Tagged with Germany

Travel blogs tagged with Germany:

1 2 3 ... 6

Startschwierigkeiten

13. July 2005 | de

Verpeili

Endlich geht es los. Die Karre ist gepackt, Felix sietzt hinten drin. Aber noch kein Lebenszeichen von Stani. Also sind wir nach Maichingen gefahren, um diesen einen raus zuklingeln. Der hat mal dick verpennt.

Kaffeepause in Pforzheim

Nun ja, morgens und so… Nicht nur der Stani war verplant, sondern die ganze Bande. Erstmal auf die flasche Seite der Autobahn und vollgas. In Pforzheim an der Raststätte raus, n Kaffee, schnell noch nach Luft, Wasser und den Schreiben geschaut und ab dafür auf die andere Seite der Fahrbahn zurück in Richtung Süden. Aber, der Kaffee war lecker und jetzt schon nötig :)

Tags: Rasthof Pforzheim Germany
Map: N 48° 90.715 E 8° 773.967

To logbook | Author: Andi

I´ll be back

16. December 2007 | de

Liewe Leuds..erst mal nichts wirklich neues. Bin über Weihnachten und Sylvester daheim. Solange also auch keine neue Berichte.

Merry christmas and happy new year.

Tags: Home sweet home Germany
Map: N 49° 42.683 E 8° 314.418

To logbook | Author: Roman

Time To Get Betty

16. March 2008 | en

Betty could also be called Blood, Sweat and Tears. But as melodramatic as I tend to be, I am not cruel. After months of taking every course offered to me, fitting in private students in every spare waking moment, trying to bludgeon to death Patrick for daring to breathe in my space, I now have Betty, my very own motorcycle! (And a total girl bike).

There is just one small problem, I am not allowed to drive her. We began to remedy this problem last July, before Betty arrived, when I went to a driving school near where I live. The term “heads up their ass” was created specifically for these people. In fairness, when I first came to Germany I had the time for lessons, but not the money, when I had the money obviously time was a factor. However this school seemed intent on refusing both my money and their services. Every time I tried to book on the bike time, or my written test, I got, “not now, ask later.”

So after finding Betty, we canceled my contract with the school and I went to a new school. This new school watched me sign the contract, and as soon as my hand left the paper he had his palm pilot out asking when did I want my first on the bike lesson. Wednesday the 19th it is!

Tags: Here there be Betty Germany motorcycle
Map: N 49° 15.420 E 9° 732.170

Created at: 16. March 2008

To logbook | Author: Gypsyprincess

The Black Devil

16. March 2008 | en

The Black Devil needs no words of introduction.

Tags: Enter The Black Devil! Germany Simson Schwalbe
Map: N 48° 69.096 E 9° 025.268

Created at: 16. March 2008

To logbook | Author: Gypsyprincess

the bike

23. April 2008 | en

finally got on the bike that will carry me for the next twelve weeks. It is a sweet Honda, Africa Twin. a 650cc engine, with 50 horse power. been riding around in Berlin today to accustom myself to the bike. it is smooth and easy to handle, i think it will be a good traveler!!!
First night in Berlin was really nice. I arrived at Josh’s around 5pm and was greeted by Henrietta(a flat mate), she and I talked on the balcony in beautiful spring weather, the first of the year for Berliners. We were joined by Lina who came by for a smoke. lots of smokers in this group and it is a social outlet, ‘lets get a smoke’. Lina left for breathing /meditation class. Johanna-Sophie brought over all the ingredients to make spaghetti bolognese, so we sat around the kitchen table chopping vegetables and creating dinner.
Dominik arrived home from work at about 8pm and Josh at about 9pm, so dinner was fairly late for me and seemingly routine for everyone else!! It was worth the wait!! My first bolognese made with carrots and celery, yummy!!a glass of wine, a swiss desert of walnut paste in a pastry and a bit of chocolate-wow!!!
back to balcony for a smoke, then Josh and I talked about the trip, looking at maps and all of the supplies that I brought….then sleep!!!!

Tags: Berlin Germany
Map: N 52° 45.600 E 13° 40.332

Created at: 23. April 2008

To logbook | Author: Eddono420

what to take

24. April 2008 | en

today is another stellar day in berlin. it keeps getting warmer and the sun is shining.
went to the repair shop today to talk about some spare parts for the bikes and also to fine tune some little things…. josh and i discussed what to take with us until 3am and created a list of things we thought we should have with us…then we ‘x’ out the things that were not ‘necessities’...we still have way to much to pack and we still haven’t added clothing…if we aren’t wearing it when we leave then we won’t have it.
then of course at the bike shop we re-added all the non-necessities because they are necessities!!!!!!
everyone has an opinion….
it is truly amazing the way that people become when you start to talk about this type of adventure…at first you start a conversation in a shop about something that you need and the person ‘helping you’ is less than enthusiastic until you mention why it is that you are looking for such a thing….ooooohhhhh wellllllll…...how cool….yes, lets see if we can get that for you….no maybe we can’t help, but you will have better luck here,there, and suddenly you have what you need!!!!! or more that you don’t need perhaps…...this is coooool.

Tags: Berlin Germany
Map: N 52° 45.600 E 13° 40.332

Created at: 24. April 2008

To logbook | Author: Eddono420

preparation continues

25. April 2008 | en

to cook or not to cook…that is the question of the day…i brought a cool little cook stove…a gift from my friends val and sean, back in washington….the plan was to use the stove on the trip to boil water, cook soup etc….it would be very useful to have when we are unable to have a fire, which is what we plan to use to cook most often. josh and i bought a nice camp grill last night which will be very useful for cooking over fires…..so what is the problem you might ask…........well, the stove requires gas canisters, which, although not huge ,do take space to pack, which we are already short of. the canisters are also fairly expensive and according to the sales person, don’t last very long. so we either buy only a couple and hope we can find them along the way or buy a bunch and hope they last(where do we pack them). another problem was brought to my attention this morning…..fire bans, we will be traveling in greece and turkey at peak wild fire season, we may not be able to have a fire to cook over with the grill…....take the stove, take the stove my head screams…...or eat out, and eat cold…..ah, life on the road, we will be dealing with the basics of survival on this trip, which is probably the main draw for adventure travelers… it forces you to step away from the comfort of your couch and tv. and live for the sake of living!!!!! of coarse that means that i’m priviledges enough to not be just surviving…...reality check…...stayed tuned

Tags: Berlin Germany
Map: N 52° 45.600 E 13° 40.332

Created at: 25. April 2008

To logbook | Author: Eddono420

fun in berlin

28. April 2008 | en

so, today was relaxing, got up late, had a lesurely breakfast with joscha and dominik, then dominik and i went to the flea market and looked at alot of junk, but the people are why i like the markets and today was great for people watching. we sat for quite a while watching and listening to live music, afterwhich henrieta joined us and we took people watching to a new level…..yes or no….would you do them….............lots of nos
when we returned home we had another go at getting my computer to recognize the wireless system…. it won’t. if any of you computer gurus no what i should do…...............
anyway the excitement of the day started when joscha got home from work, he had taken my bike and was a bit worked up when he came in. i thought something broke, but no, apparently the machanic ,when putting new brake pads on, failed to tighten the wheel retaining screws….so the front tire was nearly ready to fall off!!! long story on how joscha discovered this ‘little’ detail but luckily it was not while riding!!!!!
needless to say we need to visit our mechanic ‘friend’ again and have a serious talk about his quality control….i’ll keep you posted, and if we get a poor response from him i’ll pass along the shop to avoid…..
well, aside from that the day continued to be fantastic, johana sophie invited us to dinner, gormet all the way…starting with a fresh salad, diced tomatoes, herb feta, and a slice of honeydew melon topped with a garlic herb dressing…..the main was roasted beef, buttered carrots and au gratin potatoes…yummy….and did i mention the olives sauteed with bayleaf and prosciutto, dam hard to stop munching on those!!!! the night ended with singing wine glasses…..hope no one was trying to sleep!!!

Tags: Berlin Germany
Map: N 52° 45.600 E 13° 40.332

Created at: 28. April 2008

To logbook | Author: Eddono420

last trip prep

05. May 2008 | en

well, it’s been some time since my last entry and lots has gone on…we left berlin on tuesday and went to Dominik’s family country house. the plan was to spend the last few days relaxing in the country taking care of the last details before the big departure….it was perfect!! Dominik’s father Octavo was a wonderful host, lending us all the tools we needed and filling us with good food and wine, we were basically spoiled the last week before leaving…maybe it was too nice!!
the work on the bikes was supposed to be simple, but that never turns out to be the case….i had to replace my muffler which would have been a simple task had there not been a screw broken off in the muffler where the sheild attached!#x%x$’####+*what could have taken one hour turned into all day, drilling out the screw only to find that the reason it was broken was because it seemed to have been cold welded!!!!! anyway….nothing is easy, especially if you think that it should have been….the next task was to find a way to use the rack that the plastic cases had been attached to for the aluminum cases, that turned out to be a piece of cake! next was to wire in the lighter socket so we could plug in battery chargers, also pretty easy, except finding parts proved to be the difficulty and so we had to improvise, in the end it worked out great. the last prep work was patching all the holes in the cases and installing locks on the lids.
so then the day of reckoning….actually packing all the crap on the bikes, this huge pile of supplies and clothing had to fit into small little cases and a bag, oh the task was daunting and i was skeptical, but believe it or not we fit everything on the bikes with room to spare….well, to say ‘room to spare’ is a bit optimistic because, now that we have had one night on the road we realize there are some things we still need, but i’m jumping ahead!!!
let me backtrak, so cudos to Dominik, and many thanks for the coffee breaks and home made sweets that he prepared everyday, and also the the fantastic meals that we ate each evening he was really cool to support us in that way!! Thank You Dominik!....
our last night in Barsikow was a celebration with friends from berlin, Johana-Sophie, Henrieta, and Rene came to join us for a dinner of american style hamburgers with cucumber salad and tomato salad, what a feast!!!!
let me just also say that the weather was astounding, you wouldn’t have believed we were in germany, sunny skies and warm temp.
again i must back up just a bit, and tell you of my first real off road riding….so joscha and i head off into the country, really just down the road because we are already in the country, but anyway, we hit a dirt road and take a couple of turns and come to a massive mud puddle. now mind you, this is all new to me, and on the road to this point i had gone into a tiny little puddle which nearly threw me to the ground, so i’m looking at joscha( he has this gleam in his eye) he’s happy as though he has been waiting for this moment, and i’m thinking ‘you’ve got to be kidding’ or ‘are you completely nuts’ and he says ‘the secret is hit it in second gear, not to fast, don’t slow down, let the bike find it’s course and don’t fight it, let the bike swim through it!’ yeah…. i’m thinking i’m going to swim and it won’t be thru anything….you want to go first?.........no, i’ll watch first thanks…...........so he makes it thru and fish tails at the far end, i’m not feeling so confident but what the fuck, just do it as they say…..so, I DID IT, heart pounding out of my chest and all that adrenaline rush, wow, cool!!!!we did it twice more!!! then we hit an enduro trak, i liked the puddle better….enough said.
so, it’s day of departure, another beautiful day, i’m feeling tense and nervous, i’m quiet and it’s noticeable, Joscha gets some bad news, the credit card that he has been waiting on to take with him on the trip was stolen and the thief has withdrawn 4000.00 euro from his account, so the tension is cuttable but we endure and finely get underway at about 1pm.
riding on the bike is a sublime experience, you are totally alone with your thoughts and yet you have to say sharp as to what is going on around you, because one false move and ….well lets not dwell on bad things. the smells of the world are your company when you ride, i smell everything, flowers, trees,grass, pig shit, and lets not forget diesel!!
the german countryside is beautiful, lush and green, we pass thru so may quaint little farming towns, each vary charming, oh the winding roads, this is motorcyling.
we crossed the Elbe river by ferry. it was a pendulum, anchored up stream and directed by rudder, cool!!!

Tags: barsikow Germany
Map: N 52° 84.894 E 12° 54.054

Created at: 05. May 2008

To logbook | Author: Eddono420

first night out

05. May 2008 | en

wild camping in theory sounds very romantic, in practice it presents some very interesting quandries. the 1st and most important is that there really aren’t all that many places you can just set up your tent and be left alone, however, we did find a fantastic location on the Elbe river. we set camp, built a fire, cooked ham steaks and drank a beer. say goodnight, listen to the rain that started at the most perfect time and sleep like a rock….today started with cold and dreary skies, luckily no heavy rains…found a nice coffee shop for breakfast and then rode for the next two hours looking for an internet cafe, not so easy to find in the little farming towns….our goal is to make the czech border by evening…we need to get riding!!!!!!!!!! see you next time, hopefully then i’ll be able to up load all my pictures…

Tags: torgau Germany
Map: N 51° 55.487 E 13° 00.781

Created at: 05. May 2008

To logbook | Author: Eddono420

1 2 3 ... 6