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It
was getting dark when
I finally reached this eastern German city because I had left
Hamburg a bit late thanks to a party weekend at Reeperbahn. The old
border between east and west was marked with a large, brown road
sign, a desolate stretch of 40 km. through dense forest and later a
village of ramshackleing houses. It was no warm welcome to Eastern
Germany but I had not expected it to be any different. The bike was
in tip-top condition on this day – my ass however felt
progressively uncomfortable in the saddle here 700 km. Away from
home. Av, av, av - ouch!
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| Having a rest, some grey/brown East German Village, Germany |
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| Camping in the garden of a receptionist I met in Neuruppin. A frog kept me awake the whole night though... Where: Neuruppin, Germany |
The lady who opened had black, curly hair and a long nose. To give you a picture she looked like an evil witch from a fairytale. Although she was initially skeptical about letting me stay in her garden, she seemed to feel more and more comfortable as we chatted in the door and so she offered me to stay inside instead. And what a fantastic house! It reminded me of a large castle in Denmark, there were so many different rooms that I would have been lost without her help - all the rooms were decorated as in a museum, "oh - this place was not bad for a peasant Jutlander" I thought to myself.
The lady was of english origin but had separated from her husband who had beaten her. Her name was Judy these days but she had changed identity and passport number of times. And now the unhappy lady's biggest problem was that an African hacker group watched her house and tried to steal her fortune. Thieves had broken into her home several times. She wept as she told me and exclaimed "I'm so lonely, I do not know anyone here and everyone wants to get rit of me." It was getting a little scary and I wondered what could happen that night? Simultaneously it was also very touching - it's these experiences that makes my tavel-heart pounding (!): here I was sitting among porcelain dolls, giant murals and in front of me was this unknown woman who bursted into tears over the injustices of life - it didn't happen every day for me. I was glad that I only had a bicycle tour to Ukraine to worry about. It was at least tangible. The previous week I wrote that I got two small hearts of glass from a lady in Schleswig - the one I gave on to Judy, who smiled and gave a big hug in return.
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| Visiting a witch who didn't want to be in any of my pictures. She was spooky and friendly at the same time. Where: Ludwigslust, Germany |
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| ... And she offered me this amazing bed for the night. Surely better than a tent!! Where: Ludwigslust, Germany |
Later that evening I was allowed to sleep in the Prince Room in a bed so high and wide that I had to jump to get up there. And although I did not miss my 5 mm. thin mattress, I slept neither safe or good that night with the spooky Lady in the East German woods.
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| She made her own dolls. None of them really smiled. They looked all kind of sad. Weird place. Where: Ludwigslust, Germany |
Next morning I had a different energy probably because I sincerely wanted to get away from this strange meeting – in spite of the great facilities. I could not help to compare this episode to the enticing house in the fairytale of "Hansel & Gretel."
Off I went and 115 km. later I arrived in Neuruppin - some back pain and a ass richer. At the town's tourist office a receptionist felt sorry for me when I asked for a camp site (it's actually illegal to put up tents at locations other than campsites) and offered me: "You sleep in my garden". When I had placed my snail shell on her address she also invited me inside for the night but the recent experience need more digestion time, so I answeared "thanks, but I'll just sleep in the garden" as this was quite nice. What I did not know was that in the fish pond lived a frog who croaked so loudly that I did not sleep all night. I tried to think positively and got this smile on my face when I thanked got that I had not been turned into such frog back in Ludwigslust ... Well, I can inform you that this area INDEED IS haunted!
A bit tired I reached Bad Freienwalde in beautiful surroundings. Here I sought shelter in a private pension which both offered quiet nights and great german breakfast.
1st of June I continued across the border to Poland, where I arranged a meeting with a Polish family through www.couchsurfing.org.
I love this unpredictable form of traveling and although there is a whole week before the European Championship kicks off, the adventure has begun days ago!
I'll write you from Poland, I hope you enjoy life.
Rolling greetings
/T-spotter
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