Rob and Anna's travel adventure

I absolutely loved cycling in Germany, and especially German people. Prior to crossing the border, I had imagined a different image of the country - I expected people to be pedantic, strict, and somewhat closed to outsiders. This was a total misconception. Quite the contrary, people were overwhelmingly helpful, friendly, easy going and very patient. After a couple weeks of cycling, Germany was becoming my personal favorite.

The country's beauty was apparent. We were cycling through beautiful landscape - from picturesque coastal line to evergreen forests, lakes, rivers, and cobble street towns. I felt so alive and grateful for the experience.

What touched me the most was German people. When we would stop to look at the map, we would almost always have someone stop and offer their assistance. When we would smile at strangers, they would always smile back with a friendly Moin - Howdy. When we would laugh talking to each other, passing strangers would also join laughing. When I tried to speak in my broken German, people would patiently wait for me to find the words. When we would bike though a narrow country road, a tractor driving farmer would go half way in the grass to give us room to pass. There were so many things of that nature friendly Northern Germans were doing, that made me feel so welcome.

One night were were looking for camping, and stopped in front of the posted map to check our route. A lady was walking by and asked if we needed some assistance. When we asked her if there was a camping near by, she replied there wasn't and that we had a choice to either stay in a hotel or in her home. So, there we were complete strangers invited to stay with a local family. We stayed with Monica and her spouse Andrei, were treated to a great candle light supper, a generous breakfast next morning, and most importantly we gained great friends.

On several occasions people would offer to show us the direction to the cycling route, and bike with us all the way to a starting point. One of such interactions lead us to the famous historical Viking route, called Zalzweg.

There is also something to say about Northern Germany driving. Excellent and very patient drivers. They would always stop to give us the right of way and extra space on the road to cycle though. Sometimes, if a driver saw us stop to consult a map, he would also stop, get out of the car and offer us assistance.

We also had a funny episode happened to us. We needed to fill our cooking stove with gas, which in Germany is called benzin. We tried several gas stations, but people working there did not think that they had the right gas for our stove. At one of the filling stations we saw a big group of guys on motorcycles, they were big guys, all dressed in black. We cautiously approached them, and asked if they could speak English. One of them did. We explained that we needed some gas for the stove, but we did not know if the "benzin" will work. So, they grabbed our fuel bottle, and began passing it around to give it a sniff - to determine what kind of gas we had in it. Afterwards, the consensus was that benzin would work, which we filled with at the same spot, and which we are still using.

There was so much kindness and fun interaction that we came across in this part of Germany.

One thing that I wanted to comment on is the war history. Some people in surrounding European countries still feel sensitive about the subject of the WWII and the impact Germany had in Europe during the war. Yes, it is a part of the black history that is hard to overlook. My own Russian family was affected directly by the WWII. My grandfather was killed in a battle, my mom's little borther died during the war, one sister of my grandma went through a consentration camp, and her other sister through a 900-day siege in Leningrad, Russia. These are the facts, HOWEVER, Germany HAS CHANGED. It is in Germany, or at least in the Northern part of it, that I came across the most kindness and friendliness. I know that I will always think of Germany in the most fond way, and I will definitely return back here some day.


Beautiful streets of medieval Leer


Hamburg

Heart-felt welcome to Pattensen, Germany


Another broken spoke and flat tire


I cooked up breakfast at a bus stop while Rob was repairing the wheel


Another flat tire, and it's raining again


Beautiful sea town of Eckeforde


Lubeck from the Viking time


Camping along the old Viking route


Wine...


and cheese...


Market day in Leer


In historic Hamburg

Anna's entry:

We followed the canal route from Brugge, Belgium to the North Sea coast which was suggested to us by our new friend Hilde, who we stayed with in Brugge. It was a very pleasant and peaceful way to go. We reached the coast, and followed the coastal line with the North Sea and sand dunes on our left, and the lightning and thunderstorm, on our right. Yes, it was raining again, we've got used to it by now, but this time pouring rain was accompanied by numerous lightning strikes, which we kept seeing ahead of us somewhere on the sea horizon. It was pretty - dark purple sky hit by lightning flashes, white sail boats in a harbor, dunes, and just the two of us paddling on the coast. The rain eventually stopped once we were close to the border with Holland. You would not need a sign indicating it was Holland - bike lanes were everywhere, all numbered, signed, with their own traffic lights. Yes, Holland is THE country for easy cycling, the entire country's infrastructure is dedicated to it, and the Dutch love their bicycles. The young in fashionable clothes, the old in wooden shoes, parents with kids in the bike seats, singles with dogs in the baskets - the entire country seems to be on the bikes, virtually! The difference is that Rob and I carry a lot more panniers and camping equipment on our bikes, and, well, we don't have dogs in our baskets.

Our first night in Holland we camped close to the coast in Zeeland, there is a beautiful bike path along the coast following the North Sea, and we decided to follow it for a while. In our camping we met a few Dutch guys, who were crazy about kite flying. They all spoke perfect English, and despite of their age seemed to be well versed in history and politics. We have observed by now that Europeans seem so much more sophisticated, though once in a while we also run into ignorance and stupidity. As an example, in Zuid (South) Holland we run into a motorcycle group of youngsters all dressed in in nazi uniforms - I found it very repulsive and stupid. Also, the Dutch seem to be stingy (thus an expression "go Dutch"), and not as helpful as their Belgian neighbors for example, though we did meet several very kind and helpful individuals.