|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Since we last checked in, we have stayed in: Copenhagen, Denmark |
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Copenhagen We stayed in Copenhagen for 3 nights in the private residence of Ben and Heidi in a second floor flat facing the lake in a great part of town. We went to Tivoli gardens one evening and spotted the short quirky guy of TV’s Ali McBeal, and were amused watching young adolescent girls screaming hysterically during a concert of the band Boyzone. Michael Jackson once tried to buy this historic amusement park that is in downtown Copenhagen. We arrived during the 150th anniversity of the signing of the Danish constitution, and enjoyed the people watching and festivities highlighted by an outdoor evening concert in front of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Tunes were familiar, but all sung in Danish including Reggae, a Grateful Dead number, and the Macarena. Fireworks followed at midnight.
All over Europe we have enjoyed the rows and rows of seating at the outdoor cafes. In Copenhagen, they added a Danish twist. Each chair had a flannel blanket draped over the back. The days here are really long with the sun rising before 4:30AM and setting around 10:30PM. We often found ourselves eating dinner after 10:00 not realizing how late it was. Leaving the city by bike was a breeze since there was a dedicated bike path that headed south through a bird santuary. We pedaled for over 40 km before sharing the road with a motorized vehicle. Within an hour of our departure, 2 red foxes crossed our path and darted into the bushes out of site. It took 4 days to bike to the German border, most of the time pedaling into a strong headwind. All of the windmills facing the opposite direction should have been a clue. Reportedly, Denmark gets 10% of its power from wind power.
We found the Danish people friendly and eager to help. Once a man on a bike stopped when he noticed us reading our map, and yelled “follow me”. Instead of the bridge out of town that we were looking for, he took us to a local campground. We mumbled our thanks and didn’t have the heart to tell him that we had just left that campground that morning! He told us about a local politician who won the election by promising the cyclists that the wind would always be at their back. Since we can’t vote, guess it doesn’t work for foreigners.
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
Hamburg We spent four glorious days at the home of Sigrid and Bernd, a cycling couple we had met 3 years earlier biking down the California Coast. They were generous and gracious hosts giving us free reign of their lovely home. Each day they gave us suggestions of local sights to tour, and in the evening they took us on long bike rides, and then fed us dinner. We talked long into the night, and then the next morning they went off to work while we did our job of “sleeping in”. Although it was hard to leave, we were eager to take the two day train ride to meet Jim’s brother in Brussels. |
||||||||||||||||
Brussels Jim spent a year and a half living here with his family during high school, so it was a treat to return with Tom who had never been back. It was a short five day visit, but we saw a lot. We visited the wooded campus of the International School of Brussels, and the town of Jezus Eik where they lived. One day we rode our bikes into the huge forest on the outskirts of town. We took a train to the quaint canal towns of Ghent and Brugges, and another day saw the citadel cities of Namur and Dinant south of Brussels.
Brussels doesn’t have a lot of the big “sights” unless you count the pissing little boy Mannequin Pis in the city center. However, it has arguably the most beautiful town square in Europe, is a great restaurant and café city, and has a real international flavor since NATO and the ECC are based there. We spent the next 11 days riding east towards Dresden. We passed through the southern tip of Holland (not all of Holland is flat), through the capital city of Bonn, Germany, and spent many days of winding along the scenic river Sieg east of Bonn.
Hamm, Germany Hamm is one of the small towns along the Sieg river. We stumbled upon a small pension upstairs from a restaurant that turned out to be a full apartment with kitchen, living room with leather couches, TV and VCR, a far cry from our 24 square foot tent. In the restaurant we met two locals, Dieter and Heinz, who grew up in town and have known each other for over 60 years. The locals refer to them as Bill Gates 1 and Bill Gates 2 due to their reputed business successes. The next morning, they took us on a tour of Heinz’ retail and mail order family business, which is similar to our army/navy surplus stores. He has a large inventory of U.S. Military equipment abandoned during World War II. He then took us to his office which is more like a museum of old beer steins and military helmets. He also has a photograph of the local synagogue before it was burned by the Nazi in December, 1938.
After leaving Heinz’, we were driven to Dieter’s house where we had a pleasant visit with his 91 year old mother. Although Dieter has hardly traveled, he knew exactly where the Altamont Pass is, due to his interest in banning wind power. Steinbach After an 8 hour train ride from the west, we arrived in Steinbach just north of Dresden. It was interesting to see the changes as we headed into the former East Germany, such as the huge mountains of coal spaced throughout the countryside, and the contrast of the old soviet style buildings and the new manufacturing plants that have sprung up since the wall went down 9 years ago.
We are staying at the house of our friends Skip and Laura from the bay area, and are enjoying another despite from our tent, bikes, and the rain. Skip and Laura have been great tour guides showing the local sights, and letting us take over their home doing laundry, preparing a home cooked meal, and checking e-mails. Skip is here on a 3 year assignment, and they have really become part of the German community here through their volunteer work as line dance teachers. In the saloon where they teach, customers are greeted with a life sized poster of John Wayne. The atmosphere is authentic with the cowboy boots, western clothing, the confederate flag, a wide selection of Jack Daniels and Wild Turkey and, of course, the country music. We have met some of their German friends, and have been graciously welcomed into their homes. We really appreciate the opportunity to interact with the people on such a personal level. For us, this is what traveling is all about. From here we head to the Czech Republic. Till our next update ... |
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
