- USA
- Ireland
- France
- Belgium
- Back in France
- May 30, 2005Mexican Princesses
- May 31, 2005Versaille
- June 1, 2005Last Day in Paris
- June 2, 2005Coast of Marseille
- May 3, 2005Callanques of Marseille
- June 4, 2005Leaving Marseille
- June 5, 2005Busted Ankle
- June 6, 2005Healing in St. Raphael
- June 7, 2005Bongos on the Beach
- June 8, 2005Goodbye, St. Raphael - Hello Cannes
- June 9, 2005Antibes Daytrip
- June 10, 2005Chilling in Cannes
- June 11, 2005To Nice with the Finns
- Monaco
- Switzerland
- Germany
- Austria
- Hungary
- Poland Fun
- June 29, 2005Zakopane
- June 30, 2005Hiking in the Tatry Mountains
- July 1, 2005Trail of Wooden Architecture
- July 2, 2005Krakow Jazz Festival
- July 3, 2005Kazimierz
- July 4, 2005Goral Burger
- July 5, 2005Ciupagi
- July 6, 2005Czestochowa
- July 7, 2005Trainhopping
- July 8, 2005Happy Birthday Mom!!!
- July 9, 2005Happy Birthday Jack
- July 10, 2005Banana Riding
- July 11, 2005First Russian Embassy Visit
- Poland Family
- July 12, 2005Family, at Last
- July 13, 2005Mom's Schoolfriends
- July 14, 2005Muddy Ponds
- July 15, 2005Partying in Poznan
- July 16, 2005A Relaxing Day
- July 17, 2005Sheeshah Bar
- July 18, 2005Five Souvereign Lands
- July 19, 2005The Good News
- July 20, 2005Another Family Function
- July 21, 2005Just Chilling
- July 22, 2005The Best Bike Ever
- July 23, 2005Looking for a Home by the Baltic Sea
- July 24, 2005Copernicus and the Boyscouts
- July 25, 2005Visas are Set to Go
- July 26, 2005Luxury
- July 27, 2005A Day at Work
- Russia
- July 28, 2005Back in St. P Looking for 1UP
- July 29, 2005Peter's Pimpin' Palace and the Neverending Nights
- July 30, 2005Big Bad Moscow
- July 31, 2005Beating Birches
- August 1, 2005Off to Siberia
- August 2, 2005Drinking with the Guards
- August 3, 2005Big, Rolling Trans-Siberian Party
- August 4, 2005Pack up, Only Six Hours Left
- August 5, 2005Irkutsk
- August 6, 2005Swimming in Lake Baikal
- August 7, 2005Drenched
- August 8, 2005Partying with Uzbeks
- August 9, 2005I Love You Omul, I Heart Baikal
- August 10, 2005Pushed out of Russia
- Mongolia
- China
- August 26, 2005Chasing Buses
- August 27, 2005Looking for the Opera
- August 28, 2005Sleeping on a Wall
- August 29, 2005Trying to Find the Opera Once Again
- August 30, 2005Forbidden City and Searching for the Opera
- August 31, 2005The Opera Sucks
- September 1, 2005Hutongs and Strange Food
- September 2, 2005The Peking Ducks Incident
- September 3, 2005Beijing Shopping
- September 4, 2005The Dirt Market and Tiger Penis Vodka
- September 5, 2005Temples, Temples, and More Temples
- September 6, 2005The Amazing Summer Palace
- September 7, 2005Goodbye Asia
- Back in the USA
World Trip
Biking the Bavarian Backwoods
In the morning we ate breakfast and talked a lot more. I had explained to them my story and my desire to go and visit the villages that I had lived in when my family stayed in Germany 15 years ago for a year and a half. Herbert and Lydia were kind to lend me their bike and a topographic map of the area, and explained to me where to go. I headed off.
After riding the bike for about four and a half kilometers, mostly downhill, I got a flat. So I walked back to Geberdshofen with the bike on my back. I tried hitchhiking, but the only kind person that stopped did not have enough room in his car to take the bike along. To all the other people who drove past me in campers with bike racks I just want to say that I had a really nice walk, uphill in the warm noon sun, with the bike on my back.
I got back to the Forkl's just in time for lunch. We ate a little, talked and laughed, and I set off to repair the inner tube. The problem was that the hole was right on a joint, and it took me three unsuccessful tries to get it sealed. Eventually Herbert showed me the right way to do it and all seemed OK. Just in case, he gave me another patched inner tube to take along. This one seemed OK and would be good in case I caught another flat.
So once again I headed off. However, I did not have to go far before the seal broke one more time. I could have walked back much more easily this time since I was only about 1.55 km down the road, but I was determined to go on. So I switched the inner tubes and carried on downhill.
I reached the little village of Alfeld that was the end point of my prior biking attempt, and noticed that there was a Sparkasse bank there. When I was a little kid living in Germany in 1990, I opened up a savings account in a Sparkasse and now had a yearning to walk in and say in German that I would like to close my account and withdraw my money. It is not a lot of money, and is still in the old currency of Deutsch Marks, but I figured I would be able to at least buy myself a beer with it. So I walked in, and had my bank booklet with me as I had really planned this a while ago. Well, it turns out that the account is already closed and I was not able to withdraw money form it on the spot. Accounts older than 10 years are closed automatically and the money is put on hold. So I left my booklet with the nice man at the bank who will send it on to the central bank, and I will be able to find out how much money I have there and withdraw it on Wednesday.
I continued on by bike for 20 km to Hersbruck, mostly downhill. This was nice at the time, but I knew that a time would come later on in the day that I would need to make my way back, uphill. I arrived in the city of Hersbruck and stopped there to buy some more water, lots of chocolate for energy and a new inner tube just in case.
As I was arriving in the first stop along the way, Kirchensittenbach, the second tube went. Thank God I had the forethought of buying a new one. I installed the new tube and carried on.
Kirchensittenbach is a little town not too far from Treuf. We lived in Treuf during the last part of our stay in Germany and visited the church here. The town looked vaguely familiar. I walked into the church, but it looked nothing like I had remembered it. Most likely I had it confused with another small church on some other village in Germany.
The next stop was Hohenstein, where I went to school when we lived in Treuf. Hohenstein is on top of a big hill. I managed to climb it in granny gear, and exhausted walked around the village. To my relief, it looked exactly like I had remembered it. I climbed to the little castle even further uphill and relaxed for a while, overlooking my old stomping grounds.
From here on it was literally downhill to Treuf. After cruising down a little field road I arrived at this village. Virtually nothing has changed in fifteen years. The house we lived in is now privately owned but still stands where it used to. Across the street is the Stauber family farm.
I stopped by and said hi to a lady that worked there. I asked her if she was Frida Stauber, and she reluctantly said yes. She did not recognize me at first. However, after explaining to her who I was she remembered my parents, my sister and me. We talked a little about the things that have changed and how life now is. I ran around the farm bit, took pictures of places where I spent many of my childhood months learning about the facts of life (it's a cow, pig, and rabbit farm), and wrote them a nice thank you note on a New York City postcard for being so good to me as a child. I headed down a familiar rode on the bike to the next village.
The next stop along the way was Lungsdorf, which was the very first place I have lived in a non-Communist state. I took a long way there, deciding to ride through a few of the neighboring villages. I stopped at one and asked about a girl I remembered from fourth grade, but I think I had the wrong village since they did not know of any 25-year-old Heidi.
After cruising down a great hill I arrived in the Pegnitz river valley and went in the direction of Lungsdorf.
Lungsdorf looked almost exactly like I had remembered it. However, the Gasthof where we lived for the first few months of our stay in Germany had burned down ten years ago, so instead I sat on a bench amongst its foundations and smoke a cigarette, reminiscing. I talked to an older man across the street that I did not know and we had a nice conversation about this little village. He told me a bit about his travels to New York City, Cleveland, and Buffalo. When I left he told me that if I ever come back to Lungsdorf I should stop in for a tea.
It was getting late now and I had already traveled over 40 km. I had at least another 40 to go, and half of them uphill, so I headed back along the Pegnitz towards Hersbruck, having to skip over the town of Velden where I went to school for a little while.
The ride back was very nice but the land seemed strange. Things looked very different, as I had remembered the valley much rockier. However, this is probably due to the fact that we were there only during the latter part of the winter and early spring, and instead of seeing the lush green forest one could see only the rocky cliffs that line the river.
In Hersbruck I called up the Forkls to let them know that I was OK and was getting ready for the last part of the journey, so that they would not worry about me. I headed back, kicked in the dynamo so my bike had light, and headed off uphill towards Geberdshofen. Halfway there a car stopped and a man with a familiar face told me to get into his car. Herr Forkl came out to meet me because he was not sure if the bike's light was working.
Altogether I traveled over 80 km (50 miles) on bike today. My behind hurt, and my upper body was sore from having to carry the bike earlier on in the day, but I was as happy as ever. When I got back, I ate a quick supper, talked with Herbert and Lydia some more, and went to sleep.
