To Hamburg

My last day in Denmark was the most difficult I’ve had so far. The wind picked up quite a bit, and was enough to blow my tent away, landing on its side and filling with rain water while I was off cooking breakfast. This was quite irritating as my refuge was compromised, but at least nobody was around to see. The wind continued during the day, and a 30-40 mph headwind forced me into some low gears on flat ground. With maybe 10 mph bike speed into the wind, the misty rain was really stinging in what turned out to be a long, slow, and not very far ride out of Denmark. I kept coming up on the back side of windmills, so I guess the wind was nothing unusual. I have gotten into the practice of filling my thermos with tea each morning, which I've been using more then my regular water bottle. I remind myself that every mile is another mile farther south, and each day is a day closer to summer.

The ferry to Germany is what one may expect, but I was surprised to the amount of eateries, duty free stores, and coffee shops for a 45 minute ride. I was the only biker on the ferry. I could not tell if I was welcome or annoying drivers.

Germany also has plenty of well marked, well maintained bike paths, so again, finding my way was not too difficult. I opted for a hostel in Fehmarn, which gave me a chance to dry out some hings. I was lucky to have a four person room to myself to put my things about. My tent was dripping when I hung it from the rafters in the garage. I did have some time to walk around the little town, which was small and very resort like; they had many pizza places and ice cream shops that I took part in. I find some of the international people and foods odd. For example, try ordering Italian food from a German vendor in English. Fortunately, many of the food names are the same. Similarly, you never think of black, Asian, or Indian Germans, but they're around.

My German is much better then my Danish, and I am able to ask for things, count, say “good morning” and such. I've put effort into learning words, where Danish just felt too hopeless to start learning. I've had a few interactions where people may not know how little I know. Some of the Spanish I know has crept in here and there, so I was a bit of a mess for a while, but am slowly getting better. I find that by staring an conversation in German, they'll continue to speak German even after you explain that you speak English. I've had a couple smile and nod “conversations.” Another oddity is American music which is played at a restaurant or supermarket where people don't seem to know the English...?

From Fehmaran, I wanted to plow on to Hamburg, which would have been about a 90 mile ride.

This was over ambitious, and I ended up in Lubeck, a small town of cultural importance in trading. (As a side note, I almost ended up I a beach resort town, but decided to go on. See pictures.) I was moving for the past 5 days or so, so I decided to take a day off and see the small city. As I walked around, I realized most of the river and bus tours were in German, so I headed to the museum and rented an English headset to see the exhibits there. I was also able to catch up on some sleep, laundry, and get a good sit down dinner at a real “German” restaurant. Lubeck seemed like a nice, well to do town that was very manageable for a tourist to navigate and take in.

All of the hostels I've stayed in since Copenhagen are part of a global association, and offer a good level of service at about a fifth of what the Holiday Inn was asking for a one person room. These hostels are nicer then a lot of the hotels I've stayed at in the US; clean spaces with modern design and decoration. Breakfast is included, which makes it an even better value and convenience in getting the day started. The only issue I've had is people snoring or otherwise coming or going during the night. Still, it's nice to be around other travelers, and perhaps share stories and experiences when you've spent the day on the road by yourself. The hostels offer a consistent level of service, but I may be missing out on the local culture by staying at a hostel rather then a bed and breakfast or something less insulated.

Today I traveled the last 60km or so to Hamburg, but a new problem arose when my phone's data plan began to slow down to the point it was unusable. I was able to use the compass on the phone, road signs, and asking for directions to get to Hamburg, but I had a real hard time once I was in the city. Hamburg's streets are not numbered like New York or Chicago, and the paper maps did not have resolution down to the street level. I was eventually able to find the hostel with the help of a public info booth and a separate tourist information center. Still, there was a lot of riding around, getting frustrated, annoyed, and worried that I'd ever find it. I'm glad I got an early start, and was checked in before 5:00pm. I've generally set the alarm for 6:00am and try to be on the road by 8:00. It may be time to fire up my handlebar GPS unit.

Hamburg is a big commercial city (bigger then I thought) and has a thriving port that is one of the largest in the world. After dinner the first night I went for a walk to explore the area. There are a few large ships to tour, and many nautical themed monuments and architectural features, including a gigantic Bismark memorial nearby. Some of the food I saw for sale was interesting, consisting of a various fish and seafood sandwiches, which I tried the second day I was there. I checked out some stuffy rooftop bars, and decided to see what else the city had to explore. But the information woman told me not to explore to far, and sure enough, like any good sea faring city, there are plenty of casinos, sex shops, and shady bars to be avoided. It seems Hamburg has one of the largest red light districts in Europe, which is strangely absent from the brochures, but was included on the bus tour I took the second day. The bus tour took us on a long loop around the perimeter of the city, where some original structures remain. The central part of the city was leveled in WW2 where some 700 us planes drop fire bombs burning down 70% or more of the city (sorry). As such, the center of the city is somewhat modern and filled with modern architecture, trendy stores and so on. Most of the older structures throw back the city origins or generations of fishermen, fish markets, and sea ports.

Some things are still missing. I still haven’t even found a good beer hall... seriously?! I've hard roomers of one down by the water I'll check out tonight. One good thing, is the woman of Hamburg are very pretty. It seems Denmark woman have a sort of emo hipster vibe that I'm not into. I'm working on scoring a dinner date, but I'll be off to Berlin tomorrow.