Biking across Germany

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2006-08-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

A slice of Ireland in Cologne

2006-08-21T00:03:00.000-07:00

It came to a point where I determined that the best people to be around in Germany were not other Germans - especially when it came to meeting new people. Thus at the suggestion of the porter of the Hotel, I decided to go searching for Irish pubs. The are a few in Cologne, but the most prominent is the Jaimeson (not sure if that is spelt right, I'll fix it later after I have checked.) they also own the voodoo bar across the road. This place was pumping during the World Cup, but things have settled down a bit since then. The bar is really authenic and the staff are almost all Irish. A few were from England and I think one local. None the less all were extremely hospitable and far nicer to be around than some of the asshole bar staff and patrons I have encountered on this trip (the worst have been female! Most guys I have met haven't left me with the urge to smash their heads in with my bike chain).

Being in this place really felt like the flip side of the coin. Instead of us tourists struggling in german to order food and drink, the german locals were struggling to order alcohol in English. Usually a tourist would help the poor locals out. But most of the tourists, like myself had hardened to the Germans and by this stage of our respective trips, had developed a "screw them" attitude. Thus the Germans have been very successful in converting us tourists to their cultural norms - ignoring people in need, being rude and unhelpful and so forth.

But enough of the idiot locals. The best way to cure yourself of being germanised is to find the first foreign cultured eatery or drinking establishment and hideout there. Back to the Irish pub, the food and drink were fantastic - Irish stew, kilkenny and tons of strongbow cider... A good way to spend a night. Interestingly enough, when Canadians, Irish, New Zealanders and Aussies get together fun always ensues and we close ranks on the infidel (Asshole germans) the nice germans are more than welcome and there was a bulgarian present in the group, so it wasn't an english speaking thing, it was a non-pretentious-asshole thing.

The night wore on and it came to closing time and I was directed back to my hotel by the staff... Actually, pretty damn easy, the Koeln Dom (cathederal) it huge and very obvious as a land mark, and since my hotel was 500 metres up the road from it is made the going nice and easy... The hotel was unlocked this time and I could get some well earned rest before combating the Koeln HBF and the German train system to find my way back to Berlin.

Koeln - Cologne

2006-08-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

Settled into my accommodation - Buchholz hotel. Very nice - these guys have rooms with and without bathroom and shower. I took a room without for 35 Euro per night and my bathroom and shower were immediately outside my door - i mean as close as being in the room and the room was very close to the front of the hotel and also neatly hidden away - convenient and private.

One thing to note about Koeln is the level of english spoken - this had improved dramatically in comparison to other parts of Germany. Here I could have quite complex conversations and not have to give the german version of every second word I was using. The hotel had a huge broadband connection like 10 megabit and it was free. I had a long discussion with the porter and his friends, the porter had travelled throughout Australia (Adelaide through to Cairns) and was very familiar with sydney and Melbourne.

I was going out tonight - over thrities night at the Kantine in the north of the city - Not much to say about this place - nothing like Hannover that had a similar night. This was more like an old and wrinkly freak show - worn out women in their 40s who had either missed the boat or were divorced and some of the guys were well past their prime - nothing like the group in Hannover who were mostly around the age of 30. So I get a taxi back to the hotel - only 1 problem - the porter has gone home and locked up. I was warned about this and I am not blaming the hotel - normally there is 24 hr service, but not tonight. I also thought the clubs would stay open longer, which was to no avail. However the Koeln Hauptbahnhof (central train station) was. There was food, it was warm, but no place to sleep for a few hours. I could have booked into another cheap hotel close by, but why waste 50 Euro? - it is only a few hours. The safest place to be is actually on the trains - there are video cameras everywhere and germans are generally shit scared of the police. So I buy a 2 euro cross town ticket and ride and sleep on the train, selecting the longest routes across the city to minimise disruption.

By 8 am I had toured most of Koeln by train, even if i did sleep through most of it. I got back to my hotel got myself to my room and got some quality sleep for a few hours.... The breakfast at the hotel was excellent... and it was off to do some exploring of cologne - mostly to avoid the previous night's dissapointment...

Dortmund to Koeln - Cologne

2006-08-13T23:59:00.000-07:00

I used both english and german versions of the name as this is quite a famous city possibly better known by its english name outside of Germany. However before diving into all things Koelsch - I must describe the departure and trip from Dortmund.

The tour of germany (which runs immediately after Tour de France) was in full swing and happened to cut right through my route from Dortmund to Koeln - or maybe it was the other way around... none the less there were also some killer hill climbs out of old DirtMound - 1.5 klms at 12% gradient, loaded with 30 kilos of panniers and a backpack - other cyclists will know what this means!!! There is a serious sense of achievement when these hills have been conquered - and it is important to note there where quite a few hillclimbs between DirtMound and Koeln.

Anyhow, back to cutting through the tour of germany.... this obstacle was placed just after the first big hill climb and by that stage I was in no mental state for apologising or negotiation... nor did I give a shit the roads were blocked and there were politzei everywhere. Luckily for me and other bikers the bike paths were not blocked and regular bike traffic had full thoroughfare through the tour - therefore no police related incidents to report.

I had many people staring at me - note most out there were bike enthusiasts and hopefully the stares were more inquisitive than obtrusive - none the less, I taught some germans some new english swear words if they got in my face and were not keen on getting out of it!!! my temper shortens as the ride gets longer (reaching psychosis point in the last 5 klms).

There were some really pretty places along the way, green and hilly, the only let down being the lack of bike path on the route I chose and where there was path it was crappy. I also encountered my first patch of rain and storm - it bucketed down and the wind was vicious. Luckily this only went on for an hour and my rain gear did a brilliant job considering the environment.

Things flattened out as I neared Koeln and the ride through the city was fun - I tailed a family group on bikes, which was handy as they indicated where I could and could not ride. Crossed the bridge over the Rhine river into the Altestadt and north to my accommodation on Kunibertgasse - not far from the Central station and just as well considering what was going to happen that evening...

Dortmund

2006-08-13T22:57:00.000-07:00

I have been delaying finishing these things off.... due to my laptop dying. But the time is nigh before the thoughts exit my head completely.

Dortmund (or dirt mound as I like to call it)... to be fair I was there at the beginning of the week and there wasn't anything happening in terms of clubs. So it was a good time to rest. The accomodation was excellent, apart from lacking a w-lan connection which is quite odd over here - everywhere else i had been had a connection except Brandenburg an der Havel but then Brandenburg struggles with having phone lines and consistent electricity supply.

I had to source my connecti0n in Dortmund from a bar up the road, which will remain nameless as their service was shit and I had to keep drinking to maintain a connection for more than 1 hour. DAB (Dortmund local beer) is crap and unfortunately it is also served here at the german club in Canberra, where I live.

On more positive things, Dortmund has a very easy to follow U-Bahn/S-Bahn system and is very easy to navigate on a bicycle. Their major shopping area is centrally located and has pretty much eveything a person would need. This is a functional city and I am guessing that it would have struggled to tolerate the tourists visiting during the world cup.

That said, I must stress that the accommodation was top notch - Ruhgebiet - spacious rooms and great cooking facilities. Just make sure you go their during a fair or some other celebrations - Germans only party if they are instructed to do so (I thought this was a joke until I visitied Germany)

Muenster

2006-07-30T14:54:00.000-07:00

Muenster - home of monastaries in germany for over 1000 years.... prudish bastards.... hell no!!!
The place I am staying Haus zum guten Hirten - house on guten hirten was accommodation for either nuns or priests, and is still run by nuns... however...
you can buy alcohol from the front desk, you can smoke in the corridors, the dorms are coed. The doors are locked at 9.00 pm sharp - but your key gets you in and out of the building. Keep the noise down in your room - but go the common areas and go nuts... religious progressiveness at it's best.

Anyhow I decide to let myself out of the building and head off for the clubs at 11pm... never go clubbing too early in germany, as i have said before germans need a good skin-full of alcohol before they open up and get chatty.

Clubs are difficult to find in Muenster, there aren't that many. The place has a real canberra feel about it. the average age is a little older, many cultural persiuts, there is some money in this town... and did I mention the friggin' bikes? I am talking tens of thousands of the buggers.

back to the clubs - my GPS cold find me any ask some people - the one I find who can understand my german is from out of town and didn' really know. But was worth talking to anyway. So it was a matter of following groups around the town and eventually they would lead to a club.

bingo! Saturday night and this one club was pumping - buggered if i can remember the name, 2 dance floors 4 bars, pretty packed. typical scene, guys all hiding in one spot, girls off in another. Anyhow night went as usual and just before the end I stop off to get a diet coke and find my way home. And this is where serendipity reared it's head as it has during the entire trip - the good stuff happens where you least expect it... lets just say I met quite a few people after buying this drink and ended up on the lounge floor 10 ks west of Muenster... hmm let's leave it at that for now... :)

Porta Piss up

2006-07-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

OK... so I am currently in Muenster, however, I must go on more about Porta Westfalica...
Here I was last night in town, thinking need to get rest before the long haul 120 klm ride to Muenster.... did some minor repair work on the bike, heading back to the hotel collect my laudary and go to bed....

Discovered the laundary not done due to it not being collected - no biggie - anyway the receptionist was being very appologetic, in very good english too - finally I can have a converstion that doesn't consist of me hacking up the language of my ancestors.

Let's just call the receptionist "K", I ask "K" about all the drunk kids cutting through the car park - where I was fixing my bike. Aparently there is a beach party at the club right across the street. A beach party? I ask, how many hundred kilomteres are we inland again? No no no K curses - has sand therfefore is a beach. - she means they fill the club with river sand and set up a few fake palm trees.

So i am thinking Porta - meeting place for local farmers... hmmm is this going to be interesting or a really lame tavern full of smelly sheep farmers? How wrong could one person be?

HOLYSHIT... them farm girls know how to party... there are 7 separate bars, 3 dancefloors, outdoor techno dancefloor, nude bar (strip off and drink for free), mechanical bull, swimming pool... probably other shit too... but I was too pissed to notice...

I met Markus, a german guy who has worked in Australia and is keen on returning... hehe drinkning buddy - well lets say I got a couple of hours sleep and managed to get on my bike the next morning - I filled up on ibuprofen (pain killers) before and during the ride out of PW...

Australia could learn something from this "QUIET" rural town...

Porta Westfalica

2006-07-28T01:55:00.000-07:00

I set off from Hannover at 11:30 again regret - why did i waste my time in the old east - a few more days here wouldf have been fun - i may have developed cirrhosis of the liver and kidney diesase, but I would have had fun doing it.

No hangover after some hard drinking last night but my body was still feeling the effects - mentally more than physically. It is easy to tell this is West Germany - the bike paths are mostly top notch and very little on road riding if any at all. That said it is so safe it is boring as hell - I never thought I would look forward to hill climbing, but I actually got excited when I finally encountered some hills. I think I could go to sleep on the path.. the bike would keep on rolling and i'd wake up 20 mins later still going as if nothing had happened.

I strained my right quad about 40 ks into the ride so i was pedalling on one foot for 30 ks... good ole cleats.. The hotel in PW is absolutely gorgeous as is the town... and housing is cheaper than canberra and Hannover is only 45 mins by train, which is the time i take to ride to and from work anyway....

anyways... kicking back and doing nothing for the next day or so... maybe visit ALDI to collect some supplies. talk to y'all in Muenster - bike town!!!

Hannover - deutsche post

2006-07-28T01:34:00.000-07:00

I awoke in Hannover - limited a mount of sleep probably 4 hours... Need to get moving this morning - firstly to post my son's toy back to Australia and secondly prepare for the next leg of the journey with finally some hill climbing - very limited in comparison to canberra and the snowies.

Firstly Deutsche Post - this is one of the highlights of the trip!!
The largest Deutsche post office in Hannover has been moved a few blocks away - however - they only put a little sign in the door with a not so useful map and directions. no big deal for me I can plug the street name into the GPS and off I go... BUT the postoffice is also a central sorting unit and a finance centre (post bank) . So the new building is the size of tuggeranong office park! hence I follow my diretions from the GPS and then have walk another 500 metres as the original directions are for the postoffice drop box - not the post office with the shop that we all know and love in australia. Finally at the other side of the building and I find a place called - Post Bank Finanzenter - this sounds like the front end of a bank not a post office - but guess what is inside - the bloody post office!!!!

it gets better - i go looking for a POSTPAK to sent box of lego - no box is the right size and i am instructed to go find a box at a supermarket and get some tape. Luckily the guys at my ETAP hotel got me sorted and I had a box ready to send the next morning. I cannot wax lyrical enough about ETAP but more on that later.

As the trip to the new post office goes straight past the old one - I had the pleasure of see lots of people encounter the same problem as I had earlier - alas for them no GPS - and I ended up have to interpret the directions for a bunch of LOCALS??? how wierd is that? I got this phrase down pat after a few goes - gerade aus, nach rechts, nachdem das „Willkommen nach Hannover“ unterzeichnet, gerade aus hinter dem Demolierungaufstellungsort, link an der Bruederstraße und es gibt einen Sicherheit Kontrollpunkt, zum nahe dem grossen rückseitigen spitzen Metallzaun durchzulaufen.

yes there was a security checkpoint for the post office ! - i think becuase people were getting so pissed off that the post office had moved. Speaking of which you want to really piss off a German, move thier post office!!! the poor workmen inside removing all the old office fixutres were harrangued by every single person who saw the sign. Apart from foriegners who saw the sign and then tried to work out where to go.... I have video footage of this - it is bloody hilarious.

Hannove....@#%$....hic...

2006-07-28T00:36:00.000-07:00

Hannover totally rocked... OSHO club every wednesday night - free entry for over thrities. I was a bit worried at first as I the first 20-30 clientele were well and truly on the wrong side of 30 - Damn Germans and their relatively healthy food and lifestyles - means that people in their 60s are still out partying and getting drunk when they should be at home with arthritis watching TV and complaining about everything.

After that things looked up and there were more and more people born in my decade turning up. Ironically for me being an ex-teacher the funniest part was most of the women I met were teachers - why? simple, it is still school holidays here so who is most likely to be out at night mid-week, in their thirites and on holidays.

Germans, as I said before are a relatively insular lot. I say relatively as compared to Australians. When Aussies go for a night out we expect to meet new people and for people we don't know to talk to us. It is a bar and interaction and communication is what keeps us from going nuts. That said, there is a way to make germans interact - get them really drunk. This takes some time as they have a high tolerance for alcohol - in a country where you can get a 6-pack for less than 2 Euros and a litre of sangria for 1.50 Euro. These guys need to know over 10 standard drinks before they open up.

There is another barricade in the way for me if the person I decide to talk to happens to not sprechen der Englisch gut.... thus I must use german, and having the same vocabulary as a five year old and being pissed as a fart does not help.

This has made for an interesting reaction in one girl I spoke to, she was looking depressed and on her own - no "Gruppe Freunde" to talk to so off I go.... apparently her boyfriend and best friend were getting it on - on the dance floor. So I chat onward in broken german - her english was worse, so german it was... it got her even more depressed that I could converse with only 2 years of german study at school - she had been studying English for 12 years and still couldn't string a sentence together.

Another guy had a shirt with english words all over it - trouble was half of the words did not make any sense. Is nudistic a word in english? One thing Germans are quite keen on is having their english fixed by a native speaker - I guess having the fluency in the world business language is a mark of high education and prestige here... now only if I could improve my german..... :) note also ppls that world business language is likely to become Chinese or hindi over the next 50 years.

Another funny thing to note... The OSHO closes down for the night and people are streaming out... over the the bike racks where there would be about 50 or so bikes locked up - they unlock their bikes and cycle home from the clubs!!! imagine that in Australia... doing "laps" on a bike just does quite have the same effect as it would in a hotted up car with a huge stereo? what would be the equivalent? a Colnago C-50 - carbon fibre and campagnolo record group set with an iPod with huge Sennheiser headphones and Xbass? maybe a full suspension MTB with hydraulics and a big horn that plays la cacuraca?

Hannover 3

2006-07-26T02:17:00.000-07:00

Went toy shoping for my son... "spaceship lego" he asked.. well i went for a 6 klm hike based on where the GPS said there were shopping centres.... however the GPS mapping software needs some serious updating as the major complexs I have discovered are right next to the bloody hotel and the GPS didn't know about it.

As for lego - old Ossi (east german) commuist appartments are referred to as lego houses - maybe he'd settle for one of those. They are probably cheaper too!

The more I see of this city, the more it feels like Melbourne complete with the trams.
The weather has cooled to around 30 degrees down from the 36 of the past few days. People are still complaining but for an Aussie, this is the summer weather we'd kill for. There is still an ozone layer over europe so I can go out in the sun for hours and nothing happens... in comparison to the burning that occurs within 1 hour in Australia in the same conditions.

anyhow, off to find the spaceship lego and then a deutsche post to send it off. I also need to orgaise my bags and so forth so I can have a late night and get away early tomorrow. Some hills to encounter on the way to Porta Westfalica I was told... we shall see

Hannover 2

2006-07-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

Woah... I love this friggin city! I went to this amazing club - Phoenix - salsa night, filled with latins, spanish, cubans you name it... and a few anglos and germans to boot. Salsa dancing all night - I slowly learnt how, thinking about how a twisted ankle could ruin my trip... however that never eventuated. Leave your insular german culture at the door in this place. This is full-on latin culture - the guy asks the girl (who I did not see refuse once) and she dances - no kissing or touching naughty bits, however there is some grinding - although I didn't go there :) and they part ways at the end of the song and the "deck of cards reshuffles" for the next dance. No matter if you are rich or poor - the best dancers rule the floor - sometimes the guys dance with each other trying to out do each other move by move duelling banjos style. One of the guys managed to rip his pants. The girls also dance together in two styles - one where one of the girls replicates the role of the guy and the other where they free dance, no body contact, but basically try to outdo each other trying to dance as erotically as possible within the scope of the dance style. Either way the idea is to exicte the guys to sum up the courage to dance with them. Alcohol is consumed in this place, but in serious moderation - I guess you can't dance if you are shitafaced.

A danceclub where the primary function is to actually dance... Who'd have thought? ** More Magdeburg bashing ** My taxi driver who took be back to my hotel informed me he had the misfortune to have worked in magdeburg for 9 years before moving to hannover. He added some clarity to the madgeburg issue and their serious dislike of foreigners - now i learn this... another flashback to Antje in Brandenburg AH....

Tommorrow night - over 30's night at the OSHO also known as the Baggi (really famous club in Hannover - and also a short walk from my hotel). This could be fun or really unfortunate depending how far the clientele are over 30 - well if it sucks then back to the Phoenix I guess...

off to explore Hannover city

Hannover -part one

2006-07-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

Got to Hannover....

I have been interested in this place since I was 17 when one of my friends from school was an exchange student, who was from Hannover. He was not lying.. this palce has everything. It bussles... I am staying in the hannover mitte ETAP- hotel chain run by accor. Really basic -no fridge, but everything is brand new and everything else you'd ever want is within walking distance. Something for everyone, Hauptbahnhof, shopping, pubs, niteclubs, cinema, places for kids, restaurants...

It's going to be good to be off the bike for a couple of days... I was a bit slow and lasy today and the last 20 k's seemed to go on for ever. not to mention getting lost/the gps software not accurately displaying the location of the hotel - Rund strasse 7 is not where Rundstrasse 7 actually is on the map as far as my gps was concerned. after 30 mins of farting around i rang the hotel and got some directions. The GPS got me within 300 meters of the place but unfortunately this place is so built up - think Sydney or melbourne CBD, it was a touch hard to find.

I am hungry- off to LIDL to buy some food...

Braunschweig

2006-07-25T01:07:00.000-07:00

It is handy to have contacts... Joerg has been very helpful, prior to my journey and also guided me to a good source of beer. Then again I haven't found a bad source of beer in Germany either.
I can really tell I am in the old west... the town is alive business is is active and the cobblestones are friendlier to the bike.

Alas I only had one night here, however this place has more life that the "East" town put together. Another indicator is the number of cars has doubled since crossing the old border - which they have gone out of their way to hide BTW...

Well it is off to Hannover - nearly 70 klms of flat ground at low altitude and the temperature is going to be around 30 degrees not a cloud in the sky.

My internet went up and then down - router at the hotel died. But it is now back up again. My psoraisis has been acting up due to the heat and the strain i am placing on my body doing long distance rides... off to the Apotheke to get some cortisone.... unfortunately this means i need to wer a long sleeve jersy as the cream will make my skin untrasensitive to the sun... however a small price to pay to get rid of the itchyness and scalyness.

I have also cancelled my stay in Bielefeld - so many people tell me it is a boring shithole and after Magdeburg I am taking their advice... I lived in Rockhampton, QLD for 12 years so I am an expert in identifying boring shitholes. This also means a long haul ride from Porta westfalica to Muenster, but 2 days in porta which should be great fun.

a word of advice to others who want to follow in my path - if the accommodation has a bar/nitespot built in, you are guaranteed to have a good time as everyone in there is probably a tourist or a resident who is used to tourists. Germans have a real issue with 'pissing territories' when it comes to nightspots.... apparently you go out with your friends and spend the entire nite ignoring everybody else.

I'll spend some time talking about the travelling tradesman who we ran into in a tavern.... next post... i am running late and need to shower before heading off.

Magde-boring

2006-07-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

Regret is a nasty beast. I really regret leaving Brandenburg AH after one day. That place was run down, but had charm and the people were genuine and I think I could have had more fun with the them than the miserable dregs that infest Magdeburg. Speaking of which, Magdeburg on the other hand is definetely a city that was steeped in culture prior to being anally probed by the "socialist paradise" but is now struggling with it's impoverished communist past and a future that has to cope with the 40% unemployment rate. The fact that the student population were on holidays wasn't helping the atmosphere here either - I spent many an agonisingly boring summer between university semesters in Rockhampton and I was definitley having a flash back here.

However, My accommodation cannot be faulted, for the cyclist, it is excellent. Less can be said for the quality of the roads in this area. Cobblestones are everywhere and if not maintained can be really dangerous if they are loose or the gaps are not filled with concrete.

If you are travelling to Magdeburg and looking for nightlife, don't bother... Alarm bells should be ringing when the major nitespot/drawcard also includes a 10 pin bowling centre. The so called bar district in Hasselbachplatz is not worth the hassle (no pun intended). The city is not yet equipped to deal with foreign non-german speaking tourists. However - the staff at COCO bar can speak english and were the exception to this rule - quite impressed with this place, good food too - not the regular late nite kebab, but proper tavern food.

The atmosphere is quite insular and people are generally nervous of foreigners. The bars are filled full of locals who travel in packs - I rarely saw anyone on their own apart from myself. I am guessing this is a throw-back from commie culture - This behaviour was not apparent in Berlin and in Brandenburg AH the bar owner was happy to introduce me around - but well... it was an Aussie themed pub in Brandenburg and therefore what better place for there to be for an Aussie tourist. Less can be said for this rathole - I was later told that the best part of Magdeburg was the train to Berlin!

oh i forgot to mention the Moonlight bar in neualtestadt (new old town) - near where I am staying... excellent service there and they went out of their way to accommodate my crappy german with their limited english.

Just one thing...

at this bar I had the strangest Greek salad I have ever seen...
it had: iceberg lettuce, spanish olives, pickled chillies, tomatoes, white onion, cucumber, fetta cheese and CORN?!? it was dressed with light olive oil and white vinegar... ok so they got the fetta cheese right.

I now understand and better appreciate the authenticity of Greek-Australian culture - in that even your most anglo/saxon white bread, kraft singles and tomato sauce Aussie knows how to make a basic friggin greek salad. For the education of germans reading this, a greek salad should contain the following:
cucumber, red capsicum, feta, tomato wedges, red onion, cos or greek lettuce, kalamata olives, parsley, lemon juice, Salt and freshly ground black pepper, extra virgin olive oil.

anyhow.... enough from me... tomorrow off to Brauschweig and better still crossing the old east/west frontier at Helmstedt and rejoining civilisation...

Brandenburg an der Havel

2006-07-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

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...

Setting off from Berlin

2006-07-20T22:17:00.000-07:00

Been a hectic three days but all in all a great experience. I even accidentally discovered the "delights" of Bernau - got on the wrong train, should have been Bernauerstrasse.

British airways delayed the delivery of my bike box to Berlin (checking for drugs and bombs)

but as compensation delivered it to my doorstep for free.

Bianca (friend of a friend) guided me through the first day and a half, helped me acclimatise and generally got things sorted out. Cool, calm and efficient. This girl has also had the *pleasure* of working in outer regional australia (Emerald, QLD) - she needs a medal for enduring that hardship! People like this are few and far between.

The hostel (Jetpak, Dahlem) has been excellent, not what I was expecting in some ways and exactly what I expected in other ways - planning and organisation have been key to getting myself and my bike ready. This place is perfect for this kind of preparation (long haul bike touring) - away from the city, free of the booze, drugs and debauchery AND a hostel with a bike repair stand and most of the tools on hand.

Beer is less than AUD$2 for a six pack - and this is quality stuff. Food is also relatively cheap - gotta love them farm subsudies, just keep in mind that the restuarants will charge a bomb for basic meals - groceries are very cheap however.

Cycling in Berlin with a GPS is an absolute breeze. The bike paths have their own traffic lights, motorists and pedestrians give way. You can go on-road without the fear of death every three seconds AND someone told me Berlin wasn't particularly bike friendly. Well, when I find a bike friendly place I am going to be scared... what do they do? start kissing your bike?

I went to Stadler (bikeshop) it is the biggest in berlin - it is the size of Friggin Bunnings Warehouse!!!! you actually ride your bike in and around the store and collect your items as you go... I shit you not.

I can understand why so many wars were fought over this territory - it really is beautiful. Speaking of which, I am not sure if there is some law that tells fat people to stay inside in Berlin, but there just aren't any fat people around. Here is the correlation - I rode through a MacDonald's McDrive looking for ein Gledautomat (ATM) and the place was bloody deserted at 6pm... Imagine that in Australia?

I must say hats off to Garmin - the GPS has been flawless and accurate. Immensely impressed, cannot give a higher recommendation. It has made bicycling faster and more efficient than a train in Berlin... Signing off... need to go to LIDL (think ALDI, but no shit brands) to do some quick shopping before departure.

Departing

2006-07-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

17 July 2006

Packing, more packing, getting to the coach, getting everything into the airport and getting it checked in... arrrghhh and the 25 hrs of flying haven't even started.

In terms of flying British Airways we fine, I wasn't crammed in and there was a space between me and the next passenger on the SYD-SIN leg of the journey. I can't complain about the tall blonde female who was placed in that seat for the SIN-LHR leg of the journey either :)