Motorcycles and Mechanics

One of the neat things about the open day of mills was that some of the small towns went all out for their festivities. In Saalow, Germany, for example, home of the only internal turbine mill (see previous blog) they had a ton of old East German farm equipment and some beautiful old East German motorcycles that were on display. While they had nothing to do with the mill, I did take the opportunity to get some pictures of what was available.

Old Tractors from East Germany.

East German Bulldozer & road equipment

Motorcycles in a row

Simson Motorcycles (more about them on Wikipedia here)

I have to say that the motorcycles remind me a bit of the classic Indian style motorcycles, but it was a treat to see them in person and have the chance for a few photos.

An Ancient Fortress

Hundreds of years ago, before brick and stone castles, there were round fortresses built out of wooden logs and mud mixed with straw. Near Cottbus, there’s a reconstructed fortress surrounded by a bit of nature preserves. It’s used for school trips and history lessons to show how the people lived way back when. As an added bonus, there’s a cool playground out of wood – with a few “creative” features:

Oxen Pulling Cart

Modified “see-saw”

While I didn’t go inside (sorry, but 5 euros for 20 minutes of walking in a circle and climbing to the top of a dirt rampart wasn’t worth it), I did enjoy walking around the outside moat and recognizing the blackberries, iris, and water lily plants they’d added to the mix of grasses.