I guess it's time to summarize the first quarter of my journey to Southampton and back to Germany – or rather back to Bavaria, which is kind of Germany. A strange kind. A very strange kind. Very, very strange. Anyway. Let's stay focused: CYCLING THE FLAG FOR SUSTAINABLE VOLUNTEERING – that's also kind of strange, but related to the topic of that blog. Therefore I'll continue with that.
Strange just because I'm cycling the flag without having a flag with me. OK, I printed the logo and took it with me, but that's not even half of the significance. But who carres! The first joke had been droped before I even got on the sattle for more than 20km: the flag arrived 2 hours after my departure from VJF-Office. That's a story to tell! If everything runs smoothly it might become boring … Roman will take care of it. He's the right man in the right position for that.
Sometimes it's very nice when nothing happens: due to the fact it had been the 27th October me, the print and the bicycle went to Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin in order to raise awareness for 50th anniversary of the Soviet-American confrontation in Berlin. 50 years ago a bunch of American soldiers was not allowed to enter Soviet sector of Berlin without passport-control – unfortunately this privilege was part of the Four Power Agreement on Berlin. In order to underline the validity of that agreement the US Army sent tanks. So did the Red Army. More than 1 day the world was on the edge of a 3rd world war – which probably would have been the last. But everyone stayed calm and finally the situation got solved without any weapon fired or anyone hurt. Hooray!
So me, the print and the bicycle arrived at the VJF office with a smile on my face (which is pretty obvious mine, because there is just one face within that trio). That smile got even bigger because my dear friends prepared some snacks and gifts to support the mission. Thank you, guys!
Heavy loaded me, the print and the bicycle catched the train to Bonn, met Sandra at the station and enjoyed the great hospitality of IJGD by staying at Christas flat having a wonderful dinner with quite a lot of selfmade stuff. Tomatos, vine, ginger schnaps. Everyone can define the single amounts on her/his own … just keep in mind: even when there's no documentation left from that epic moment in time I got up at 7:30am and went to Maastricht.
It. Was. Annoying. Partly. First of all the „gift“ from Christa was the catchy tune of „Capri Fischer“ - most definitely Top10 of the German Cheesy Song Charts. Pretending to be a bad ass rock'n'roller it's pretty uncool humming that song … But before leaving the Rhine it was out of my ear and I could focus on navigating, which was very important because the transition from one bike track to another (cross country - to make it easier) was quite challenging and took more time than expected. But finally me, the print and the bicycle found a way through and reached Aachen after passing some nasty industrial areas.
After some short sightseeing (Remember? Cross country navigating keeps catchy tunes away but takes more time) it was time to cross the border. Een warm welkom! The sun was shining (which happens at least 400 days a year in that area according to an old lady I met in Vaals) and me, the print and the bicycle rushed to Maastricht for a final sightseeing and some snacks …
Because of all that Euro-crisis-dilemma I decided to spend the night on the Belgian side of the border. You never know who's gonna shout down the borders! Just have a look at the Northern German (colloquial: Danish) folks … Focus! Me, the print and the bicycle also crossed the Dutch-Belgian border without even noticing at first sight and made our hattrick perfect: three countries within 1 day! Hooray! Again.
Right before having a desperately needed shower I stopped at „Nachtwinkel“ to grap some drink and food for the night just because this seems to be one of the most perfect names for a late night shop. Unfortunately it just means „late night shop“ and my respect for the genius of the shop owner dropped down like Greek bonds. But he was a nice guy anyway.
After spending a perfect night in Riemst I prepared myself by having a big breakfast – I guess the waitress is still wondering how on earth this guy can eat that much. I tried to explain her that the food is used in a sustainable way because the energy was needed on the rollercoaster ride to Brussel in order to promote sustainability and volunteering. Maybe that performance wasn't promoting our ideas very much. But I'll try to improve it for the next times – e.g. by having a first breakfast on my own...
All day long me, the print and the bicycle went slightly uphill and afterwards slightly downhill before climbing the next hill and rolling down again. It was a nice stage! It wasn't boring at all – most of the time I was looking for the right gear and during my breaks a did some sightseeing and got surprised by the unknown beauty of cities like Leuven. In Tienen a group of boyscouts came across and we had a little chat about International youth exchange recognizing Alliance organisations without providing badges for each and every success of participants might have a huge problem. Unfortunately I was not able to hand out badges for „Taking a picture with a random guy on a bicycle“ and failed to record that interaction. It was a highlight anyway.
306km done. Tomorrow it's time to go to France. It seems to become a cloudy stage ...
If you wish to watch video from Tamazulapam, Oaxaca of the welcoming of the Flag
Because of all that Euro-crisis-dilemma I decided to spend the night on the Belgian side of the border. You never know who's gonna shout down the borders! Just have a look at the Northern German (colloquial: Danish) folks … Focus! Me, the print and the bicycle also crossed the Dutch-Belgian border without even noticing at first sight and made our hattrick perfect: three countries within 1 day! Hooray! Again.
