August 1, 2018
We got a car at Hamburg Airport and drove northwest toward Wacken, where the world's largest metal festival begins tomorrow. The highway was full of campers and cars heading to the Festival, as evidenced by the lettters W:O:A (Wacken Open Air) on the rear windows. We chose to stay at a small cottage in the sea-side community of Büsum, about 45 minutes past Wacken (1).
This area of Germany appears to be reclaimed land judging by flat terrain, the large number of small ponds, drainage canals, and sea-side dikes. There were road-side boats and windmills converted to restaurants and bicycle paths. The overall feel was akin to Cape Cod. There was even a high bridge as one enters the region spanning a canal for sea-going vessels (2).
We headed to the beach (3) where the North Sea was unexpectedly warm. There were what looked like railroad crossing signs at various intervals from the shore. We discovered later (when tide was out) that these signs marked safe swimming/walking passage between rows of sticks, presumably used to prevent the mud seabed from being washed away from shore.
For dinner, we thought we had found an Italian restaurant until we discovered it was an dessert place that shaped ice cream to look like spaghetti, lasagna, pizza, etc. Many of the local food establishments had similar ice cream offerings.
(1) There were very few lodging options anywhere near Wacken. While our tickets entitled us to camp on site, the 4 mile long beer pipeline built to slake the thirst of the 85,000 attendees at the Festival site dissuaded us from taking advantage of the camping opportunity.
(2) To make me feel more like I was at Cape Cod, there was even a traffic jam on Saturday at the bridge over the canal, with many of the cars carrying bicycles.
(3) The "beach" was a grassy hill on the sea side of the dike. There was a rocky jetty interrupted by occasional metal stairs for getting into the water.
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