July 3, 2022
Day 82: Decin to Pirna
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Breakfast in our hotel right on the main square in Decin was again that generally pleasant European standard that we have come to enjoy so much. But it did raise a possible definitional issue with the "jammer" standard, originally developed by the Classens. While initially a "ten jammer" perfect breakfast derived from the idealized ten pots of different home made jams that were to be found as part of an elaborate breakfast. Later someone, maybe us, conceded that a ten jammer need not have exactly ten jams, if it had lots of other stuff. But today, what could have generally been a "six jammer", to our surprise appeared to have zero jams. That seemed extreme enough to warrant submitting the case to the Classens for a ruling: "Can a breakfast with zero jams receive a jammer rating?".
It became a bit of a non issue though (if indeed it ever was an issue!) when we discovered one jam - apricot - hiding somewhere. Classens, are you reading this? What do you think?
Following the "x" jammer breakfast I went to bust our bikes out of the locked storage. As has happened so often on this trip, I was amazed at how many cycles, and therefore cyclists, were patronizing the hotel. Cycle touring is much more of an economic force here than at home.
Our hotel was directly on what we took to be Decin's main square. We have not toured around the town, but our square did seem to be the main one. So I took a photo in one direction, producing the image of a handsome building in the first photo below. But without moving my feet, I also shot the second photo - in the interest of true reporting. The second photo reveals at least one not very handsome apartment block in the heart of downtown.
The big feature and news about today was that the route returned us to the river, and stuck with it, together with a smooth surface and perfect signage.
There was a bit to look at, like a white castle on a hill, and a giant monastry.
We have been a little down on Czechia, so it was cause for a bit of celebration when we crossed the border back into Germany. Czechia made a bit of a display at the border -both coming and going, but Germany had no comment or signage one way or the other.
The river beyond this point was not just a blank canvas, but it featured various forms of visual interest and activity. There were ferry boats and river boats and even a guy in a kayak plying the water. And the banks began to feature high cliffs with interesting rock formations, not to mention a couple of castles. There was even one large building for sale, spawning fantasies for us about opening a guest house for cyclists.
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We have been luck on this trip to happen on quite a few local celebrations. So it was as we rolled in to Stadt Whelen, not too far from Pirna. The town had a well defined central square, where we found ice cream and bratwurst on offer from set up stalls. But some approaching marching music signalled some greater excitement on the way. Indeed, it was a parade presumably of town notables, but also miscellenous groups like the fire department and strangely, the beekeepers. There were also some cheerleaders? or drum majorettes? but they only seemed to march without performing anything. The whole rationale of the march was rather a mystery, but it was fun anyway. If you look at the video, don't be mislead by the drumming only, since there was also music from some sort of brass instruments.
(Flash - the celebration was "schifferfastnacht", which is usually held in winter (delayed due to Covid) and which celebrates skippers of transports on the Elbe. Shipping brought, for example, the sandstone from the cliffs, for use in construction in nearby cities.) The brass instrument is the schalmei, originally of Iranian origin, and now produced locally since the middle ages.)
Our target for the day was the house of Thomas and Jana in Pirna. We had met this couple along the Enns river in Austria in 2012 when we shared a camping shelter one night. Since then they went on to cycle extensively in South and Central America, and here, to host many Warmshowers visitors.
In Pirna, we were impressed at how, unlike in Prague, we were immediately greeted by a main street that offered a separated bikeway. ow nice it is when that happens.
We were stopped and checking the GPS for how best to reach Thomas and Jana when here they were, riding up behind us. That's a good indication that we were on the right track!
After ten years, we had a lot of catching up to do, but as often happens, compatible people can pick up a friendship instantly no matter how much time has passed. This was certainly the case tonight, as we talked and talked about so many things. One of the areas that was very current and interesting was the impact of the Ukrainian war on prices in Germany and the EU, and the general question of how the conflict should be addressed by the government. One thing that was clear was that the approach of the US and of the German government is not universally favoured by the people here. It is not so clear to many that Russia is entirely in the wrong and the West is entirely in the right, nor that the West actually has the power to crush Russia, either militarily or economically. We explained that in North America we are fairly sure that Russia is viewed as entirely in the wrong and that weapons support to Ukraine is approved of. It was interesting to see the different possible interpretations on this.
Thomas and Jana are so sweet, and so interesting to talk to. There is no question that an evening with them gave Meaning to Life for us today.
Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 4,607 km (2,861 miles)
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Enjoying your misadventures on the road. Maybe you should carry a battery operated chain saw with you to remove those annoying trees blocking your path. Safe travels!
1 year ago
1. What I took to be Suzanne/Janos: Weapons are evil, we need to stay away from them and not distribute them around, pretty much no matter what.
2. Jana and Thomas: Russia's war is dirty, but U.S. also did Iraq, Afghanistan, Balkans, Vietnam, etc. etc. U.S. is using Ukraine for a proxy war. Ukraine is in the wrong with respect to its Russian speaking/ethnicity people and regions. NATO wrongly expanded after 1991. US/EU anyway can not succeed against Russia if ordinary Russian believe they are in the right, which they do.
3. Majority of North Americans: Russia brutally attacked a country freely trying to choose its own destiny. Putin seeks to re-establish Soviet Union, against the will of countries he will subjugate. If not stopped now, he will continue. Heavy weapons to Ukraine are the only way to face down such naked aggression and war crimes.
1 year ago
In the old, camping days, I used to beg for one of those little chain saw like chains with two handles, for cutting firewood. Now at home I do have a rather brutal E-GO battery saw. But given the crying we have both been doing over carrying a 13" laptop, the 14" chainsaw is probably not on.
I was watching Rick Steves give some tips on Youtube last night. He recommends minimizing gear. The example he gave - yes you might need that snorkel and fins in Greece, but do you want to carry them when crossing the Alps? That's actually an easy one. Tougher is stuff like "how many chargers/cables do we need for our nine electronic devices", and the almost biblical one: Why do we need 9 devices?
1 year ago
As far as the number of devices we last carried 4. Two iphones and 2 ipads. We may go down to one ipad next trip. No garmin type devices as our phones provide our navigation needs. Oh and one camera which we may be drop and just rely on phone camera next trip.
1 year ago