From Görlitz to Frankfurt an der Oder with bikes. Yikes!

If you're reading this at all, you know that we do biking, not big biking but a bit more than casual, that we love trips from Point A to Point B, that there will be some repetition in these reports because bike tours are not so very different from each other. We see different cities and villages, different landscapes, but they each have a character of their own and each is special. So it was with this trip from Görlitz to Frankfurt an der Oder.

The map says it's 194 K (121 miles) along the bike path, but of course we did a couple of side trips and of course wandered around the little cities where we overnighted, so we're upping the K to 214 (133 miles) for our total.  Fair?

The train ride to Görlitz was easy; one of the train employees suggested an earlier transfer in Berlin rather than the more demanding transfer at the main station.  What a great idea!  Saved us time and trouble. Thank you, Deutsche Bahn!

We got to our hotel - The Three-Legged Dog - about 3:30 in the afternoon.  It's an old place in the middle of the old town, lots of steps and crannies and window boxes full of herbs and strawberries.  Gotta love that! (The old story of the 3-legged dog was long and ultimately dissatisfying so I will not repeat it here.)

After checking out our bikes and making minor adjustments - which would later need further adjustments - we took a walk around the Altstadt/Old Town, though we kept it simple knowing we'd have a guided tour the next morning.

Dinner?  Hey, let's start with a beer and sauerkraut bread. What? Yes. It was actually great with the beer - though that might be my only experience with sauerkraut bread.  Otherwise a good dinner to get us going. And that 3-legged dog was creepy.

Day 1, July 3

From Görlitz to Rothenburg

Görlitz has had an anonymous angel since 1996 who has donated 500,000 € a year to the restoration of historically significant buildings in the city.  If you find out or make public the donor's identity, the gifts will stop, so folks there are happy to leave that a mystery.  More than 3,000 buildings in this rather small town are under historical protection, so the gift is important and more than welcome.  And the results are visible.

The 90-minute tour was nice but we left shortly before it was over when they got close to our hotel and then we prepared to head out.  Stopped at the farmers' market and got some fresh cherries and tomatoes, a sandwich from the bakery.

See those charming black balsite stones on the streets and squares?  They look great but for biking they are the absolute pits.  Not even better than cobblestones even though they look rather flat on the top.  We dealt with all kinds of un-friendly bike surfaces along the way though there were lots of smooth asphalt paths, too.

And GO. Up a hill?  Really?  At the start?  But so it was.  We passed the Executioner's House which was just outside the  "Dark Gate."  The executioner had to live outside the city because, of course, he was sorta not the guy you wanted living next door.  And he manned the one gate that was open after dark.  I'm grateful to live in these times.

At the top of the hill was a huge, huge cemetery, quite different than the ones in our area.

The landscape is lovely, though there are more hills than we expected. Paths are good, though, and the cherries and little tomatoes were a perfect lunch!

After this bit of biking, we figured out what other adjustments we needed so when we arrived at destination one (Rothenburg), we were off to the bike shop.  I wish I had pictures of this place - really low-key local.  But the guy was perfect, had all the right tools and got us adjusted.

Our accommodations this  night were at the Martinshof.  This is the organization here in Germany that accommodates folks with disabilities, a bit like Good Will but more.  Some folks can live on their own and work at the Martinshof, some need to live there and be cared for.  I was not sure how I'd feel there, but it turned out great.

The small restaurant had a high-class chef. Dinner - cucumber soup, tonnato, guinea fowl with chanterelle mushrooms. Yow.  It was delicious and the service impeccable, in the middle of NO WHERE.

We left the restaurant and headed back to the sleeping quarters.  Downstairs, there was a party going on!  LOUD music, lots of bass, lots of noise.  As we approached, one of the supervisors said "Don't worry, it'll be over at 9:30pm."  We said, Great, but can we go in and dance in the meantime?   Sure! he said.  So we did.

And before we could even start to dance, a young man got up and gave both of us a whole-arm wave, a huge smile and a huge hug!! It was so dear and so sweet and brought tears to my eyes.  Werner and I danced to the music with each other and with a couple of the folks who lived there. What a party!  I think the highlight of our trip was at the very beginning of our trip.  Of course there are no pictures to share, but the pictures are burned in my memory.

In our room, we watched the USA v. The Netherlands, but I had to crash before the game was done since it went into overtime.  Glad of course to hear the next morning that we'd won.

Day 2, July 4

From Rothenburg to Bad Muskau

Happy Independence Day!  Here, it's Thursday.

Early in the day we had this little slope - thank goodness it was down instead of up!

We were so close to the border most of our trip and these markers indicated which side you were on.

Most of the signs were bi-lingual, German and Polish.  I never understood a word.

It was only 12°c (53°!!) when we got up.  After breakfast and checking out, we stopped at the local baker's for a sandwich to take along, but she said, Sorry, you have to go to the butcher's across the street.  I was too timid to take pictures at the butcher's - too bad.  While Werner waited in line to ask for our sandwiches, local folks bought KILOS of sausages and meats that would have lasted MONTHS for us, but clearly were just normal purchases.  I swear, I have never seen so many sausages hung in one place at one time. Covered all the walls.  We got two sandwiches and there was one left over at the end of the day.

There's not much along the way other than lovely landscapes, fields, the river.  We went through one teeny village where there was a church and the tree in front of it designated as historical sites. Nearby there was a place to sit, so we ate some cherries and one sandwich and took a break.

In the next small village, another historical church.

It didn't take much longer to get to Bad Muskau and our hotel for the night.

After checking in, we went to check out the park.  What a park!! It was designed by Fürst Pückler.  (Yeah, say that three times in a row.)  He was rich to begin with, but not rich enough to build the park he imagined around his little castle, so he found a rich woman to marry and after he used all her money, he found a second wife (with the approval of the first) to continue to fund his passion for building a park landscape.  Without further comment, I'll leave that theme and just mention that the park is now open to the public without charge; it is HUGE and lovely.

I'll give the guy a bit of other credit - he wrote extensively about landscaping and in Germany is known also as the father of Neapolitan ice cream.

We dined early on pizza and salad.

Day 3, July 5

From Bad Muskau to Forst

Werner pronounces this breakfast the best so far (a pronouncement that will be overtaken by another pronouncement later).  All the breakfasts are rather modest in their offerings, but more than enough food always

Except for the wind, the day was unremarkable.  Do note what we're wearing!!

More lovely landscapes.

We arrive at Forst at 12:30 (really, that was a short ride!).  To arrive at our hotel, we ride past the Rose Garden (selected as Germany's best public garden a few years ago), on through some old residential and industrial areas, through a non-descript downtown.

Most of these cities suffered from bombings during WWII and some buildings, both commercial and private, were never restored during the Cold War.  They are sad and crumbling reminders of a livelier and more productive time.  Many are past repair.

It's time for afternoon coffee and we head back to the Rose Garden but decide not to really visit, just have some coffee and cake and relax.  On the way back, we stop at the Brandenburger Textilmuseum.  I mistakenly thought it had to do with Brandenburg lace, but it was all about the manufacturing of textiles for clothing and home decorating.  Nevertheless, fascinating.  These machines!
Washing machines.

And looms.

And it's an example of how the east German states were short-changed (in my opinion) after re-unification.  This particular factory ran until 1990 and then from one day to the next was closed and 3.000 workers lost their jobs.  This town, like many others in the east, have lost so many inhabitants due to lost job sites, therefore many empty storefronts, buildings going to ruin, depleted apartments.  In this town, there were 28,000 inhabitants before the wall fell; now there are 16,000.

Day 4, July 6

From Forst to Guben.  It's summer today - 80° and lots of sun!  Wow!! This was the only day we biked without a long-sleeved jacket.

Before heading out, we stop to buy cherries and tomatoes for the trip.  You never know if you'll find a place to eat on this trail and cherries are plentiful, tasty and travel well.

Back to the river and again the wind, the wind!  We struggle sometimes, but once were quite distracted by a fox that ran across our path and several ruins of bridges that were destroyed in WWII and never repaired or replaced.

We took a side trip to Grießen where there is a Wehrkirche - a defense church - where you'd go when the attackers were heading your way. The entire church is made of fieldstone and earlier there were no windows.  Yow.

Just outside the city was a strip mine that covers ACRES. More than 130 villages were destroyed and 25,000 people relocated more than 100 years ago to set up this mining area.  At the beginning, hundreds of workers shoveled the dirt to get to the soft coal.  These days just a few workers operate the monster machines to do the same work.  But it's going away.  It will be outlawed in just a few years and the companies will be required to renaturalize the area. This is a terrible picture and gives you no idea how massive this area is or how deep the digging is. But that's as close as we're allowed to get.

No luck finding lunch, so we nibbled on our cherries and tomatoes and got to Guben at 2:00 - a late lunch of salad.  Our Pension for the night had had some upgrades from its GDR time, but its history showed.

The remains of the church on the Polish side.  They are trying to raise enough money to restore it, but my guess is that's not going to happen.

This town shows the contrast more starkly than some others - it seems about half restored and half falling apart and decrepit. Add to that the contrast with the Polish half of the city (Gubin) with its modern shopping center and lively atmosphere.  Then again, it's a whole lot cheaper on the other side of the river!  Dinner at the Ratskeller was quite good - fish with pan fries and game with potato dumplings plus beer and wine - all for €28.50.

And at dinner, my husband, inspired by our ride, once again surprises me quoting a poem from Goethe:  Wanderers Nachtlied

           Über allen Gepfeln ist Ruh'
           In allen Wipfeln
           Spürest du
           Kaum einen Hauch;
           Die Vögelein schweigen im Walde.
           Warte nur, balde
           Ruhest du auch.
                     
Translated:

Goethe’s  Wanderer's Nightsong

Over the hills
Comes the quiet.
Across the treetops
No breeze blows.
Not a sound: even the small
Birds in the woods are quiet.
Just wait: soon you
Will be quiet, too.

I do think Goethe's quiet alludes to the forever quiet after death, which doesn't quite come through in this translation.  Ah, the barriers that language puts up for us.  And we're not dying - there's a couple more days of biking ahead.

Day 5, July 7 

Guben to Eisenhüttenstadt

A surprisingly good breakfast with fresh strawberries but a bit awkward as all the guests share the table and we serve ourselves family style instead of from a buffet.  Not many Germans are used to that.

Off to the Neißemündung - where the Neiße flows into the Oder.  There was a sign but no sign of the confluence.  After some looking around, we located it a bit further upstream than the sign, but hard to see because of trees and such.  We weren't the only ones looking for it!  We showed some other confused-looking folks where to look...

Yesterday I noticed broken shells on the bikeway near the river, and again today.  Figured it out.

Those clever crows take the shell fish and then drop them on the pavement to crack them open.  That's also why I find walnuts on the stones in front of the house though there's no walnut tree nearby.

There's a Cistercian Abbey in Neuzell along with its accompanying brewery, a bit away from the river.

The interior of the Abbey church is high baroque and just breathtaking in its opulence.  Last year they celebrated 750 years of the abbey, though the church interior is only from 1650.  HIGHLIGHT:  at 1:15 three monks came and for 15 minutes we sat quietly while they chanted.  It's calming just thinking about it.

Just outside the gate was the brewery and a restaurant - and potato soup sounded great!  (Warm outside it is not.)

On to Eisenhüttenstadt, by so many grain fields and the wildflowers next to them.

The hotel is right on the bike trail, but the door is locked and no one is there.  What?  We call the number that's posted and the owner?manager? gives Werner a code for the key box and down drops the key.  We let ourselves into the EMPTY hotel and find our room.  The place is not small - three floors and I'd guess 40 rooms - and it is a strange feeling being there alone.  But we need food for dinner and fast!  The WC game starts at 5!  But the hotel isn't the only thing closed here - most of the restaurants are as well and there's no time to bike very far.  Google helps - there's just one place down near the river and we go, get some take-away with the help of the owner, buy a couple of bottles of beer and we're set!

Great game!  And we had the best room of our trip for the game - a suite really, with big comfy upholstered chairs.

Later we met the other family staying in the hotel - a Swedish couple and their two children, almost 3 and 9 months.  They'd biked from Berlin and were heading up river and biking perhaps as far as Dresden.  Wow.

Day 6, July 8  

Eisenhüttenstadt to Frankfurt on the Oder

12° C this morning (53°!!) and still quite windy though the weather had said not.  Oh well.  We had a nice conversation with the Swedish family and gave them some suggestions of what to see or do along the way we had been.  They're doing it all on their own, carrying all their stuff with them.

It's Monday, so everything's open including the local steel mill, which sounds like distant thunder.  We stock up on cherries and a sandwich and go off to find "Stalinstadt"  a town of its own until it was incorporated with two others into Eisenhüttenstadt.  The whole little city is a designated historical site.  The architecture is not quite as severe as some Communist places, but still it is rather institutional looking.

On the road again, and today we run into a little rain.  At one point I was wearing my jacket, vest AND rain jacket and I was not hot!

So many ruins.

The Oder.  It was not a pretty day!

The hotel is fine and at first we think we'd use the bikes again, but then decided to just tell them thanks for your service and let them stay parked.

Frankfurt is by far the largest city we've been in, but the downtown area is close enough and big enough.  There are several interesting Backsteingotik (brick gothic) buildings and they're getting ready for a fun fair, too.

There are far more restored buildings, lots of public transportation, an international university.  But still, a dearth of restaurants.  We end up in a Mexican place and it was barely passable IMHO but Werner thinks I am too demanding of these places.  But really, my quesadilla was a burrito.

Day 7, July 9

Frankfurt to Vegesack

Normally the trip home is hardly worth commenting on, but not this time.  First of all, we missed the bus connection to our first train because we didn't realize that had been cancelled because of rail work.  But rescheduling was rather easy and just put us back about 30 minutes.  We made our connections and watched the landscape fly by. Close to Bremen we decided to pick up the few necessities there instead of going out again when we got home, so Werner watched the bags and I went for milk and yogurt and some bread.

And I return, but where's Werner?  There are the bags but a stranger is over them.  Werner?  Well, the man tells me, he realized he'd left his phone on the train, went to get it, but then the doors closed and off the train went.  OMG.  My phone rings and Werner is in panic mode, but it will be OK, I tell him.  The information folks call the engineer to let him know there's a passenger on his train, and Werner gets out and with the help of a rail worker, gets on another train that takes him back to the station and a little worse for wear, we arrive home.  His chest hurts and his B/P is way too high, but a little rest resolves it all.  Lesson learned:  don't get on empty trains!  And don't panic!

It was a really nice trip - lots of beautiful landscapes, interesting architecture, tons of cherries (!) and very manageable legs.  What's next, Werner???

"Groningen with Friends!"