7 June
Decided on a route detour to see and stay one night in this resort area.
During breakfast had a chance to discuss the DDR to unification with the very interesting owner of the Gasthaus. Will write this up from a real computer tonight.
Certainly his views are not what we typically hear at home.
Forest, read very buggy and nice, ride to Semlin on sea. Small tourist town with a golf course and resort hotel, our abode for the night.
Expect to be able to join SMCG on Skype today.
6 June
Back on road after excellent stays and touristing in Potsdam and Berlin.
Still no rain but some wind expected, will find out once out of the city and past Charlottesberg. Suggest lookup of this three star palace on the western edge of Berlin.
In general wind comes from the West so the more expensive sections on Berlin are in the West.
Berlin is 48 km wide so it takes a bit to get out of town. Easy paygd to follow but slow because of the many intersections and map checking.
Then to Spandau a town with an ugly entry but nice center. The road finally becomes a forest road, slow due to all the tree roots on a loaded bike. Very pretty and put of the wind.
Nauen turns out to be a very small town with a number of lower priced food and clothing stores. Not much else as the rathaus closed at 1300.
Nice family running the gasthaus.
Greetings from Berlin,
Just finishing up our third day here. Excellent city for walking, biking, people watching, as well as the expected architecture viewing.
Tomorrow we do the the main sights. Reichstag, Holocost memorial, the big squares, the Dom, museums, etc. Have seen most of these by bike but a walking tour will be better for details.
Friday we leave and expect to spent Sat. Night, our time, in Wittenberge. Naturally will try to get get a place with good connectivity.
Good to hear that Dee will be out and about and doing a classic ' eleve` ' ; soon an arabesque.
Tscheus
2 June
Arrived Berlin after a lovely ride through the forests and then the
outskirts of Berlin. Got to the hotel, about a 40 km ride,on bike paths the
whole way and no map. GPS got us to the hotel, the final few kms. Good
hotel, thanks the Michelle and George.
This is the Westin Grand Hotel Berlin. Good location and suitably grand
upon entry. All went well at checkin and they explained that we could not
take the bikes to the room. Fine, then put them in the service closet (this
is a typical solution in good hotels and has worked fine all over the
continent, never had a problem). However, the bell man takes me to the
street and suggests we leave the bikes outside on a public rack for the
duration. What! Fussing, need the manager but got the concierge. "The
luggage room is full". So, I stood my ground. Why is that my concern.
This is a grand hotel I explain and not the first time we have been in good
hotels. In the Gasthaus we have to use the faradgarage but … "Yes, but
we are not a Gasthaus" My point exactly. I will be happy to take the
bikes to the room. "It will ruin the elevators". You are a grand hotel,
no? Find a solution. Then put them somewhere inside and safe. The
eventual compromise was to put them in the luggage room with a promise not
to move them from the room unless he discusses this with me.
The Grand Hotel does have some good features – a real American style king
sized bed, the first since our journey started. Pool is closed,
renovations, but we can use the Hilton two blocks over.
Walked the area and shops for a while and found a Galleries Lafayette only
150m from the hotel. Excellent gourmet shop in the underground floor so we
stocked up for dinner. Will go back there to eat frequently I suspect.
31 May,
Alert! Need Hawaii shirt, baseball cap, and white shoes, especially the latter. Have been asked if French, Aussi, and English. Apparently we do not look or speak like Americans. Send white shoes.
Pic from Dutch section. This led us to discuss current usage of the word ghetto. QB and I believe that it currently refers to poverty and non assimilation and it is not commonly used to refer only to separation independently of wealth. In the past century it meant separation alone with mixed economic inhabitants.
The dutch village started with Fredrick bringing in skilled water workers for the areas around his palace. They eventually left, did not like it here, and now it is a privatized development. Apparently it was in ruins during the East German period.
Took a chance on a Cambodian restaurant. Much to our surprise it was done well and when they did not being nuoc mam and I asked for some a proper bowl appeared.
30 May
Potsdam is, according to our Guide Michelin, a three star city. Finally as QB has said. We will stay three nights.
Before departure breakfast buffet had a new item this morning. Steak tartar, garnished, of course, with onions. Apart from the microbrial feast it seems a bit early to tackle.
Good ride except for an hour wasted looking for a road on a map. Bought a high end waterproof map, a dedicated and detailed map of the region. Road does not exist. Rode in circles. Asked local finally have up. Other repea found in just one day. Need a refund.
Dinner yes! A French crepe place. Yeah! Breton fish soup, perfect. Savory and sweet crepes. Bobby needs to practice and prepare for the arrivals. No pics as we scarfed all eats. Lobhush ride on hot day when going in circles or just back and forth.
Hotel had given us, just us? Unlimited public transportation passes for here and for Berlin.
Sanssoui, look it up, is Fredrick's response to Versaille.
Indian festival in multiple languages explaining Vedas.
Glad to hear that the QB is back on the royal saddle and hope she is not suffering too much from the previous fall.
I did not see the expected retinue (footmen, ladies in waiting,canopy over bike, etc.).
Was gibt es?
Sorry you had some rough riding, but the paved raod looked pretty good.
We'll send food photos after we get home.
Dee
29 May
On the R 1 to Potsdam. Route too hard to make it in one day.
R1 mostle bad dirt here so after 15 km found a road.
Then back on improved R1 roads. Ride turned out to be hilly.
Belzig is a small town of 11K persons with a thermal bad and the requisite castle.
Additional storks and a highlite for me: a thermalbad. Pics will be on flickr when we get connectivity next.
In short, pay 8.50 euro for two hours to use a thermal water swiming pool. Excellent facility with good showers etc. The main pool is large but not as big as the one in Weisbaden. Temp is 32.
Outstanding got tin, best I have ever seen in terms of design and comfort. However it is kept at a cold 36. They think it is hot!
28 May
Home of the Reformation and city of many pilgramages.
QB thanks all for their comments, added support staff, animate and gnome variety as well as the good wishes. She gives extra points to Moshe for accuracy of observation.
The Gasthaus in Torgau turned out quite well. Good kitchen and lovely restored 16th century inn. Even had CNN. Wedgewood colored 30 foot ceiling with a wide variety of foods for breakfast. Usually the inexpensive Gasthaus places have sparser breakfasts.
What a difference a day can make. The first 35 km, as of this writing, on perfect roads, some small rolling hills, no cobbles, heavy winds but more tail than head. Agricultural with corn and wheat.
After the ferry the wind really picked and our path was much more windy. Sections of kilometers where I could do no more than 10 km per hour.
27 May
Moat had three bears.
Hard day today. QB fell, scrapes and subsequent tiredness. Many km of difficult cobbles and unpaved roads. Cobbles forced us to walk quite a bit. Averaged under 8 km per hour for the day. Rode all day.
Torgau is a 1000 year old town that played an important role in the Reformation. We are a day's ride from Wittenberg. Wealthy Electors of Saxony, and their hanger's on had their houses here and much is preserved or reconstructed.
Good 16th century arch. And an excellent castle.
 | eltrudell on Nyc final bits |
 | boogkb on Nyc final bits |
 | Jerome West on Nyc final bits |
 | bmorgen1 on NYC bits 3 |
| boogkb on NYC bits 3 |
Boog's Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.