Europe does not grow out of papers, but out of people who open themselves up to meet people from other countries and cultures, with other languages and ways of life.
- Uwe Schott, quoted on the Via Romea Germanica website (2011)
The Via Romea Germanica is also called the Weg der Begugnungen - the way of encounters. In Celle I stopped for a rest day and, however beautiful the city itself, it was the encounters that were the highlight of my visit!
I arrived in Celle one day ahead of my original schedule, and my new arrival date was not convenient for Hilke, the Servas host I had contacted in the city. So I found a new host through Couchsurfing. Ayelen is from Argentina and just began her new life in Germany a few months ago, after obtaining a Polish passport; her German ancestors are from the area around Celle, but emigrated to Argentina from Poland, so that's the European passport she is eligible for. That or Italian, from the other side of her family; but she reported that the waiting list is so long for Italian citizenship applications in Argentina, it would have taken at least three years to process her application!
Ayelen sold all her possessions, sent her two teenaged children to live with her parents for the time being, and left behind Argentina's disastrous economy to find work in Germany. She cooks in a café, cleans a couple of days a week, and rents an apartment with an extra room which her children will occupy once she completes the paperwork required to bring them over. In the meantime, she has made the room available to couchsurfers!
I slept really well, and had a leisurely breakfast, knowing that I didn't have to pack up and start walking again. Then Ayelen and I walked into the town centre, bustling with a Saturday morning produce market.
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Spargel - it's asparagus season! |
When Ayelen went off to work on her bike, I paid two euros to climb several hundred steps to the top of the church tower. The views were magnificent on this sunny morning!
Back at the base of the tower, I met local Servas member Hilke and we took a walk around town. Hilke pointed out some sights I hadn't yet noticed and took me off the beaten track to see the Französischer Garten or French garden and the "new" city hall - the old one in the old town centre is now the tourist information office.
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The Alte Rathaus by the church |
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The Neue Rathaus |
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A house painted with amusing decorations |
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The oldest house in the town is currently under scaffolding... so I took a picture of the one next door 😀 |
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Hilke in the Französischer Garten |
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There's a sad story of forbidden love behind this building... too long to tell here |
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Café in the Französischer Garten |
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Spaghetti Eis! |
After spending a very enjoyable afternoon together, Hilke and I parted ways as she went off on her bike to see how the plants were doing in her allotment garden. I stayed in the park relaxing, until I realised the next day would be Sunday and all the shops would be closed... so I rushed off to buy some groceries. Then I returned to the gardens to meet Ayelen for a beer. Neither of us being German speakers, we ended up blundering our way into a private party in the Biergarten, enjoying a free Celler beer! 😅
When someone started getting the party organised for a group photo, we realised our unintentional gatecrashing was at risk of being discovered, so we headed home, where Ayelen made pizza - apparently she wasn't fed up of cooking, even after doing it all day at work!
In the morning I said goodbye and headed back onto the trail. Again I crossed the old city centre, deserted on a Sunday morning.
I followed the river Aller out of the town and turned down a beautiful lane lined with ancient horse chestnut trees - which was unfortunately not the right way to go! 😄
I turned back and followed a paved cycling track to Altencelle, which, as the name suggests, is the original site of the town of Kiellu or Celle, moved to its current site in 1292. I took a break on a bench outside the Gertudenkirche, the church of St. Gertrude, rebuilt in the 14th century on the site of a church constructed before the year 1000.
The church was, unfortunately, closed... but just past it I saw a storks' nest, high up atop a pole - the first I had seen in Germany! I saw hundreds of them on the Camino de Santiago in Spain, where the sound of clattering stork beaks was a constant accompaniment to our steps.
I continued on to the farming village of Osterloh, and crossed the river Aller.
I stopped to eat my lunch in a Grillplatz, a barbecue area, which was, surprisingly, not being used on this sunny Sunday. Then I walked across Bockelskamp, an unassuming village of red brick detached houses, and came along a cycling lane to the convent of Kloster Wienhausen.
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Only 3 million more steps to Rome! |
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Kloster Wienhausen |
The convent has a pilgrim stamp, kept in a wooden box outside the door so it is accessible even when the church is closed. Leaving the church, and the old mill beside it, I followed a trail of people eating ice cream cones to find Eiscafé Florenz and sit down with a purportedly Italian ice cream. I must admit it was pretty authentic! (Didn't take a picture, though.)
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The old mill at Wienhausen |
The trail continued through the town of Wienhausen, where there are a couple of restaurants, a Biergarten and a bakery, in addition to the ice cream shop. Then the trail plunged into the forest along a dirt road where plenty of cyclists were out on a Sunday afternoon, including whole families with small children in infant seats and trailers of various types.
Passing through a couple more small settlements and then along a wide road, at last I came to Bröckel, where I am spending the night in the pilgrim accomodation provided by Torsten, who restores antiques in his workshop in an enormous ancient post, where riders used to stop and change horses... along the road to Rome!
Celle - Bröckel 23 km
What a wonderful and inspiring story about Ayelen! And the mini-caravan at the end is delightful. A very enjoyable read, with great photos!
ReplyDeleteThere look to be many attractive buildings in this area.
ReplyDeleteYes, Celle is famous for its half-timbered buildings, built in the 16th to 18th century
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