation for Aufguss so I will describe it as best as I can: every sauna has a basin of very very hot stones. So we call it Aufguss time when somebody comes with a wooden bucket full of water (mostly scented due to the addition of herbal oils etc.) to slowly pour it over those stones. And he will do this over and over again, he doesn't stop before that whole bucket is empty. There is a lot of steam coming from it, waves of heats are created and this guy playing matador - as Sam stated lol, but it actually looks a bit like that sometimes - throws and shakes a towel he has with him to pass on that heat to every single corner of the sauna. It is breathtaking, honestly. And it was extreme that day as we ended up in one of the hottest saunas lol.

Now, to talk about this sudden rise and drop of temperature and the habit of applying ice cubes and jumping into ice-cold water: believe it or not, it is very very healthy! This way of "saunaing" comes from Finland haha. It is actually very popular and well-established in Europe. Take a look at the following website - for anybody really interested: after a brief introduction into sauna history, which you can quickly skip, it lists all the benefits of "saunaing" before going on about general sauna processes again in the end.

Sauna Kit - History and Trivia - Finlandia Sauna - Sauna experts since 1964

So: who's the next one to try?

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

All BHPians please note: ONLY she can talk to me like that. Thank you.

Oh come on, you know I was just joking. I know your eyes were only on me.

[TheOne®]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

Another experience to add in the Yeti's life. A boy from Bombay goes Ice Skating.

And let somebody who has grown up with ice skating tell you this: he was fantastic! He did not fall on his butt and after a very short time he could already skate by himself with no support - slowly but very good. This is unbelievable for someone who has not even inline skated before. My sisters and their partners whom you see on the pictures were deeply impressed.

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

This structure? From what I was told, these are branches and twigs of some special trees. They have been piled up to create this wall. The medicinal water that comes from from inside the earth is run gently over this wall, causing the twigs and branches to be moist.

It is very good for health to take a walk here and that is what the residents of Bad Nauheim do.

Yes, Sam is totally right here, his explanation correct (good memory my dear!). This structure is called saline. I think this word even exists in English? Though the meaning the way we refer to it in this case is a totally different one than in English. A saline - like the construction you saw - basically wins evaporated salt through the evaporation of brine coming from a natural (or artificially created) subterraneous spring. The springs of Bad Nauheim were discovered by the Romans already, they are all natural.

Bad Nauheim is a very old city, a lot of the houses in the old centre were built in the years 1300 or 1400, though history is much older. It is proven that there have been settlements on and off during the last 4.000 years. First official registry entrance ever found - referring to the town of Bad Nauheim - dates back to the year 900. In the woods you can even find a small little ruin that was some kind of Roman housing.

Haha, you can see I am proud of my hometown but now back to the topic: The method of winning salt like this was already developed in The Bronze and Young Stone Age. In Bad Nauheim, as this is a place for medical treatment, salines are used for healing. The air around those constructions is salty, super healthy and full of different minerals. You can walk through those salines (some have an aisle in the centre with those wooden walls on each side of it) or walk around them, as in the picture of Sam, with benches everywhere so you can rest there and enjoy. Alternatively, some people also get treatment by taking special baths in the water of those natural springs. Though the water looks disgusting (all funny orange lol), it is the best you can do.

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

I will let TheOne® answer that one about the ring in front of the church. She will be posting here as soon as she gets over her 8 page(!) intro thread, lol.

The ring in front of the church decorating the "Schöner Brunnen" construction has a nice story: Actually there are two rings (one brazen and one gilded, the first one is supposed to be the real one, the other one put up for tourists). Anyways, centuries ago, when they built the church, one master craftsman worked on this construction. He was proud of his work, putting all his energy into making this a master piece. He had an apprentice, a young guy. This young guy fell in love with the craftsman's daughter. So one day, he took all his courage and went to ask for her hand in marriage. But the craftsman got really angry. Who was he to give his daughter to some poor little apprentice? He refused and chased away this young fellow. At nighttime the apprenctice surreptitiously went back to the place where the "Schöner Brunnen" waited to be completed. They were supposed to present it the next day. He included this brazen ring into the outer ornaments, then he left. The next day the master craftman find this ring, he frowns, wondering where this comes from, he suddenly takes a closer ring and his mouth falls wide open: this ring, though integrated and wrapped around the other ornaments, has no junction/interface - nothing. It is one single piece - no beginning, no end. And he realised which talented apprentice he had just lost. And he regretted to not have given his daughter to this young man as it was clear that he would once be very successful. End of story gentlemen!

Originally Posted by Sagittarian

I remember, the church has a small ring attached to the front grillwork; people throng there to hold it and make wishes. It is supposed to make one's wishes come true.

Oh yes, I forgot about this part: true! That's why they put up a second ring for the tourist to see - the original is harder to make out.

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by TheOne®

Before I will explain the way of "saunaing" lol, for anybody interested in what the place looked like that we went to here is the link:

Therme Obernsees - Saunaparadies - Saunen

Please dont expect any naked people in this link, lol. They have shown everyone wearing towels (for the sake of decency I think) but nobody was wearing anything anywhere. For the record.

[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

Please dont expect any naked people in this link, lol. They have shown everyone wearing towels (for the sake of decency I think) but nobody was wearing anything anywhere. For the record.

Sam Bhai I have seen the movie Hostel

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

Sam Bhai I have seen the movie Hostel

Baba, what does that Tarantino produced fun, guts and gore filled movie have to do with the sauna? Or should I not ask?