Brandenburg an der Havel

21 & 22 July 2006

As the name suggests - Brandenburg on the Havel river. Want to see what the people's socialist paradise can do for a city? Come to Brandenburg AH... it is really sad. The population is haemorraging to Berlin and the west. Those who are left are basically slowly rotting away. Parts of the city, especially in the industrial zone are in absolute decay. Link to video coming soon...

Apart from the disgusting state the communist and partially the current government has left the town in, the people I met were absolutely wonderful. I stayed at the Caasi apartment hotel - this building used to house at least 300 workers for the steel factories that are now lying in decay. 30 euro gets you an apartment with tv, beds, fridge, cooking stove, utensils, shower, dunny etc all in tip top condition and this includes a full european breakfast in the morning. Just watch out for the funky 2 handed door knobs (you need to use both hands to get the door open) this possibly made sense to some communist era designer, but is completely impractical in reality.

The pub in the bottom of the complex was an Australian themed pub and there weren't many punters in that night (a Friday night too!!) - me, Antje (owner) and 2 young ladies who actually live there - they pay 170 euro a month for their apartment and are in the German equivalent of CIT style paid apprenticeships - one in hospitality/hotel and the other in retail. The really sad part is that there is probably no real job for them at the end of training, in Brandenburg at least. Both spoke no english so it was up to me and my electronic german translator to do the talking... all in all a really good night to practice my german and also it was real fun - note here that these people are acclimatised to dealing with foriengers on a regular basis and the girls are both trained in customer relations - Germans, as I have discovered, are quite apprehensive around strangers and the only reason these girls were not, is that they have been trained in being nice to people they do not know (something we in Australia do naturally and take for granted).

Funny how the places that I thought would just be truck stops ended up being far more interesting than most of the time in Berlin - this also has to do with the fact that I purposely avoided getting up to hijinx upon my arrival in Berlin.

Anyhow - shot through in the morning for the 80 klms to Magdeburg. My GPS decided it was a good time to take me on the scenic route and 80 turned into 90 and almost 100 before I realised that I hadn't told the GPS that (Bundesweg (Highways) were OK for the route - the B1 in east germany is mostly bikepathed in parallel with the highway. Note that this highway in not an autobahn! (Freeway - where bikes are Verboten)

There were some really long (20klms) straight, flat, I am talking can see 10 klms into the distance kinda flat which almost put me to sleep (mostly between Genthin and Burg). Even though my bags on my bike weigh 20 + kilos I was cruising along at 40 kph in the final stretches into Magdeburg - yeah, the last 10 kms of a 90 km ride and I am able to sprint with bags on the bike! that is how easy it is to ride here!!!

I am now at the Sleep n Go in M'burg and have discovered that there is an ALDI-like shop in the bottom of the hotel (right next door). So I have stocked up on supplies - my bike has been locked in the dungeon under the hotel - this place is an ADFC accredited hotel so it is renouned amoungst German cyclists and has excellent facilities for bike storage.

Speaking of German touring cyclists I would have passed about 40 today on the route - all going in the opposite direction (probably towards Berlin or one of the lakes). They are cordial but take a look at my bike and gear, then the flags on the bike and suddenly realise I am not one of them - then you get the german "stare without making it obvious I am staring at you look" - sort of entices you to respond into conversation - however in my case most of my starting lines begin with "Es tut mir leid, ich speche (kein/ein bischen) Deutsch, sprechen sie Englisch?" or that other classic "Ich verstehen sich nicht" - most can speak some english and if I engage then it is a mix of english and german - usually my broken german and they respond in broken english... As Antje from the hotel in Brandenburg would say - "Ha!, learning through doing!"

more to come on m'burg in the coming days...