Brunsbüttel

Being sent to visit schools means you often go to places you would never have had the idea to visit otherwise. Brunsbüttel is one of those places. From my cursory research I thought it would be somewhat depressing and industrial. A small town in the middle of nowhere known mostly for its former nuclear power station and being the start of the heavy goods shipping canal between the North Sea and the Baltic. It turned out to be charming and somewhat eccentric.

From the 1200s to 1559 Dithmarschen was an independent peasant republic and part of the Hanseatic League. No kings, no masters, no hills. No palaces, and no large castles. As much cabbage as you like. Shrek would love it.

Brunsbüttel looks just like the Netherlands. Triangular brickwork houses line slow waterways protected by high dikes. Even the church is made of bricks. Everyone cycles. The wild hollyhock plants growing between the paving bricks in the street also reminded me of Denmark.

Shopping- Spezi is a mixture of cola and Fanta. The cakes are Mandelhörnchen, a local speciality.

Typical hotel breakfast. Which I why I buy my own vegetarian ham, as you get extremely sick of cheese rolls.

Very disappointed I didn’t get to go to this place, which seems to be some kind of dinosaur steam train park with petting zoo and model village. Every toddler entertainment in one.

Signs advertised the Deutsche Kohlstraße. If you can have the wine walking route, why not have a cabbage one. They also have Cabbage Day every September in Dithmarschen. This is still the proud republic of the peasants.

I went out for a walk on the polder (or Koog as they call it there) and did some field recording. An old man asked me what I was doing and I replied “a project”. He nodded sagely and seemed completely satisfied with that answer. Ah yes, of course The Project.

There was also a potato vending machine in the street. You could have a 5kg sack of new potatoes for €4, or a 8kg of extra large potatoes for €5. Ideal for when you have a 2am potato emergency and all the shops are closed. I’m not sure the machine gave change, it was very basic. Insert your coins, and the hatch opens.

Getting the chance to do your laundry conveniently and at a low price is the holy grail when you’re on the road. Laundrettes are not plentiful in small towns in Germany and Austria, as almost everyone has their own machine at home, and hotels often use commercial laundry services, who only collect sheets in bulk. So when I found out Brunsbüttel had a laundrette, I jumped at the chance.

You went down an alley by a bar called “Moustache Discotek” with an extremely 70s sign.

It was the strangest laundrette I’ve ever been to, combing tanning and laundry facilities in the same shop. The building had a slightly rusty old washing machine bolted to the wall outside, like a medieval shop sign, next to a standard shop sign with a tropical theme advertising the tanning facilities.

Inside it was lit up with a variety of tropical themed neon lights, and there was a massage chair you could use while doing your laundry. I think this is an innovation more laundrettes should introduce.

The toilet mirror was decorated with wreaths of fake flowers.