Free WiFi on a 6 hour long Fast Train – the perfect tool for a wandering and unfocussed mind. I have already researched that the current model pantograph that collects the current from the overhead wire on super-fast trains was invented by Louis Faiveley in 1955 but they still use graphite for the contact point as invented by Walter Reichel at Siemens here in Germany in 1879. Fascinating, huh? And I haven’t even got out of the suburbs of Munich.
More topically, as we look out over miles of lush wheat fields I can see why the Bavarian wheat farms typically yield 4.5 tonnes per hectare compared to 1.5 tonnes per hectare in the Mallee (with some as low as 0.4 tonnes per hectare last year according to DPI). Probably more importantly, here in Bavaria they get that yield every year. Makes you wonder why Aussie farmers bother?
But the Bavarians seem to have a few other crops as well. When they cut and bale hay, the grass is so thick the big round bales are dropped only a few metres apart. Some of the cockeys here are pretty diversified too, they have wheat, hay, maize, barley, even flowers, tree crops, windmills and solar panel arrays. Here is a typical scene with a couple of crops going and you can see some pretty big windmills at the back.
On a topic that has been obsessing me for years. Why is it that every country other than Australia can decentralise? Even little New Zealand has industry spread all through both islands, but in Australia everything is concentrated in Sydney or Melbourne. Both those metropolitan area’s are huge on a world scale, both are bigger than the famous Bay Area of San Francisco where really big companies with huge economic impact are based (Apple, Google etc). In contrast to Australia where towns barely run to a Woolworths and a Bank, the little towns we pass through in Germany often have some pretty significant factories doing all sorts of complex manufacturing, so there is employment everywhere. With high speed rail for moving people around and the famous autobahn network for freight, everything is decentralised.
You can see some good sized factories out in the sticks:
This explains why the cities are so small – they are financial and service centres only. All the economic power is out in the countryside with the farms and factories. We would probably consider doing something similar in Australia, if it wasn’t just easier to dig up coal and iron ore and ship it overseas for processing.
It also goes some way to explaining the fetish for rural life. You see it everywhere in the shops (rural couture!), restaurants, souvenirs, even in murals on the walls. Everything celebrates a traditional farming life. Gotta stamp that s&#t out before it goes too far. You don’t want the hayseeds getting ahead of themselves or they go all Barnaby Joyce.
And the German train system runs an incredibly cool app. You can see your speed, location and key sightseeing opportunities you missed all along the route.
After a change at Mannheim, we travelled up the Rhine to Cologne, a region famous for making the second best Riesling in the world. As you can see, German Riesling is obviously hand picked, possibly by abseiling down the rows. I am sure the grape pickers here would wear a roofers safety harness. Ideally they would get on the job a little earlier, it would make the end product a bit less sweet.
Now the trip downstream to Cologne is picture book stuff, any photo’s taken out a train window are an injustice to the scenery. Little castles are dotted along the river on any spur with an imposing view (historically to allow collection of taxes from passing traffic) and the towns are regimented rows of neat little white, square houses. There has been no new work for architects here in a hundred years and weekends on the Bunnings paint desk would be a breeze. It’s so pretty that any man who doesn’t immediately sell his worldly possessions (like a stupidly oversized black motorbike) to take his wife on a luxury cruise on the Rhine is a BUM.
