Camping in Germany

Last weekend we took the regional train an hour north of town to a place called Fürstenberg/Havel to join some friends on a camping trip. You'd call it car camping if we had a car, this was no backpacker excursion. The spot was Ellbogensee. Some impressions from Cassandra:

When you pull up to a campsite in the Pacific NW, you know you’re at a spot when you see a number marker, a picnic table and a fire pit. That’s it. Easy. Precise. Clear. As a family, you may drive around the loop(s) of the campground to find the site that’s: flattest, shady, close to the river/lake, away from the trash, near the bathroom, near a water spigot or other amenities (or away from them!). You go back to the main registration booth or camp host’s tent/RV and register yourselves, get a slip to put on the post confirming you have paid, etc. And, then you settle in and set up your tent, put out your table cloth, stash your $5 bundle of wood next to the fire ring and get out your lounge chairs. And, then – only then, do you go off and explore the sites the campground has to offer.

Right?

Well, in Germany it’s slightly different. There are no number markers, no fire rings, no picnic tables and no paying the camp host. You must bring your own table / chairs. There are no fires allowed, except in centrally designed locations on tiny charcoal BBQs the campground management loans out. Every family/group has a picnic blanket in various shades of plaid that serves as your main gathering spot (for meals, sunbathing, playing games, taking a nap, etc.). Some of the more prepared folks have little folding tables or use the top of their plastic camp box for a table.

There is a place to wash dishes with hot water and showers (50 cents for 4 mins, but if you’re done early, please turn off the water), clean bathrooms and an amazing natural playground hiding among the trees.

The place we visited this past weekend had the added bonus of an amazing Vegetarian Café and shop with basic supplies (all organic!), beer, ice cream and a bakery that takes Sunday bread orders. Bread is such a staple in Germany that families pre-order their rolls, or croissants the night before to have at 8am when the bakery opens. I ordered 6 different just to make sure we got a good sampling. Yum!

The lake was very natural with just two slim docks intended to moor small sail boats and whatnot – not for diving off of or playing. Reeds creeped to the edges of the swim area providing a barrier against float away kick-boards and other floaty toys. The sandy beach was littered with an assortment of sand toys (none broken!) and little kids (naked for the most part) splashed in and out of the water with their parents quietly resting on their picnic blanket several meters away.

Once we set up our tent and got oriented, we doled out water squirters to the kids and they alternated between little battles, riding the campground go-karts up and down the sandy road between campsites and playing soccer in the same pathway. We ventured to the natural playground on Saturday afternoon and rented a canoe for an hour-long paddle across the lake, but when given the option to just play water squirters, soccer or go-karts on Sunday they opted for the latter.

Around 7:30pm Saturday we got the charcoal going and cooked 24+ mini brats, green peppers, Haloumi cheese. And, we mixed up a batch of dough for the kids to cook over the fire wrapped around a 2” thick stick (Stockbrot!). Then, I broke out the bag of marshmallows I’d grabbed at Trader Joes on a recent trip to the USA.

All in all, it was a great trip. We must make Stockbrot again. 

After losing a watergun battle with the Kinder.

Cass prepares the bread dough for the sticks.

Campfire cooking our stick-bread.

In the background other kids practice the latest rage among pre-teen dancers: the "Floss". Foreground is Bela, one of Cody's best buddies from the Kita.

Eventually you get yummy stick-bread! Super novel.

Cody pulls Bela around in the "use when they are free" campground pedal karts.

Watergun refill station.

Waiting for the return train at Fürstenberg.

On the Sunday return trip our train was packed. In spite of this, we had seats until Oranienburg when we had to switch to the S-Bahn network. Our train was turning around and going back north to the Baltic sea coast town of Rostock.

This was a stressful change of trains since you have no reserved seats and piles of people competing with you. We were also dragging our camping stuff in packs and duffels. We all disgorged onto the train platform and immediately tremendous thunder clapped all around us and the rain starting falling in sheets. The station was being renovated and there was only one exit off the unroofed platform: down the stairs and through a tunnel under the tracks to the S-Bahn line on the other side. A stream of people were coming from there, squeezing through the narrow chute to get to the north bound train. Additionally, tons of people brought their bicycles which clog up everything when lots of people are trying to get though a small space.

So, we stood on the platform inching forward with hundreds of others as the rain soaked us down and dogs yelped with the crashes of the thunder.

Eventually we go to the S-Bahn train and found a car that still had a four seater section in it where we could all cram our stuff and we rode that back home. Potentially there is a lesson here: the Southbound trains coming back into the city on Sundays might be more crowded that the Northbound ones. The ones coming from the south after a weekend never seem as packed as this. Maybe we just keep the exploring to the south of the city next time!