2022-06 solo trip: Ger-Denmark
Please bare with me. I still have to add my wonderful visit to the “Documenta Kassel” with Toos and Mieke.
23-26: Hansa See 26-29: Park in Bremen and Hamburg with Susanne 29-1: Emil Nolde and Gråsten, Denmark 1-4: Via H.C. Anderson in Odense to Larry and Helle, Helsingør, Kopenhagen 4-6: Fehmarn 6: Lübeck 6-12: Ostsee 9th: Wismar and pasta recipe 12Rostock 12-19: Rügen -STREETART- 19-21: Berlin 19-21: Berlin
23rd-25th: From Nuenen to Hansa See
Woke up looking forward to be on my way when I heard a distinct cats meow somewhere close to my bedroom.
Not being an animal person my heart immediately jumped. What’s this ??? After gathering all my courage I looked in all the rooms, finding the neighbors cat finally all the way up in the attic (above my bed). With some Dutch courage I shooed him down the stairs and out the front door. Must have entered the day before when the house was open to all while I was packing, poor thing. Now that I’m gone I am wondering if he had left some droppings during that night. Oh well … it’ll still be there when I get home 🙁
Almost completely packed I still slowly got everything in the car and at around 13:00 I finally felt I was ready to leave.
When leaving the house I first asked my neighbor Joke to make a picture.
When checking out the result I noticed that the balcony door upstairs was still ajar. Oops !!! (probably where the cat got in)
The first lap was just a short 250km drive to Hertha-See, just over the border from Enschede. Arrived there after a very smooth drive and with sunny weather and set up car and tent in no-time. After that I treated myself to a great dinner at the campground inn. I must say I didn’t know they cook asparagus as well as we do anywhere else in the world, but this was definitely such a place.
After dinner the weather had changed and a storm was definitely brooding. It didn’t take long before it exploded and I was happy that my tent held strong and that no water was entering anywhere. It actually was kind of cozy so in my little tent with a pocket lamp and a nice book while the rain was rhythmically battering all around me. I felt one with nature and totally enveloped in it. I must say the abominable WiFi connection was a bit of a bummer. Some romantic music would have enhanced the atmosphere even more. This connection makes it also impossible to do what I would like to do with this blog. But … as Goethe pointed out …. “In der Beschränkung zeigt sich der Meister” …. 🙂
24th
Woke up after a wonderful night of sleep to the sound of the rain still ticking all around me. Darned, that was not part of the plan. Stayed in bed longer, dozing off to great dreams and got up late when it almost dried up. Showered, made a nice coffee and worked on this blog while looking out of my panoramic window to a gray sky specked with a bit of blue. Actually not unpleasant at all, with my blog, my book, a ‘good’ coffee and the prospect of better times ahead.
At around 2:30 it all looked still very bleak, but the sunny moments were getting long enough for me to dare venture out on my bike. Very windy and at times rainy. Thank God for e-bikes and good anoraks. The tour Komoot offered me was beautiful but, true to this strange app, had some quirkes that were hard to manage. Like twice having to walk up a very steep river bank that was impossible to do without the “walk assistant”.
I was desperately looking for a nice butcher and vegetable/fruit store but could only find a supermarket where I got my stuff to cook that evening. Nevertheless the steak was scrumptious from my little BBQ whitch I used for the very first time.
After dinner there was a nice period of sunny weather again and I took my wine out to the lake. Where I was presented with an incredibly beautiful rainbow over the lake (or was it the wine?).
25th
Woke up to a beautiful clear blue sunny sky full of promises.
Went whistling to the shower area (very clean by the way), moved my chair out in front of the tent, got my coffee and mobile to check the messages, fixed breakfast …. and in came the dark clouds again 🙁 Another day of relaxation, introspection and do nothing. Waiting for Feijenoord to chear me up 🙂
OK …. that didn’t do the trick. Feijenoord lost to AS Roma 0-1 after an exciting match.
26,27,28 Rhodondendrons and Hamburg — Back to MENU —
Today is packing-up day and leave for Susanne in Hamburg.
On the way I visited the 2nd largest Rhododendron park of the World in Bremen.
Arrived in Hamburg at Susanne’s late in the afternoon after that beautiful rhododendronpark. We talked and talkedand in the morning went to a great market somewhere in the city “Isemarkt”.
Then Susanne went back home and I ventured out by myself. The weather was fierce. Windy, off and on rain and rather cold. But I persevered. One of the things I was curious about was the “Miniatur Wunderland”. Definitely and provenly the World’s Largest Miniature Exposition. 4 Stories of monumental locations from all over the world done in incredible detail in miniature, with cars and trains and other moving things running all through it. Ralph would have been sooo inspired. Patrick has been feeding me a while ago with this huge miniature airport that has airplanes landing and taking off for real and “here it is …. I mean here it is” (for the PYW-buffs among you). With this horrible weather what better thing to do than to immerse oneself in this incredible world (See pictures). As being with Susanne I had no “free” time and as it turned out I took more that 150 pictures in this miniature world alone and also pictures while walking through the city itself. I just threw a few off them together in one big heap. It’s up to you to decide what is real and what is an illusion.
In the evening Susanne cooked up another white asparagus dinner which was scrumptious.
28th
Rainy cycling through beautiful Hamburg. We stopped for lunch and by fate ended up for lunch in a beautiful mansion with fresco’s on the walls and on the ceiling and incredible chandeliers. I was dumb struck. Turns out that this was the very same room in which Susanne was married. She hadn’t been back there for a long time and also thought this to be a happy coincidence. 
In the evening we went to dine out in a nice Lebanese restaurant. That was a great visit with Susanne. I got to know so much more about this wonderful friend and am so happy that I got a chance to do this.
29-01 van Gogh, Emil Nolde and Gråsten , Denmark — Back to MENU —
Early in the morning still in Hamburg I visited the wonderful exposition “Van Gogh Alive” where my slightly better known fellow citizen was stealing the show again.
After van Gogh on to my first stop in Denmark. On the way I first visited the summer house of the artist Emil Nolde. A wonderful art haven in the top most north-west Germany on the Danish border where the painter built a house where he spent his summers and which is now a foundation in memory of him and his works. I saw a very interesting movie there about him and his alleged nazi sympathies and strolled through the gallery and the beautiful garden which is still waiting for more sun to be blooming fully.
On to Denmark over nice small roads with immense wide views. When crossing the border, which was evident only by a sign on the road, I was quickly stopped by a Danish police car and the 2 cops wanted to know if I was carrying drugs into Denmark. That baffled me, but they thought to sufficiently explain themselves by pointing out that I have a Dutch number plate. Hooray the things we are infamous for. In the Netherlands we would call this “ethnic profiling” and it would be frowned upon seriously.
Last night I booked a camping spot just by looking at were in Denmark the sun was shining the brightest. This campground offered me a spot by the lake and here I was sitting looking out over the lake and hearing the water slowly touch the quay.
So that was a culture filled day today. That, with setting up the tent and booking mine and Eva Britt’s flight to Barbados end of August, made for a very busy day.
So that you know that great location I acquired at the campground you see my spot on this map. Nr. 113
After setting up the tent and throwing a nice meal on the BBQ, I sat down and played bridge online in a tournament with my brother while enjoying a beautiful sunset through my panoramic windows. The next morning I woke up to a clear blue sky. Huray!!
30th
Today I made up for the extremely busy day of yesterday by spending most of the time gazing at my incredible view, reading, check some stuff on the internet, cycle to the local supermarket and just basically do nothing. Mainly due to the sky that wouldn’t clear up. It just stayed gray and humid and cold. But I had a great time nevertheless.
31rd
I ventured out for a 40km bicycle tour around the area and on the way I visited the Gråsten Castle. A castle were the Danish Royal Family resides during the summer.
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In the evening nice BBQ again, some guitar playing, some reading and to bed early as I had to get up in the middle of the night 😉 at 08:00 o’clock in order to pack up and be gone by 11.
1st, 2nd, 3rd:Odense, Helsingør (Louisiana), Kopenhagen — Back to MENU —
The trip to Larry and Helle was some 300km. On the way I visited H.C. Anderson’s House in Odense. Next to the original house they built a totally new modern building with a beautiful garden and many new environmental techniques. Also the village of Odense was very cute. They poured a good pint of local beer. The bar was filled with people that were actually smoking. Couldn’t believe my nose. I hear that it is allowed if it is smaller than 40m2. and only traditional bars. It definitely looked filled with the locals.
I arrived at Larry and Helle’s place around 19:00. That was a bit later than I had planned but I couldn’t resist to play a mini tournament (1 hour) of bridge with my brother in Odense while parked in a parking lot. L&H seemed very happy to see me and had prepared a wonderful meal. We talked for quite a while catching up on things and the next morning we decided to go to a great modern art museum “Louisiana” which is not far from their house. That was the best thing to do on a cloudy and rainy day. The museum had an incredibly collection of Diane Arbus photographs and quite a few other gems. Also the sculpture garden is quite special as is the location of it all.
From there on to the very cute city Helsingør. I won’t go into details, except that the Danish Police sequel “Sommerdahl Murders” is staged there. L&H pointed out were they had totally changed the locations to fit the movie. They also think it is hilarious that everybody in the series live in nice houses with terraces and balconies overlooking the sea. Which is far besides reality, but that’s how it always is in the movies.
To give you an idea of that day I think that the pictures will tell the story.
You will see that they have a very shiny equivalent of the mermaid in Kopenhagen that they call simply “He” Apparently every 15min. or so the eyes will flash.
There is also a beautiful and important castle and a wonderful food court where we ended up having our evening meal.
03 Kopenhagen
A beautiful day in Kopenhagen. What a nice city that is. A bit resembling Amsterdam but much more colorful.
Nyhavn is famous for the beautiful ships moored along the most colorful buildings you can imagine.
There also is a Free State “Christiania”. An autonomous city within the city. Ruled by the free spirit. Much music, party and soft drugs. But a pleasant environment to spend a few hours. It has it’s own beaches and nice paths through a forest. Photographing is not allowed, but I could take a few nevertheless.
In the late afternoon we went up the highest tower and Elisabeth, Larry and Helle’s wonderful daughter, joined us for dinner. She is a doctor and specializing to be a GP. She visited us twice in the Netherlands, first when they moved from the U.S. to Denmark when she was only 1 year old, and later when she was 6 and also her brother Benjamin was staying with us. I met both of them again now and I must say that a lot of how I remembered them was still present in their figure and mannerisms.
4th, 5th: Fehmarn — Back to MENU —
After Denmark I crossed on the ferrie to the lovely island Fehmarn where I only stayed for 2 nights.
While in Denmark I was hearing the news that Germany had lowered the gas prices by € 0,30 so I didn’t get much in Denmark and hoped to get cheap gas while over here, but that news proofed fake.
Fehmarn is very nice. Great for kiting and biking and the campground was right by the beach.
I took quite a lot of video’s of the very exciting kiting activity, but will add them later. For now I will add some of the too many photographs I took. It will give an idea of the great landscape. Also it was questionable if some of the bicycle paths were meant for biking, but I wasn’t the only biker venturing on them.
One of the highlights on the island is the Jimmy Hendrix memorial. Turns out that during the “Love and Peace Festival” on September 6th 1970 this was the last concert by this incredible musician.
The restaurant “Aalkate” came highly recommended and I had booked a spot the evening before. That wasn’t easy. Just one slot available from 5 to 6, but it was worth it. The bouillabaisse was filled to the brim with exquisite fishes and fingerlong mussels.
2022-06-06 Lübeck — Back to MENU —
Back from a great bike tour. Luckily the internet is almost working the way it should. I already did my work for the TV station and now will add some stuff to the blog while listening to the soccer match between the Netherlands and Wales.
After Fehmarn I moved on to former East Germany and stopped in Lübeck on the way. Parked my car a bit outside town and got my bike off. Lübeck is one of the 25 German Hanse Städte = city of the Hanseatic League (had to look that up on wikipedia). Visiting some of the old Hanse Städte was one of my goals for this trip. —more from wikipedia — ” The League originated from various loose associations of German traders and towns formed to advance mutual commercial interests, such as protection against piracy and banditry. These arrangements gradually coalesced into the Hanseatic League, whose traders enjoyed duty-free treatment, protection, and diplomatic privileges in affiliated communities and their trade routes. During the peak of its power, the Hanseatic League had a virtual monopoly over maritime trade in the North and Baltic seas. Its commercial reach extended as far as Portugal, England, Novgorod, and Venice, with trading posts, factories, and mercantile “branches” established in numerous towns and cities across Europe.”
Actually Ralph build a genuine Hanse quay in the tiny pond in our garden. It always intrigued me what this whole Hanse thing actually was but never thought to look it up. Typical Ralph to just name something such that it will trigger something at some point.
Lübeck is the first Hanse City I visited. Still want to go to Wismar and Rostock which are close by.
My first stop was at a little shack along the road which served a mean roll heaped with the best northsea shrimps. Then just let myself float through the city and was mesmerized by all the beauty I saw. And the abundance of wine tasting stands in the city-hall square was also quite amazing.
6th-9th: Ostseecamping See Blick Rerik — Back to MENU —
—-Oeps 1-1 NL-Wales (in extra time)
—-OMG …. 5 seconds later 2-1 for NL
After Lübeck I went on to my new home. Found the campground this morning on the internet while still in Puttgarden and phoned to reserve a spot. After some discussion they gave me a spot on the first row with sea view. Well … sea view if you look through the bushes, but still nice and you can definitely hear the rolling waves which is very soothing.
When I was almost at the campground I saw a sign for the road to Santiago de Compostela, didn’t know that you can even start it as far away as from this north of Germany.
This campground has it all. The most luxury I ever experienced and still very reasonable not yet €35,– per night. As I booked 5 nights I felt that I wasn’t in a hurry to start doing things right away so I spent a lazy day on the 6th, which became even lazier when I found out that the promised WiFi left much to be desired, not to say …was non-existent and the weather was cloudy and sad. I slept late, explored the campground and the little supermarket, played some guitar, read a book, drank a nice Tequila Sunrise, cooked dinner on my little BBQ, made a plan for the next day and snuggled in my very comfortable bed with a book and the radio and called it a great day.
7th
Today I didn’t do a thing. Stayed in the campground and relaxed.
8th
I emerged completely out of my lethargy although the weather did not improve much and neither did the WiFi. Nevertheless I got my ass off the chair and onto the bike and rode to a next door posh holiday resort called Kühlungsborn. It all looked very nice, but just below the surface you can still feel the awful period this part of Germany had to endure when shut off from the western world through some WW2 treaty with the Russians. It struck me more than I had imagined to realize that during my lifetime people living so close bye had no access to the rest of the world.
On my tour (see map, about 40km) I stopped at a little monument on the beach around a watch tower that always used to have 2 people watching if nobody was trying to swim or in some other nifty way tried to free themselves. There were a few contraptions exhibited that people had invented to help them flee. It was heartbreaking. The report explaining that people had to apply for vacationing at the beach and if awarded they could have to wait up to 3 years before they could spend a few weeks at the beach with their family.
All in all this area has really quite wonderful bike roads (see pictures) but again it was quite rough at times. At some point when biking back to the campground I found myself on a very lonely dirt road, no living soul in sight and quite an ominous feeling. When you give in to such feelings you see a rapist around every corner. Although at my age … what’s there to worry? 😉 The last 2 pictures in this series show the dirt road and my relief when I finally saw some civilization again.
In Kühlungsborn I ate in an Italian restaurant run by true Italians and cooking true Italian food. It was a long time since I had such a perfect seafood pasta and such wonderful espresso doppio. I was a bit surprised when in the bathroom I found a stack of rather old fashioned period pads for the use of the clients (see picture). The evening was quiet and uneventful.
9th: Wismar and spaghetti — Back to MENU —
The day I am adding now is when I went to Wismar a few days ago. My second Hanse Stadt. Another gem of a town.
As I didn’t bring my bike there I walked the center and was awed by the beautiful buildings.
As always I am a few days behind on this blog. But today, 13th June, is a horrible day. So much wind that at times I am scared my tent will lift off and leave me. Luckily I put in some weight that will prevent this and it is a good day to fiddle around with this blog. One of the things I learned was how to make a veritable photo book. So flip through the pages and enjoy. I do realize that with 4 pictures on one page it is all a bit small on a phone. Try to hold it horizontally.
As walking was never my favorite way of transportation I decided after a while to take some tour or other and stretch my legs. I just got on the first boat I came across which turned out to be some tour to teach about the many types of fishes in the sea. So not the tour boat we are used to in Amsterdam. Anyway, it was fun and I learned a heap.
Upon return I decided to cook my favorite campground recipe from my sister in law Maria and which is featured in our cookbook “Cucina Maria I”.
It is a spaghetti dish with only a few ingredients: premium olive oil, tomato’s, spaghetti, basil, grated parmesan (always salt and pepper to taste). It is all cooked together in one pan. Yes … you are hearing this correctly. First you put the olive oil in the bottom of the pan (I brought a flask of the great olive oil I acquire through my brother from the region where he lives in Lazio and which produces the best oil). Then a layer of sliced tomato’s, add salt and pepper. Break the spaghetti over the tomato’s add some basil leaves. Do this again for a second layer (also more oil). Add layers according to the amount of people you are feeding. I only needed 2 and in only half of my pan (in the other half I heated some beans and meat left-over from yesterday). The juice of the tomato’s will cook the spaghetti and will totally permeate throughout the pasta. If the tomato’s aren’t juicy enough and you feel the pasta stick to the pan, add some water from time to time and loosen the stuff from the bottom. Don’t stir too much. When on the plate sprinkle some grated parmesan and basil leaves over it. Don’t forget to drink a good glass of red wine with it and try to realize a beautiful view.
I explained what I was doing to my wonderful neighbors. A mother, Erika, and her partner, Dieter, and her two daughters, Petra and Conny with husbands, Sven and Michael. They were from different parts of Germany and came here to celebrate Erika’s 80th birthday. Also Sven, was going to have his birthday in the campground.
After I finished my wonderful meal I invited them to try some and we sat and drank and talked the night away.
10th
Waking up and opening the car’s sliding door which also expands the rear view mirrors, I heard a nasty breaking noise at the right mirror and noticed that it hung loose in it’s shell. When I couldn’t find a way to fix it I decided to ask Sven for his opinion. He came with the analyzation that some plastic hook that was holding a spring had broken off. We decided to tape it all up when I would leave the next morning and off I went on my bike for an adventurous bike ride along the coast towards Wustrow. Another one of these tours by the Komoot app that make me wonder if I have unconsciously entered that I am riding a mountain bike with years of experience.
the weather was great and in Wustrow I took my beach chair of the bike and my book and swam and read to my heart’s content. Exactly what I had dreamt about when going on this trip. Regretfully the weather has been leaving much to be desired and this was the first time I actually swam. It was funny to see a father next to me, helping his daughter build a sand castle but ending up passionately working at it all by himself. His daughter had long given up on the project.
Upon returning from the beach Sven came with a tie-wrap and pliers and a hopeful face as he thought to have found a solution to fix my mirror. And .. by God … he had ! It was a very simple solution and I was very awed by the fact he had thought about doing it that way. It would be too complicated to go into details as I didn’t make any pictures about the problem. But let it suffice to know that I was very impressed. I think this mirror is now better as new.
All in all, this was another shitty day in Paradise.
Rostock — on the road to Rügen — Back to MENU —
On the road again to the half-island Rügen via Rostock, another Hansa City.
Off course I had my bike on the car with me and that served me well in this city. It was a lot of fun riding along the waterways and through the city center (mostly walking there).
I even decided to do a tour Komoot was suggesting, a bit into the countryside, and this time it was very easy going for a change. There is a veritable serpentine bike road, like Lombard street in San Francisco.
Rügen — Back to MENU —
Upon arrival at campground “De Klomp” (Dutch for wooden shoe and very Dutch) I noticed that the wind was pretty fierce. That didn’t help setting up the tent, but finally I succeeded. Thought this wind would never stop blowing.
12th
Woke up to a wonderful sunny day. A day to try out the great gift from Annebeth Schattebolleke. An amazingly compact hammock. Fits in your pocket and can hold a 110kg. person. That qualifies me 🙂 So far I didn’t have 2 trees close to my tent to try this out. here the set-up is just perfect. Including a view over fields and sea in the distance. A pity I didn’t find anybody to photograph me while I was slowly rocking back and forth in that wonderful contraption.
Was having my breakfast in the sun and then got on my bike to go to Prora. A while ago I saw an impressive documentary about this colossus and wanted to see it with my own eyes. On the way I passed a wonderful fish shack which I couldn’t resist. Good thing I stopped. The freshly smoked salmon was to die for and the huge beer was a good accompaniment.
Then on I went. With my beach chair on my bike, a book and my swimming suit. Turned out I didn’t need all of that. When passing by the nice woods that separate the beach from the bike path I saw several paths towards the beach saying “Natur Strand”. I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but decided to give it a go. Turned out that it was a free for al concept. Some with and some without clothes. To me the without version looked very appealing. So much less hassle. So I went with it. This was for me a first, but definitely to be followed in the future.
Unfortunately there was nobody in the neighborhood to whom I could ask to video a proof of this occasion and all I could reach were my feet.
I was enjoying the beach and my book and the frisky, 16° Celsius, water a lot. Again, before getting to the edge of the sea, there was a row of pebbles which were a bit cumbersome to conquer. When after passing the row I realized that I was still wearing my glasses I decided to leave them behind a particularly big pebble and just ventured out into the inviting waves. Upon return my glasses seemed to have disappeared. Was it suddenly high tide? I searched and searched. Must have been a sight to behold, but my heart was pounding anxiously as I realized that I didn’t bring any spare. After a few minutes, which seemed an hour, I suddenly saw them staring at me. Another adventure that turned out well. I’m such a lucky soul.
I read a bit more, swam a bit more and then jumped on the bike and went on a few kilometers to this Prora Colossus.
This is what wikipedia says about it:
The Colossus of Prora, commonly known as simply “Prora“, was built by Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1939 as part of the “Strength Through Joy” (Kraft durch Freude or KdF) project. It consisted of eight identical buildings and was 4.5 km (2.8 mi) in length parallel to the beach, with the surviving structures stretching 3.0 km (1.9 mi).
Although the buildings were planned as a holiday resort, construction was not completed and they were not used for this purpose. After World War II, the complex found various military uses, first by the “Soviet Army”, then by the East German Volksarmee, and then by the German “Bundeswehr”. Today it houses a large youth hostel, a hotel and vacation apartments.
The complex has a formal heritage listing as a particularly striking example of “Nazi architecture”.
I was thinking that a structure like this could really help our current housing problems.
Right there at this Prora complex I stumbled upon a big hall whith a beautiful Sand Sculpture exposition. Some fellow Dutchman apparently organized this and it was opened March this year. I just had one more hour to visit it and it was enough to be totally impressed by it.
13th and 14th
2 entire days stuck in the tent. Wind, wind, wind and some rain. Perfect to catch up on this blog, to read a bit, play bridge online with my brother, do the laundry and basically just relax. As the weather was too awful to go anywhere I made do with whatever was in my cool box, which wasn’t much. So just now I dressed warmly and went on the bike to the closest restaurant which happened to be Hungarian and served a horrible fatty sausage with a splash of mashed potatoes and a salad that looked more like decoration than anything else. The excellent Hungarian red wine and the good Irish Coffee afterwards made up for a lot.
15th
I woke up briefly around 6 in the morning and was elated to see a bright sky with just a sprinkle of little cute clouds. I checked my phone, switched on the radio and soon dozed off again to wake up around 9 to a totally grey and cloudy sky again 🙁 bummer. This time I was not going to let it get to me and decided to get on my bike anyway. I prepared a route on Komoot and loaded my bike with chair, rain clothes, etc. Oh yes I should tell you that this little corner in which my car and tent so snuggly sit has been deserted by anything or anybody. Don’t know if it’s my snoring, or if there is some other reason.
The tour I had planned (on the left) spanned some 45km. Immediately upon leaving it was pointing me to roads that didn’t exist and also seemed to have switched the left and the right around. I never heard “turn around” so often. After a while I decided to just follow the map visually. With all the confusion of the navigator I ended up doing no more than 25 (the blue on the right). It took me through the beautiful “National Park Jasmund” that had a mighty steep cliff with an 11% incline to conquer (the red square with the arrow).The brown square is sort of what I ended up doing. As you can see I missed the entire northern coast part. Maybe that’s what I’ll do tomorrow.
In the port of Sassnitz I stopped for lunch at a place that for all appearances looked definitely like a tourist trap. Unexpectedly the grilled octopus they served with great baked potatoes and a lot of fresh vegetables was definitely the best food I’ve had on this trip (except my own cooked tomato spaghetti 😉 Oh yes … I should tell you about this new gadget I have and used to the max today. It is called a “bicycle helmet”.
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Yes … for a real Dutch person it is something that you never dream wearing. I succumbed because of my electric scooter (step) (didn’t bring that one on this trip though). On such an e-scooter it is difficult to signal and my helmet has lights on the back and I have a button on the steering wheel that turns them on accordingly. It also has speakers just above my ears through which the navigation instructions can be heard. But …. today …. I thought if my navigator speaks through it so can my Audible reading book app. So while biking I was listening to another episode of the 7 sisters series. Couldn’t stop listening while eating so I guess the other customers must have thought it strange to see this person eating with the helmet on.
I was back at 16:00, just in time to win an online bridge tournament with my brother.
Just now, 22:15, I went to the toilet to get ready for bed and noticed the total quiet on this campground. A few days ago a young man from Stuttgart, Bennie (Benjamin), put his enormous tent in front of my car. We got to talking a bit as I helped him to charge his phone. He came all the way from Stuttgart by train some 10 hours train ride on a €9,– pass. This summer Germany has this deal for everybody to buy a pass for just €9,– and you can just go anywhere you want with it for the entire summer. I think that is a great idea. I do hear that many people are taking advantage of it.
Also today a group of motor bikers settled in my corner. I was afraid that they would generate some raucous this evening, but they all seem to be sound asleep already and it’s only 22:30 and still pretty light.
Today is the 18th. My last day on wonderful Rügen. Although the weather may have left something to be desired I just couldn’t tear myself away from this place. Instead of leaving on Thursday to make my way to Berlin via a short stop over in Usedom and Loitz to have a look at where my friends Walter and Petra run a business making whiskey, and another Hanse City, Greifswald, I just stayed put to enjoy the fresh Rügen air and cycle the ungroomed bicycle paths and swim nude in the crispy 16 degrees Celsius pebbled sea. I really have no idea what attracts me so strongly to this place, but I just enjoy it and let myself go with the flow. This means that I will only have 2 full days and 2 half days in Berlin. But Berlin will still be there for me to explore further some other time.
Below are some photographs of the wonderful sandy beaches. That beach that accommodates both nude and covered sun bathing was wonderful. The only bad part being the rough pebbles when getting into the sea. After a few meters it was perfectly sandy. After my first nude swimming experience and coming back to the place and parking my bike I saw some man in the bushes with big binoculars. That made me feel a bit self conscious, but then again, what can happen to me?
Apart from the beaches I loved the food scene here. Everywhere they smoke all kinds of fish and sell it in little shacks on the road. That smoked fish is absolutely to die for.
In one of these pictures you see me wearing my bike helmet. I already explained earlier that I found out how to have a book read to me through it’s speakers. Apart from eating with my helmet on I now also resorted to sun bathing, in the nude, but with my helmet safely on my head (later I discovered I could just let it hang on my chair and it was still close enough to my ear). But this entire concept made travelling alone even more enticing. Before there was always this conflict between going cycling or stay and read a book. Now I can just do the 2 activities I enjoy the most all at the same time.
Cycling through this water filled countryside was wonderful and listening to a book at the same time made it very special.
Today, my last day on this island, I decided to take the boat to see the biggest tourist attraction of this island which is the chalk coast with a huge cliff called “Koningsstuhl” as the climax. It was a 1 hour round trip twice along these cliffs and if was really beautiful, but with all my travelling experience I must have gotten a bit biased and it didn’t really awe me. But the boat trip was lovely.
Street Art
While travelling through this North-East part of Germany I noticed that many, if not all, of the utility concrete contraptions along the road were all covered with beautiful paintings. After some time I started stopping and photographing them. Here they are:
19-20-21 June: 3 nights Berlin — Back to MENU —
Left campground “De Klomp” to do 300km to Berlin. No Hansa City Greifswald nor the Loitz area but directly to the city.
On my way to Berlin …. finally … Together with Helle in Snekkersten we decided that Berlin City Camping Nord was the closest for biking into the city.
I made a reservation and drove directly to the Nord campground and arrived there at 13:30 to find the reception closed until 15:00. I walked a bit through the campground and it wasn’t bad, but not exceptional. It was a hot day. Too bad I had to spend one of the few good days travelling. There was nothing open on this campground. So no nice beer or anything to quench my thirst. Sat on a rock and listened to my book until at last the lady opened the door. In the meantime a line had formed and when it was my turn she told me that there was no reservation. I checked my email and she was right. Turned out I had reserved City Camping Süd … darned … Back in the car and on to the Süd campground.
Although quite a bit further from the city I was still happy to have ended up there. The campground is historical and I felt it. It also had very nice facilities and a terrace on the river with some food and plenty of good beers and other drinks.
It is interesting to know that this campground has an important recent history. It used to be a “GÜSt” (Grenzübergangsstelle)=Border crossing. The Teltow canal separated DDR from Berlin-West. Only the border patrol could enter the area. The hotel used to be their office. There used to be 2 B-Towers (armed watch towers) and a multi-function tower to operate the technique at this border spot. It was only in 1990 when 2 towers were demolished. The people who run this campground at the moment have bought it directly from the DDR border patrol in 1990. The original Border Tower is still on the campground and can be visited only by camping/hotel guests. The site has featured in many movies: Kommissarin Heller: Panik – Die verlorene Tochter – Die Toten von Marnow – Es ist zu deinem Besten – Der Überfall – Die Känguru-Verschwörung – Gute Zeiten Schlechte Zeiten – Usedom Krimi – Am Ende einer Reise (don’t know the English translations).
I found a really nice spot right on the shore of the Teltow canal where the cutest boats passed by my front flap from time to time.
After building up the tent I decided I earned a break and ordered a frozen pizza heated up in a microwave… arghh.. but a great beer on the wonderful terrace and enjoyed the view. After about 30min. clouds started to drift in and by the time I had finished a full blown storm had formed.
June 20th
I had to firmly close up the tent and went to bed early only to wake up to a rainy sky. That sort of spoiled my excitement of cycling into the city. Checked the rain radar and saw that by 15:00hrs the sun should replace the clouds. That made me decide to dress up in my rain gear and venture out on the bike.
I set the route in my Komoot and after 15 min. it directed me into a path in the woods were I had to jump over quite a lot of tree stumps. A horse would have been fun. The bike a lot less. But as the navi told me it was only for about 400m. before reaching a better road I persevered.
When I came out of this wilderness I was still on a dirt road which went over a very monumental bridge over the highway. The area of Checkpoint Bravo (the former Highway bridge and border crossing „Dreilinden“ where all the highway transit to West-Berlin was taking place. The ruins are still visible and after the reconstruction of the Highway the border crossing was re-build at that spot.
From there on some 15 minutes more of dirt road, but easy going and beautiful scenery.
On the way the rain kept falling but still I saw some beautiful images.
When after photographing the Special Olympics Cyclists under the Brandenburger Tor I cycled on through that beautiful and historic monument and stumbled upon “Akademie der Künste” with a big banner announcing the “12th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art 11 Jun – 18 Sep 2022” That looked like an excellent event to dry my clothes. Got a ticket which encompassed 4 different locations and explored the art.
In the very first room I entered I was reunited with Emil Nolde. The artist whose house I visited in North-West Germany after leaving Susanne in Hamburg. I really like his art.
After that most of the art was very depressive and highlighting the sadness in the world. It didn’t do much to enlighten my spirit.
After that I needed something to lift my mood and I entered a nice exclusive clothes boutique were a Canadian lady was just paying € 1800,– for her finds. That sounded very scary. The look in the mirror didn’t do much to improve my mood either. But I stuck to one pair of jeans as I was in need of one because of all that bad weather that I had not expected and thus only brought one pair of warm trousers. That did make me happy.
When arriving at the second location of the Biennale it was around 13:30 and I could use something to eat. Just across from the museum was a very run-down building posting blackboards with food offerings that looked very exciting. I decided to give it a go and was pleasantly surprised. In an vibrant young atmosphere they were cooking very innovative dishes.
After lunch I went off to the world famous “Humboldt Forum” and spend most of the afernoon admiring the enormous collection of etnological and asian artifacts.
On my way there I had seen a sign recommending a Georgian restaurant. As all the Georgian food I had been tasting was always very special I decided to go and try it. Sitting there on my own was a little bit depressing and brought back many sweet memories, but the food did much to uplift my spirits and the atmosphere was very lively and friendly. The young couple next to me started a conversation and told me that they were going to go to a concert on Bedelplatz for Ukraine. I thought that would be a nice end to this wonderful day.