A walk around Watenbuettel and eating Asparagus.

A small Watenbuettel Church.

It is the asparagus eating season here, the vegetable is plentiful, cheap to buy, and is a very popular dish with meat or fish.   Yesterday afternoon some members of the choir + their spouses went to Watenbuettel, a small town 5 miles outside Braunschweig, for a short walk around the town and then to "Gasthaus Mueller" for Spargelessen, a meal with asparagus.  This trip is an annual event for the choir, who go to a different venue each year. 

We had a gentle walk along a shady track beside the River Oker, which ended with us drinking either water or beer, (I had one beer,) and then singing favourite folksongs to the accompaniment of C on the accordian.  It was a very happy occasion, and a good time was had by all.  After refreshments, walked on past a pig farm, where several rather indolent beasts lay  mud covered in the hot sun in big holes in the ground, very nice! 

We arrived at "Gasthaus Mueller" at 5.45pm feeling ready for our meal, which was very tasty.  I had two fillets of salmon with asparagus and potatoes, all covered in a butter sauce, and drank one more small beer. Cheers! 

Walking the track beside the River Oker.

C plays the accordian.

The Mittelland Canal with an approaching barge.

The photo above shows the Mittellandkanal, one of the large canals that form a transport network throughout Germany.  Three great rivers, the Rhine, Danube and Elbe dominate the waterways of Germany, and they are connected by a network of canals in the north, and by the river Main and the Rhine-Main-Danube in the south. With the lake regions of Mecklenburg and Brandenburg near Berlin, these waterways are cruised  by many self skippered barges.  The barge in the lower photo was carrying tons of gravel, and can be seen approaching Braunschweig Harbour in the background.  There is a mega sized lock nearby at Wedtlenstadt.

Canal construction in Germany began in the 17th century, and continues to this day.  The network is industrial sized, and not at all like the dainty canal network in England.  These self-skippered barges are probably the homes of the owners, just as our workboats used to be.  I've seen several barges with the family car on the roof of the wheel house.

For some reason here, someone had the bright idea of christening me in the canal, but I know the German word for christen, so I decided to run for it!



The giant barge "Vulkan" approaches Braunschweig Harbour.