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| Bike Day 1: Eutin 4 |
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Hamburg, Germany: Getting Ready - Wednesday May 13th, 2015:
(Bob) I awakened around 3 in the morning because my brain wanted to write a poem about the grave of the unknown bombing victim I had seen the previous day. You may think that poets choose when and what to write poems about, and that may be true for poets with more self-control, but I can assure you that for myself and at least some other poets, that is simply not true. Poetry controls us. We write poetry because we are impelled to do so by kind of a voice in our head that is banging the words at us. And make no mistake, that creative drive is strong enough to wake you up in the middle of the night and keep itching you at the back of your mind until you finally write it. For me, at least, it is not that I WANT to write poetry so much as it is that I cannot NOT write poetry when this occurs. This impulse does not let up until I give up, get up, get pencil and paper, and write the words down; I really had no choice in the matter, at least not if I wanted to get back to sleep that night!
Having a bout of "poem writing" occur at 3am was in and of itself somewhat unexpected, but what was really astonishing was that this time my brain insisted on composing this poem in German! WTF? But why? Monika thinks it is a German cultural immersion effect. I really do not know, but it is clear to me now that in some bilingual poets the poem-creating drive is independent of the specific language centers, and that is something I never knew before! I wish I knew other bilingual poets to check out this hypothesis.
"Unbekannt"
Da war einmal ein Man,
Oder doch vielleicht eine Frau,
Isst.
Trinkt.
Ist aber von einer Bombe getoetet.
Isst nicht mehr.
Trinkt nicht mehr.
Liegt jetzt hier,
Als "Unbekannt".
We started to get ready for our trip. Bob started the process of separating all his stuff into things for the bicycle trip--all of which would HAVE to fit into saddle bags and Monika divided hers to pack into her backpack. The rest of our stuff went into the two suitcases which we took over and put into Heinke and Gustl's basement. We did not walk but got a Tageskarte and took train and bus to get our rollies over there as we had a couple chores to do later in the day.
After breakfast with Heinke and Gustl (they feed us well!), we took the S-Bahn train to Hauptbahnhof to buy our tickets for tomorrow's trip to Haffkrug. Monika decided she could do with one more warm sweater, since the weather was rather colder than anticipated, so we also checked a few of the downtown stores. In C&A, Bob spotted a really nice lighweght acrylic sweater that fit perfectly. Now her wardrobe is complete.
Back at Heinke and Gustl's place, Monika helped Heinke get Mittagessen (English: lunch) ready, we ate, and then we went on another little bicycle test ride. This time we roade along the Alster River which is rather close by and has a bike path along it. It was really pretty. Here the Alster is still a relatively small little river, before it gets dammed into the Outer Alster down in central Hamburg, which is more like a small lake.
But now we really wanted to get ready. We got back,in time to have "Kaffeetrinken" with a great Torte with Heinke and Gustl! (Do you catch a theme here?) After Kaffeetrinken, Bob drove his bike back to the hotel and spent some quality time installing his humongous saddle bags while Monika used the bus and train to come back. Bob also installed the small under-the-saddle tool kit bag he had purchased under his seat and was gratified that it all fit together--like Detlef, Bob has long legs and has to have the saddle way high up, but that gave it all enough space to fit. Yay! By the time Monika got to the hotel, Bob had installed his new saddlebags. Everything was ready.
Train Trip Hamburg to Haffkrug - Thursday May 14th, 2015:
We were ready to go by 8 and took the local train to Hauptbahnhof, where we would catch the regional train to Luebeck. There was already one bike on the local train, but two were allowed in each compartment, so Bob joined the other guy. It got a little crowded when a woman with a baby carriage also entered. But everything went ok. Hauptbahnhof was a lot more crowded than expected because it was a holiday, "Ascension Day". Yes, in Germany, Ascension Day is an official holiday, although it is more popularly known as "Father's Day". But it is quite a different "Father's Day" than in the USA, because in Germany groups of fathers (or want-to-be fathers) escape homelife and take a little trip with other men and lots of beer, some even have little carts full of six packs.
The regional train to Luebeck had a very nice large space for bicycles with seats you can pull down. We sat down with Bob's bike next to us. Others locked their bikes and went upstairs to sit down. At the end there were about 8 bikes going on this trip. at the next stop three more guys with bikes came in. They were clearly on a "Father's Day" trip since the saddlebags were full of beer bottles. The trip to Luebeck lasted only 40 minutes, and using the elevators we easily transferred to a different track at Luebeck to catch the smaller train to Haffkrug. That train also already had a group of bikes in the storage area, but we managed to squeeze Bob's bike in. Altogether I was really surprised how many people took their bikes on the different trains.
In Haffkrug, Bob rode to the apartment and I walked. By the time we got there, he had my bike already out and we made a quick ride Aldi for groceries. A little later, Detlef called to say, he was coming out too with Heinke and Gustl (He had the holiday off), and they were going to check out his boat that was moored in Neustadt, about 10km up the road from our condo. He offered to pick us up so that we could all have a nice last afternoon together.
When he came, we all piled in the car and drove to the boat, where Heinke and Detlef did some maintenance work. They had sailed the boat from its winter storage to Neustadt a previous weekend. Heinke is as much a perfectionist as Bob and she had discovered a couple of places that needed paint. So those two were working while the rest of us enjoyed watching.
Afterwards we had a nice meal with them in the restaurant just outside our rental condo in Haffkrug. The pizza was delicious and the company great!
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