Windmill Cafe on the Autobahn

I'm trying to find the exact location of the Windmill Cafe,which I used quite often when stationed in BAOR.I seem to recall it was on the Autobahn between Braunsweig and Hannover,is there anyone who recalls where it was?
----
Don

Donald,
It was located on the A2 autobahn ( Hannover to Dortmund) between Wiedenbruck and Beckum at Rastatte Valern, on some maps it still shows the windmill symbol.

Bob

Was that the YMCA Windmill? Good lord, seeing it mentioned brought back a flood of memories...buried in some box somewhere I have a souvenir plate of the joint. My parents and I often stopped there enroute to where ever it was we were travelling.

As I recall, it was one of the few places slightly homesick Canadians could find an almost Canadian meal of hamburgers and fries or pancakes.

Don,

Found it - it was really getting up my nose that I had seen a reference to this on the main site.

Take a look at:-

http://baor-locations.co.uk/autobahn.aspx

Paul.

Well only you service guys could come up with such quick and efficient info.Many thanks,if you're ever in the Detmold area the Herforder or Detmolder is on me!
----
Don

Paul wrote:

Don,

Found it - it was really getting up my nose that I had seen a reference to this on the main site.

Take a look at:-

http://baor-locations.com/autobahn.aspx

Paul.

Great shots. What a shame it is yet another site that has faced the demolition ball! It was a unique place and should have been preserved, IMHO...perhaps as a Rastatte gasthof or even continue on as a restaurant.

Had a few good stops at the Windmill on the stores run from 20 OFP Detmold to Vierson and back. The Windmill was a welcome sight after sitting in a Leyand Hippo for hours on end at 29 mph on the autobahn

Brian

Does this ever bring back memories! It was always a convoy stop for us enroute to Hohne for fall concentration. However, unlike Stephen Lock, I don't remember hamburgers or anything other than the usual fare similar to that at the Dortmund YMCA. Maybe this was post-1965. Also a lot has been lost and forgotten in the mists of time and Glenfiddich. Anyway, I'm really enjoying this forum and I'm looking forward to chatting with old BAOR vets from those happy days.

I once had the honour of guesting the CO to a cup of tea and bun in the windmill cafe,I was taking him somewhere in the Humber Snipe as his driver was on leave!They certainly did'nt have any such thing as burgers in those days!But what they served tasted great when you'd been a few hours on the Autobahn.In those days you practically had the Autobahn to yourself!
-----
Don

PS we have a Windmill restaurant just outside of Detmold if you are ever in the area!

That's right, Don. Maybe those cheese buns sometimes resembled a 36 grenade in looks and texture, but we weren't very hard to please after a few hours of crushing boredom trundling along in convoy at a less than brisk 40 MPH.

Roderick

recce83 wrote:

Does this ever bring back memories! It was always a convoy stop for us enroute to Hohne for fall concentration. However, unlike Stephen Lock, I don't remember hamburgers or anything other than the usual fare similar to that at the Dortmund YMCA. Maybe this was post-1965. Also a lot has been lost and forgotten in the mists of time and Glenfiddich. Anyway, I'm really enjoying this forum and I'm looking forward to chatting with old BAOR vets from those happy days.

Hmmmm...perhaps there weren't hamburgers available after all. Memory can be a tricky thing, with memories of one place merging with those of another.

As I think more about stopping off at The Windmill with my parents, and after reading recce83's YMCA-oriented recollection, I now seem to recall he is quite right...the fare at The Windmill was very much "greasy spoon" YMCA fare! In fact, I believe my Mom used to refer to it as her favourite "greasy spoon" (an affectionate, rather homey term, not meant to be at all disparaging).

Chips and vinegar, come to mind, for instance. The smell of STRONG coffee in china mugs emblazoned with The YMCA logo (wish we'd swiped a couple of those), the din and clatter of dishes and conversation.

Another well loved spot was the "Mushroom" Cafe situated on the road between Giforn and Luneburg.When we were stationed at Wesendorf it was a popular spot for soldiers and families alike,anyone remember?
-----
Don

Wot u might mean Steve were the Windmill's famous fried spam slices which sorta looked like hamburgers-along with iced NAAFI buns were truly food of the gods. My dad drove me,mum & sis to visit my Omma in Reklinghausen from Hohne & a visit to the Windmill was compulsory in the 50s& 60s. Unless I'm mistaken we would have paid in BAFS coz theGerman curency @ this time was well dodgy. I remember a 2 shilling note paid my weekly dinner money @ Caen school & the primary school opposite the Roundhouse in Hohne. The exchange rate was 18DMs to the £ when it did get on track. Clive

Wrong Clive. The rate of exchange in the late fifties was One pound & sixpence,old money,to 12DM. After 1961 the rate was in continual decline as the DM got stronger.

Brian,

I bow to your knowledge of the rate of exchange "back then".

It was certainly twelve marks to the pound when I went out to Nienburg in '59.

If we wanted German money in those days we had to notify the Pay Cpl in advance and collect same, with our BAFVS, on Pay Parade.

"Pay and Book Correct, SAH !"

brum

Fried spam???? Good lord!! I'm surprised any Britons still exist, what with a diet of fried spam, chip butties, that gawdawful meat (?) spread thing (I forget the name of it), boiled veggies, Ovaltine, heavy (albeit delicious!) cakes and cookies for tea, etc. Sugar up the ying-yang....

But, yeah....the more I think about it the less sure I am of hamburgers at the Windmill. or pancakes for that matter....nope, hamburgers and pancakes weren't there but rather at the Howard Johnson's on the American Caserne in Frankfurt. Not sure how the memories became melded....must be early, uh, early, uhm, who's this again????

What I do remember is during our sojourn in Germany the exchange rate on DM to Canadian dollars was damn good....4 marks to the dollar. I have no idea how the Euro measures up, but in the 70's (and, maybe, in the early 60s during our first tour) we lived damn well being paid "Canadian" but using DM.

Hardrations can maybe speak to this with more authority than I can, given I was a child during our first tour (59-62) and a callow youth during our second (69-72) more interested in getting out of the house and down to the gasthofs and discos than I was in how much my dad was paid or in what.

And don't even get me started on the pound/shilling/pence thing....never did get the hang of that!

When I was younger I remember the mark being 12 to the pound, when I joined and came back to Germany it was about 8 to the pound.

Nothing wrong with the old LSD Stephen, decent currency that was, and strong.

It was twelve Marks to the pound when I was there too (1\8d in real money.)
Stirling worked out at about 20 pints to the pound, I seem to remember.

My family never latched on to Spam, (an American product by the way) Stephen but a lot of families had to out of necessity. Don't forget, your Dad was in one of the best - paid armies in the world and we British were not.
Your lament about "boiled veggies", what do the Canadians do to veg then ? I know the Canucks have a reputation for being tough but surely they don't just nosh their veg raw ?
Chip butties ? National institution, don't knock it! You can eat anything on a butty, the greatest challenge being a runny fried egg !
"That godawful meat spread thing" I wonder if that's Marmite ? Widely used for spreading on a Ying Yang of course.

would that be the Shippams meat paste then Setphen.

jim wrote:

When I was younger I remember the mark being 12 to the pound, when I joined and came back to Germany it was about 8 to the pound.

Nothing wrong with the old LSD Stephen, decent currency that was, and strong.

Wasn't suggesting there was anything 'wrong'....just confusing to one used to a decimal system (dollars and cents etc) and, yes, I recall pound sterling was one of the world's stronger currencies.

brum wrote:

My family never latched on to Spam, (an American product by the way) Stephen but a lot of families had to out of necessity. Don't forget, your Dad was in one of the best - paid armies in the world and we British were not.
Your lament about "boiled veggies", what do the Canadians do to veg then ? I know the Canucks have a reputation for being tough but surely they don't just nosh their veg raw ?
Chip butties ? National institution, don't knock it! You can eat anything on a butty, the greatest challenge being a runny fried egg !
"That godawful meat spread thing" I wonder if that's Marmite ? Widely used for spreading on a Ying Yang of course.

No doubt many families did have to eat Spam out of necessity....I was just being funny (or trying to be).

Certainly raw veggies, depending on the veggie, are quite common (and very very good for you!) but, yes, Canadians do boil our veggies as well, we just don't boil the bejeebers out of them!

Raw veggies -- carrots, broccoli (which I personally detest!), cauliflower, asparagus, maybe a few others I can't think of.

Potatoes, peas, and such....yes, boiled but not to mush. :-)

Chip butties....I know they're virtually a "national institution" and I've had them myself and found them delicious...mind you, I swear I could hear my arteries clogging at the time.

Then again, I've seen grown (British) men turn green at the thought of peanut butter and banana sandwiches, so there you go! LOL

Marmite....yes!!! Never acquired a taste for it yet various friends of mine ate it like it was....well...peanut butter!!!

You're right about the boiling to death of veggies Stephen, that and adding something to the cabbage, can't remember what it was now. made a nice green cabbage go all white and anaemic. Fortunately my Mum wan't English so we always ate proper food.

Boiled to mush ?
Anaemic cabbage ?
Raw veggies ?
Green British men ?
Hallo all stations, this is ZERO,
MINIMIZE,
I SAY AGAIN ,
MINIMIZE,
OVER !

Raw is the only way to eat veggies.If you are going to boil them up,you are much better off drinking the water than eating the mush that is left