Tuesday 21st June Hanover to Brake
To resolve some of the inadequacies of the motor home and the German internet issues we went back to the mall and bought a mobile Hot Spot complete with German pre-paid SIM and data which was not available outside of Germany of course. Herman, our salesman, had a dress sense all of his own and we were warned by the front desk staff to not mention how small he was and to refer to him as the big man. The shop was similar to JB Hifi but had 2 layers of security before you were allocated a sales person, the first directed you to the sales person the second scrutinised your possessions and insisted you had a docket for the electronics you carried into the store. On the way out you went through the cashier and produced your docket to be cleared.
Even though Herman did a wonderful job selling us goods he was not a high level sales person so he had to give the credit/commission to somebody else. The commission collector arrived towards the end of sale looking like he just got out of bed and was dressed in jeans, sneakers and a t-shirt. I would rather have given the commission to Herman, however I presume the Germany of old is still in play because Herman looked Jewish and the commission collector didn’t.
Hot spot all working we went to Hanover’s tourist attraction, 
the Herrenhauser Gardens. Commissioned by Electoress Sophie (electoress is a German duchess or princess) the gardens include numerous theatre stages, several gardens of intricate box hedging designs, a fountain shooting 65m high, a maze and numerous other fountains, pools, reflection gardens, pavilions, themed gardens etc. The palace has been rebuilt because some inconsiderate nation bombed it in WWll apparently. Besides the rebuilt palace another modern feature was the vulgar grotto lined with mirrored and coloured mosaics and adorned with bright coloured protruding characters.
To make up for the last two expensive days we decided to get back into free camping mode and dining in. Destination today was Brake for obvious reasons, however when the GPS kept saying board the Ferry we knew something wasn’t 
right. The Ferry did arrive but for the cost of 45 Euro we decided to take the long way round and removed the Ferry function from the GPS. On performing a U-turn we saw a sign for free camping besides the river and proceeded to the destination. You can free park (or donate) on designated spots as long as you are self contained. There are restrictions all in German of course, but there are also facilities provided for a small fee; for example power costs 1 euro. This spot is near a motor camp so you can go in and shower for 2 Euros. The campers inside the grounds call us outsiders but this is okay with us because we saved 20 – 25 Euros camping outside.
There are at least seven motorhomes here; we are the only ones without 
a dog, so I am assuming that is why these people prefer to be outsiders.
Tea wasn’t quite as easy due to the instructions being in German and our electronic phrase book had a few issues with the ingredients and cooking methods. (Techical note - Roger did a damn fine job of cooking dinner)!
I used the translator to interpret the grocery bill because there was an item for 1.50 Euro I couldn’t account for. Apparently in Germany when you buy carbonated drink they charge you a deposit which you get back when you return the bottle. Our NZ$3 has gone in the rubbish, that’s quite a penalty for not reducing the landfill.
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