Permanent Fix

It's so good to be back in Germany. I had forgotten what I had been missing. For this is the country of the permanent new. Even the old is modern.

Don't believe what your eyes are telling you. That building may look medieval but it has all the modern conveniences. Behind the facade it has been updated, several times.

A case in point is Youth Hostels, which currently are something close to my heart, every evening.

In France they are, unfortunately a dying institution except in the major tourist cities. In Britain, they hang in their but mainly built on a long history and aged infrastructure. How many new YH's are their in the UK? OK, besides Cambridge, oh and Newhaven.

But you miss my point. In Germany they build new ones all over the place - in Düsseldorf, Cologne (three of them), plus many of the others look like updated castles.

Not that I am complaining. They are a thriving institution. Business people hold their meetings there, starting at 7.30am. School groups swarm around the breakfast far to get their fill of choco-pops before setting off on their next field trip.

And I sit there using the DJH app to make a booking at the next one 60km up the Rhine.