Blogs from Germany, Europe - page 681

Less than 24 hours to go... :-) Here some words on the equipment I plan to take with me. As mentioned in my first entry my bike is a recumbent from HP Velotechnik. The "Street Machine GTe" is designed as a touring bike. It allows to attach four bags: Two at the luggage rack at the rear, and two below the seat. The two rear bags are Ortlieb Backrollers, in my opinion some of the best bags on the market. I planned to use the Ortlieb Frontrollers (a smaller version of the same bag) but realized quickly that I need more storage space. I guess I have to get me another set of backrollers today. My tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad will be stowed in an Ortlieb pack sack (which I first used on some ... read more

So, in weniger als 24 Stunden geht's los! :-) Hier noch ein paar Worte zu der Ausrüstung, wie ich sie im Moment geplant habe. Wie schon im ersten Eintrag erwähnt ist mein Fahrrad ein Liegerad von HP Velotechnik. Die "Street Machine GTe" ist als Reiserad ausgelegt und erlaubt die Anbringung von vier Packtaschen: Zwei hinten am Gepäckträger und zwei unterhalb des Sitzes. Die hinteren Taschen sind die bewährten Backroller von Ortlieb. Vorne wollte ich eigentlich Frontroller verwenden, habe aber schon beim ersten Probepacken festgestellt, dass ich mehr Platz brauche. Ich werde wohl gleich noch mal losziehen und ein zweites Paar Backroller besorgen. Zelt, Isomatte und Schlafsack kommt in einen Ortlieb Packsack (der hat schon ein paar Jahre und mehrere Motorradreisen hinter sich) auf den Gepackträger. Der Lenker des Liegerads liegt unter dem Sitz, was zwar ein ... read more

Berlin Berlin...what an amazing place! It has a really cool mix of old, modern and contemporary buildings and a really cool buzz. One of the most interesting things about our visit was seeing how the city is progressing after the end of communism in east Germany. Because the fall of the Berlin Wall happened relatively recently, we were interested to check out how the city was divided, and whether it has been fully reunited physically, socially, culturally and economically. It seems like the reunification process is an ongoing project. There is definitely evidence of the recent east / west divide, where the east still has a kind of under-developed feel, such as city pipelines above the ground and quasi communist looking apartment buildings... But there is tonnes of construction taking place, with lots of post-modern architecture ... read more

Roho: Sorry the last one was a bit slap dash. And apologies for the lack of photos too. We're still getting to grips with this whole hostel lifestyle. Rich: Amsterdam was...interesting...what more do I need to say? I didn't smoke pot, I didn't wear clogs, I didn't see the red light district and I only wish I did one of the above. You decide which. Roho: I know you regret not trying raw herring with onion. Rich: That wasn't on my list! Roho: It was kind of on mine...fortunately for me, or unfortunately, all the herring carts were closed yesterday. Rich: Just for the record, I really wanted to wear clogs, just to clear the air. Roho: Of all the pot smoke? Rich: Yes well there was plenty of that too. When you see me next ... read more

Leg 2 - Germany! We were originally just going to go to Munich, but after prices shot up for airfare from Stockholm to Munich, we added Berlin (a cheaper flight plus a night train to Munich was still less than the cost of Stockholm-Munich) into the mix. I'm really glad we did because it was such an interesting and historically rich town. Our challenge was to see how much of Berlin we could see in one day, and I think we succeeded. Right off the bat we went to "Checkpoint Charlie", the checkpoint that was used to cross from the American sector of Berlin to the Soviet section. After a quick frappacino at a Starbucks (yes, I broke down... it's only been my second Starbucks trip in Europe though) we did kind of a walking tour ... read more