Monday, July 28, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Going to Denmark
Our 4 days in Köln is over, and now its time to find the way up north to Denmark.
How do we feel now? well, some sort of relief.
Köln was the last big task on this journey, though we´re still going for a little bestiary-research in Copenhagen before the story is finished.
Many would probably say, that " ooh its such a big adventure, I envy you so much because of that" etc, but the mind has some sort of limits in its capacity of swollowing impressions.
We feel, that now we are close to this limit.
Its getting harder and harder to find inspirations - the common seriousity is also difficult to keep up, and generally we just want to watch some movies with the original voices and not something, that is dubbed into hungarian,slovakian, czech or german, as it is a common thing to do in all those countries we´ve been through ( in Denmark that doesnt happen!)
Its almost 6 weeks ago since we started from Zagreb, but it sometimes feels like it was 6 months. the daily impact of impressions has been enormous - everytime we´re on the road, we lose the sense of time pretty quickly - the brain knows about the routine now, and I think it turns down the feeling of time as some sort of " survival instinct". Sitting on a bike so many ours day after day after day.... okay 4 more days ( if the weather is on our side - it looks good right now) and we´ll be in Sönderborg Denmark. Its almost to surrealistic to think about right now. But we´ll be on our way there when this message is posted.
Well what about Köln then?
As mentioned before its hard to keep up the inspiration after visting so many places in a relative short amount of time. Mostly we´ve been concentrating on filling our stomachs as much as possible. Especially on the chinese restaurants, that usually have the big buffets ( eat all you can!) which is just perfect for us.
We´ve been shocked by watching all those homeless and poor people living in the streets and begging for money here, while all the tourists ( like us) just passed by without noticing anything else than shops filled with glitterstuffs or whatever.
But even in our tired situation, we still had the ability to be impressed though.
The giant Cathedral " Kölnerdom" is really amazing, and the cityinvironment around the cathedral, the big and busy central trainstation and its bridge over the river rhine, is nothing but a great pulse. Its like an everchanging stage. So many trains and so many boats and so many (different) people.
Now its time to find Denmark
see you later.
How do we feel now? well, some sort of relief.
Köln was the last big task on this journey, though we´re still going for a little bestiary-research in Copenhagen before the story is finished.
Many would probably say, that " ooh its such a big adventure, I envy you so much because of that" etc, but the mind has some sort of limits in its capacity of swollowing impressions.
We feel, that now we are close to this limit.
Its getting harder and harder to find inspirations - the common seriousity is also difficult to keep up, and generally we just want to watch some movies with the original voices and not something, that is dubbed into hungarian,slovakian, czech or german, as it is a common thing to do in all those countries we´ve been through ( in Denmark that doesnt happen!)
Its almost 6 weeks ago since we started from Zagreb, but it sometimes feels like it was 6 months. the daily impact of impressions has been enormous - everytime we´re on the road, we lose the sense of time pretty quickly - the brain knows about the routine now, and I think it turns down the feeling of time as some sort of " survival instinct". Sitting on a bike so many ours day after day after day.... okay 4 more days ( if the weather is on our side - it looks good right now) and we´ll be in Sönderborg Denmark. Its almost to surrealistic to think about right now. But we´ll be on our way there when this message is posted.
Well what about Köln then?
As mentioned before its hard to keep up the inspiration after visting so many places in a relative short amount of time. Mostly we´ve been concentrating on filling our stomachs as much as possible. Especially on the chinese restaurants, that usually have the big buffets ( eat all you can!) which is just perfect for us.
We´ve been shocked by watching all those homeless and poor people living in the streets and begging for money here, while all the tourists ( like us) just passed by without noticing anything else than shops filled with glitterstuffs or whatever.
But even in our tired situation, we still had the ability to be impressed though.
The giant Cathedral " Kölnerdom" is really amazing, and the cityinvironment around the cathedral, the big and busy central trainstation and its bridge over the river rhine, is nothing but a great pulse. Its like an everchanging stage. So many trains and so many boats and so many (different) people.
Now its time to find Denmark
see you later.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Grettings from Köln
"are you allready in Köln"?? ( we can somehow hear you asking that)
Yes we are in Köln, in the giant Ruhrdistrict - the largest cityarea in Europe which is some of a shocking contrast after 4 days ride in the hilly german countryside.
More from Köln later
After 5 days of rest in Bamberg, we were more than ready to take this big step by crossing Germany to the most western point we will reach on this trip.
First up to Bad Brückenau where we slept on a little expensive hotel, but nice breakfast and service though. Later it became even better when we recognized the croatian flag outside side by side with the german flag. The receptionist told us, that in this exact town the croatian nationalteam in football recently had their camp during the world cup 2006, and that the croatian sportjournalists actually lived on the same hotel and had their conferences and meetings with the team there..... suddenly the price didnt seem so wild. We were suddenly somehow " honoured" by living there.
Further it went through the idyllic landscapes, that was like a giant version of those you can buy in piece by piece if you are a collector of electrified trainmodels!
Up and down it went like in the Czech Republic, but now we were somehow used to it.
We must remember the kindness and helpfull german people we met everywhere. As soon as we picked up our map to look out for which way to go, some people always immediately stopped up and asked if we needed any help.
When we reached the little village Dorheim outside Friedberg and asked where it was possible to stay for the night, the owner came right to us and wrote down some good examples to choose from.
Of course we went back there to eat that evening - very cozy atmosphere and enough portions of food(!!) at Guiseppe!.... very nice waitress too by the way!
Next day we started up with lots of energy as the day before, but there is something even energy cant fight, and that is TERRIBLE WEATHER!
Suddenly, in the middle of the woods on top of the hills far from any shelter, a huge summerrain almost exploded around us with lightenings and thunder and strong cold wind..... DOH!
We never had a chance to cover ourselve so we get deeply wet - tried to find shelter from the wind somehwere in the woods hoping that the weather would change, but it was a truely hopeless idea. We get colder and colder, and decided to find a settlement for the night....which we found more than enough of at the very gently and warmhearted family Krekel, who owned the "landhaus sommerberg" in Fussingen-Westerwald.
It was like coming home! Frau Krekel made us coffee and tea with cookies and washed and dried our clothes for free, while we had a nice talk with Herr Krekel, who seemed interested in our bestiaryproject.
Next morning we had the most huge breakfast ever on this trip - Frau Krekel even gave us chocolate and extra food for a lunchpacket on our trip.....HELLO! THIS IS WHAT WE CALL HOSPITALITY!!
the last episode up to Köln was 138 km....the weather was almost as bad as the day before, the wind was directly against us, the hills seem taller and taller and there were so many trucks on the roads, that our nervesystems werent the same after, but then out of a sudden we at the river Rhine, and that gave us a smile on our faces again - because that river flows through Köln and then we just had to follow it up north....and it was flat landscapes all the way aaahhh.....
Well Köln is our last task before going directly to Denmark, but we hope that we can post pictures and more about Köln before we will leave from here friday.
see you later!
Yes we are in Köln, in the giant Ruhrdistrict - the largest cityarea in Europe which is some of a shocking contrast after 4 days ride in the hilly german countryside.
More from Köln later
After 5 days of rest in Bamberg, we were more than ready to take this big step by crossing Germany to the most western point we will reach on this trip.
First up to Bad Brückenau where we slept on a little expensive hotel, but nice breakfast and service though. Later it became even better when we recognized the croatian flag outside side by side with the german flag. The receptionist told us, that in this exact town the croatian nationalteam in football recently had their camp during the world cup 2006, and that the croatian sportjournalists actually lived on the same hotel and had their conferences and meetings with the team there..... suddenly the price didnt seem so wild. We were suddenly somehow " honoured" by living there.
Further it went through the idyllic landscapes, that was like a giant version of those you can buy in piece by piece if you are a collector of electrified trainmodels!
Up and down it went like in the Czech Republic, but now we were somehow used to it.
We must remember the kindness and helpfull german people we met everywhere. As soon as we picked up our map to look out for which way to go, some people always immediately stopped up and asked if we needed any help.
When we reached the little village Dorheim outside Friedberg and asked where it was possible to stay for the night, the owner came right to us and wrote down some good examples to choose from.
Of course we went back there to eat that evening - very cozy atmosphere and enough portions of food(!!) at Guiseppe!.... very nice waitress too by the way!
Next day we started up with lots of energy as the day before, but there is something even energy cant fight, and that is TERRIBLE WEATHER!
Suddenly, in the middle of the woods on top of the hills far from any shelter, a huge summerrain almost exploded around us with lightenings and thunder and strong cold wind..... DOH!
We never had a chance to cover ourselve so we get deeply wet - tried to find shelter from the wind somehwere in the woods hoping that the weather would change, but it was a truely hopeless idea. We get colder and colder, and decided to find a settlement for the night....which we found more than enough of at the very gently and warmhearted family Krekel, who owned the "landhaus sommerberg" in Fussingen-Westerwald.
It was like coming home! Frau Krekel made us coffee and tea with cookies and washed and dried our clothes for free, while we had a nice talk with Herr Krekel, who seemed interested in our bestiaryproject.
Next morning we had the most huge breakfast ever on this trip - Frau Krekel even gave us chocolate and extra food for a lunchpacket on our trip.....HELLO! THIS IS WHAT WE CALL HOSPITALITY!!
the last episode up to Köln was 138 km....the weather was almost as bad as the day before, the wind was directly against us, the hills seem taller and taller and there were so many trucks on the roads, that our nervesystems werent the same after, but then out of a sudden we at the river Rhine, and that gave us a smile on our faces again - because that river flows through Köln and then we just had to follow it up north....and it was flat landscapes all the way aaahhh.....
Well Köln is our last task before going directly to Denmark, but we hope that we can post pictures and more about Köln before we will leave from here friday.
see you later!
In Bamberg
Bamberg was for us a very pleasent surprise.
We didnt knew a place like that existed at all.
After visting all those millioncitizen cities it was nothing but a great relief to arrive in this wonderfull little oasis of a town, where it was possible to breathe and relax surrounded by very old buildings and where the traffic mostly seemed to be those healthy germans, who drived on bicycles or was running on the trails around the rivers and the many canals that flow through Bamberg.
And people recognized us here!
On the arriving day we asked a guy in the streets about the way to a youth hostel - well not only did he show us the way, but he even decided to turn around and walk with us some of the way through the streetlabyrinth of old Bamberg to make sure, that we would end in the right direction.
The next evening while searching for a good place to sit down and enjoy some of the many local brews, the same man saw us from one of the bars and told us to come in and join the company.
Which we did of course.
Suddenly we were sitting together with - what seemed as - all the local mature alternative people, hippies whatever. Very nice company to get drunk while listening to Gratefull Dead and jazz from the 30´s/40´s.
We stayed one night at the youthhostel where we shared the room with two brothers who were also travelling with bikes in the same area as we did.
We were very impressed by their discipline. Go to bed at 10 o clock to be as fresh as possible for the next days ride.... we could never be like that, though we´ve been trying to copy them ever since.... with less fortune because we always ended up with beers and lots of talkings ( some certain things will never change!)
One night with the kids at the youthhostels and then further to a " old peoples home" for the next 4 nights...yeah well, at that place Frau Müller (the manager) also rent out rooms to travellers. So from spending time among the noisy kids, we were suddenly " the kids" at the new place. They treated us very kind though and seemed pretty entertained by Bernards tattoo of a cat on his leg, but what was most important: for the first time on the trip we were able to cook for ourselve, which was needed.
When you are so much on the roads, like we´ve been during the last 1 and (almost) half month, you come to this point when you feel this eternal hunger.
the food you get in the restaurants are just never enough, and that is such a downer, when you´ve expected to finally get set. Just interesting how much the right food actually means for the body..... we made a portion that usually would be enough to feed 6-7 ordinary hungry people, but the wild bestiary pilgrims needed it all!
Despite its relative small size Bamberg has a huge amount of wonders to offer. There seem to be old churches on every corner and hilltop - and on the other side of those corners there will usually be a local brewery, and with all those wellprotected old houses and small streets in the citycore just make such a supercool atmosphere, and the conditions for bicycleriders are nothing but perfect with so many trails and signs to lead you on the right way.....
its very hard not to sound like some commercial now, but we were simply amazed by this fabulous town, and we will return again one day.
Thats for sure!
We didnt knew a place like that existed at all.
After visting all those millioncitizen cities it was nothing but a great relief to arrive in this wonderfull little oasis of a town, where it was possible to breathe and relax surrounded by very old buildings and where the traffic mostly seemed to be those healthy germans, who drived on bicycles or was running on the trails around the rivers and the many canals that flow through Bamberg.
And people recognized us here!
On the arriving day we asked a guy in the streets about the way to a youth hostel - well not only did he show us the way, but he even decided to turn around and walk with us some of the way through the streetlabyrinth of old Bamberg to make sure, that we would end in the right direction.
The next evening while searching for a good place to sit down and enjoy some of the many local brews, the same man saw us from one of the bars and told us to come in and join the company.
Which we did of course.
Suddenly we were sitting together with - what seemed as - all the local mature alternative people, hippies whatever. Very nice company to get drunk while listening to Gratefull Dead and jazz from the 30´s/40´s.
We stayed one night at the youthhostel where we shared the room with two brothers who were also travelling with bikes in the same area as we did.
We were very impressed by their discipline. Go to bed at 10 o clock to be as fresh as possible for the next days ride.... we could never be like that, though we´ve been trying to copy them ever since.... with less fortune because we always ended up with beers and lots of talkings ( some certain things will never change!)
One night with the kids at the youthhostels and then further to a " old peoples home" for the next 4 nights...yeah well, at that place Frau Müller (the manager) also rent out rooms to travellers. So from spending time among the noisy kids, we were suddenly " the kids" at the new place. They treated us very kind though and seemed pretty entertained by Bernards tattoo of a cat on his leg, but what was most important: for the first time on the trip we were able to cook for ourselve, which was needed.
When you are so much on the roads, like we´ve been during the last 1 and (almost) half month, you come to this point when you feel this eternal hunger.
the food you get in the restaurants are just never enough, and that is such a downer, when you´ve expected to finally get set. Just interesting how much the right food actually means for the body..... we made a portion that usually would be enough to feed 6-7 ordinary hungry people, but the wild bestiary pilgrims needed it all!
Despite its relative small size Bamberg has a huge amount of wonders to offer. There seem to be old churches on every corner and hilltop - and on the other side of those corners there will usually be a local brewery, and with all those wellprotected old houses and small streets in the citycore just make such a supercool atmosphere, and the conditions for bicycleriders are nothing but perfect with so many trails and signs to lead you on the right way.....
its very hard not to sound like some commercial now, but we were simply amazed by this fabulous town, and we will return again one day.
Thats for sure!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
From Prague to Bamberg
We had our first serious crisis, when we had to find out of Prague.
This time we didnt had such a good map of the city, and that was a disaster.
Prague is a nightmare to find away from - in the right direction - if you dont have any knowledge or idea of how it is.
For some reason we managed to circel 22 km around, before we atleast found the southwestern way out, which was the direction we needed.
But our sorrows werent all over yet, because suddenly the road we were driving on, were stopped because of roadworkers, and that confused us so much that we again turned out in a wrong angle.
It feelt like a big joke, and we yelled out in the air " this game is no fun anymore"!!
....and then something incredible happened!
As our mood were on absolute lowlevel and everything seemed hopeless, an angle were sent to guide us!
An angel who spoke both english and the czech language - who were also on a bike and were going west like us.... and the best thing was, that he had the perfect map for finding the way through the landscapes without the need of going to the big roads.
Petr was his name, and he sort of planned everything down to the most minor detail - when he offered that we could just hang on to him, we didnt hesitated to say yes emmitately, and we followed in his slipstream all the way.
And my goodness, he knew exactly were the gasstations were and where we could find the good ( still existing) very cheap and friendly czech accomodations in the countrysides, which made a deep impact to us.
we paid the dinner for him that evening!
Next day we continued through everything but cities - up and down as it usually is in the czech. Our legs feelt like hard steel after driving the entire day on the wildest increases - the most extreme was 18 %.... which we decided to walk up at. The most amazing thing was, that there were actually towns around these extreme level increases. The people living there most be in a pretty good shape if they walk up and down those roads everyday!
We broke our speedrecord once again ( when it went down) 57, 8 km pr hour is it now..... we dont think, that we need to brake that record again ever, its to dangerous.
as the darkness fell on we had to say goodbye to Petr the great - who helped us so much when we really needed it.
THANK YOU PETR, YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN!!
We settled for the night in the town Kynsperk nad Ohri, where we ate at cafe restaurant Slunecnice ( means " sunflower).
Nice atmosphere - enough food ( ! ) and of course great czech beers.
The next day, we followed a crazy guy listening to his ipod while driving his bicycle all the way into the town Cheb - close to the german border.
in that town we decided to use our last czech coins on food and coffee, while it rained outside.
we met a guy from Netherland who was on his way into czech and further to Israel (!) he gave us a very good and detailed map of that area we had to go into, since he didnt needed it anymore - we warned him about the czech wavy landscapes, which may be a shock for person from a very flat land... he seemed optimistic though.
In Germany Bernards bike suddenly started to continue its suicidal tendencies just before we reached Bayereuth. Nothing happened though...not before next day on the road to Bamberg
15 km away from the citycenter it really said BAMBERG in the street when his last tyre exploded ! It rained cats and dogs and since the weather didnt seem to show any intention of a little change to the better, we decided to take our punishment, and walked the rest of the way into Bamberg - a fabulous, fantastic, beautifull gem of which kind we didnt know existed at all.
a town at the size of Roskilde or Zadar but with 9 ( nine!!) local breweries and with very old citycenter placed on an island in the middle of the Main/Donau canals!
a town we will write much more about as soon as possible.
we are back on the net!
Hello again
And sorry for this long time without any news posted, but it was simply impossible since we most of the time were in the fertile wavy czech landscapes driving the bikes from the early morning to the late evening....and there just arent many internetcafés out there where the crows bring their own lunchpacket!
We are completely allright, so no worries there.
We reached the extremely beautifull german town Bamberg - also known as " little Venice" - for 2 days ago.
Before that many things happened of course.
First of all we would like to say, that the czech capital of Prague - despites its everlasting beauty - wasnt really what we expected.
We both visited the city for about 5-6 years ago, and liked it very much then, but now the prices have flown far up in the air - to far! and somehow the local hospitality in the bars arent the same anymore....the atmosphere lost some of its soul, which we found very sad.
Like one place where the waitress almost throw our lunch on the table with a sour face and no "bon appetite" or intention of trying to make us feel welcome...and then they allready took 10 % extra for the tips - no wonder she didnt need to show up some servicemindness.
Also we were wondering why a lot of black people were dressed as vintage sailors ( in the middle of Europe far far away from any seaside!) to attract tourist for getting on a short boatride on the river.... well in a way we found it funny though a little disturbing. Seriously it reminded us a little about trained animals in a circus.
To you americans who´re following this site we have this question:
" could a thing like that ever happen in America without some following racial crisis?
Well no reaction seem to happen here at all.
But okay, we came to find bestiaries, and Prague is full of them. Many of them more funny than scary, though some horrorelements can be finded there too of course.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
