Brandenberg to Werden: We Meet a Fellow Canadian Walking Around the world - Exploring Germany, Czech Republic and beyond... on our Recumbent Tandem - CycleBlaze
Brandenberg to Werden: We Meet a Fellow Canadian Walking Around the world
As travellers, we always find something to enjoy wherever we are. Some places don't tempt us to return, and Brandenburg is one of those cities. On the one hand, we stayed in a lovely pension in a beautifully restored old building. The couple who ran it were charming and we had a really lovely room with a deluxe bathroom. The only problem is that the traffic noise on the cobbles is unbearable. It is strange that the city funnels traffic and buses through the narrow winding streets of old town. Our windows were triple glazed, but it was too hot to keep them closed. As a recommendation (and we do recommend this pension), get a room on the back. Not only does the traffic make it noisy and congested, it is dangerous. This is the first city we have visited where we have felt a level of aggression from drivers and as cyclists we took extra care. On a positive note, the woman who owns the pension offered me free use of her laundry facilities. She saw us arrive, hot and tired, and she quickly jumped up to empty her machine so that it would be available. This is a rare offer and very much appreciated. That being said, we saw a nice city park, some wonderful historic buildings and yet many buildings in the new and old parts of town are covered in graffiti. We saw houses being restored and fixed up and then comes the graffiti. It seems that money is being spent on the new part of town, but without a plan to integrate the old. The ride today followed many lakes and was very pleasant. I know it is repetitive, but the heat is killing us.
We met a fellow travelling Canadian - Pierre - on the street outside our Pension in Brandenburg. Pierre is 68 and is walking around the world, 6 months at a time. He is from Quebec and he is 3 years in to a 7 year plan to make his dream a reality.
Like us, he also proudly carries a Canadian flag on his trailer. However, he travels with minimal gear - no camera, phone, computer, etc. But he does have a tent and camping gear, as well as a new pair of shoes every month.
The Rathaus (Town Hall) in Brandenburg. Roland's statue has herbs growing like a cap on his head - it is believed to ward off lightning strikes. We're thinking....forget the bike helmet, let's just grow herbs.
This venerable old wooden carving of a man just sitting on the bench is oddly endearing. We watched so many people sit down beside him and take his picture. He did a good job of guarding our bike.
Internet has been really difficult to get in eastern Germany. Here, Mary Ellen is using the internet at the Brandenburg library: 1 Euro per hour - very good, but no wifi. It was interesting to type on a German keyboard (lots of typos).
Brandenburg felt to us like it has an identity problem. They promote the old town, but it feels deserted...and much of the rest of the town feels run down with much grafitti. After unification in 1989, many young people left the city and there is some concern about the future of this city.
We had been riding along on our own for some time, when we came upon a large group of cyclists. One of whom was Canadian (Calgary). They were part of a Bike/Barge group who ride each day and sleep/eat on their barge. This couple are from Holland (Den Haag and Horrn) and they are the cycling leaders for the group.
Grrrrr....nasty gates in this forest area. We understand that they are trying to prevent motorized traffic - but couldn't they make it a bit easier for a bike?
