Lazy week at the Scharmützelsee!

Lazy week in the Scharmützelsee!

I’m cranked back on a lounge chair by the lake catching up on my blog.

We arrived in Bad Saarow late Tuesday afternoon – it is about a 5 ½ hour drive from Frankfurt am Main and is about an hour southeast of Berlin.  We are staying at the Alte Eichen, a country hotel on the banks of the Scharmützelsee (lake).  The area where we are staying is the lake district of Germany.  There are a number of lakes scattered around the area. Canals with locks link many of the lakes and rivers in this area.  It is possible to travel from one lake to another by boat or to even boat to Berlin from here.  The lake is about 10-12 kilometers long and about 2-3 kilometers wide.  It is a very serene and peaceful lake – quite beautiful and soothing.  It produces a languid laziness that it is perfect for a very relaxed vacation.  We spend out days swimming, biking and boating.  The meals are long, languid and relaxed.  The food and service are excellent.  Once the hotel realized that I am vegan, they bought soy milk, soy cheese, soy yogurt and tofu for my meals and prepare these delicious vegan meals for me.  Doris and Elfriede get up early every morning and go for an au naturale swim in the lake before the other guests wake up.  They then go back to bed and sleep in – I just sleep in.

Thursday we drove to Frankfurt an der Oder, which is the second Frankfurt in Germany that is 1 hour west of Berlin, and right on the Polish Border – the Oder River forms the border.  We were visiting friends, Stefan and Ursula.  He is a retired police chief and she is a professor at the university in Frankfurt.  We enjoyed tour of their beautiful house and garden.  Elfriede was quite taken with the house and garden – she told Doris and me that she would love to live there.  We had a nice lunch in Frankfurt and then did a car tour of the area.  Both Stefan and Ursula are very knowledgeable of the history and literature of the area, so it was a very enjoyable, entertaining and informative outing.  We had lively discussions about politics, history, literature and agriculture.  I learn a lot about the history of East German under Frederick the Great, communist rule and the post unification period.   The West and the East have not always been in agreement as to how the development of East Germany should proceed after unification.  Because of these conflicts, economic development in the east has lagged behind the west.  Many young people are migrating west for better opportunities and there is a noticeable decline in the population of Frankfurt – it has decreased from 90,000 to 60,000 since unification.  This is the first time that I have seen so many dilapidated buildings and signs of urban decay in Germany. 

Doris and I rented two bikes from the hotel and road all the way around the lake on the bike path.  Germany has an incredible system of bike trails.  We started in Bad Saarow which has been a summer resort for the aristocracy and wealthy for hundreds of years.  During the communist era, it was turned into a “resort for the proletariat”.  There still are some small bungalows that were used by working class people but mainly it was where the Communist Party elite had their dachas.  Today, it is where many prominent, wealthy Berliners live or have summer homes.  Many of the houses here a quite beautiful with tree lined streets and bike paths connecting all of the neighborhoods.   As we bikes south along the east side of the lake, we passed through farmland, small villages and the forest.  The farther south and west you for along the lake, the less development there is.  Once you are 1-2 meters from the lake, it is all farmland, forest and low rolling hills.  There are also these huge wind turbines all over this area – the green revolution.  At the south end of the lake, we stopped at a biker bar for lunch.  Doris is convinced that it is a neon-nazi biker bar.  The waiter was heavily tattooed with jeans and boots and there was biker kitsch all around the bar with nude pinups on the wall, but there were also numerous potted flowers and the hand towel in the bathroom had a teddy bear on it.  The bar was very clean, the food good and the atmosphere pleasant.  We were the only “bikers” there so it may have been different if the regular clientele were present.  The south side of the lake is very commercial and full of small bungalows, boats and tourists - it very much reminded us of Florida.  There is a campground there also near the biker bar - very "redneck".  The west side of the lake is forest near the lake with one mega-resort, the Arosa, just south of where we are staying.  It is located in the middle of the woods – right on the lake.  It is a quite elegant 5 star hotel but I prefer out more quaint ethic country hotel. Doris and Elfriede checked it out later that night but both agreed they prefer our quaint country inn - too hard to get to the water and dining area is too far from the apartments.  Also, it's like the interstate, you could be anywhere in any country - they're all pretty much the same - spectacular and luxurious - but very similar.  It's hard to get a feel for the country or culture when  you're there - nouveau anywhere.

We plan to leave next Tuesday.  We will spend the night in Weimar. It is on the way back from here – about half way to Frankfurt am Main.  I am planning a visit to Buchenwald (concentration camp) but I don’t think either Doris or Elfriede will join.  They have been before – I think once will be enough for me too.  Until then, we will en enjoy out lazy vacation at the Scharmützelsee.