Surfing Through Europe

Now I am back home, yesterday I had my first day at the new job. This is the moment where I would like to say thank you to all the couchsurfers who offered me a couch to sleep and a kitchen to rock ;-)

• Jana in Vrchlabí
• Emilia and Paweł in Wałbrzych
• Natalia in Wrocław
• Marta and Paweł in Kielce
• Wioletta and Rafael in Warszawa
• Dalia, Ramūnas and Rūta in Kaunas
• Arthurs and Veronijka in Rīga
• Marko in Pärnu
• Johanna und Mikko in Tampere
• Patrik in Östersund
• Johannes in Berlin

Thank you very much!

Further I am really greatful that I have met so many wonderful persons; too many to list them all here... People who helped me or spent some time with me - you made my journey much more than just a bike tour :-)

CPH - Bike Friendly Zone

Copenhagen is really bike friendly :-) Thousands of bikes in the city and nearly every street has an extra bike lane. I have seen them transporting almost everything by bike: kids, cargo, double basses, bulky luggage.... Even the mail gets delivered with the bike. Cargo bikes seem to be a good alternative to cars here.

I love it, I like it, I bike CPH.

Today's Special

Also in Östersund I found somebody willing to eat my food :-) So I created a menu for gonna-be-vegetarian Patrik, my couchsurfing host, and me.

Today I inverted the usual sequence of courses a little bit: we started with a rich plate of starters and ended with a light main course.


husmanskost deluxe: bread with "röd getost" cheese, ginger-garlic butter, capers, curry-mustard-paste and roasted garlic - served on the piggy chopping board we bought in the loppis today






main course: roasted curry-rosemary vegetables and rice








Talking about Swedish food: they have a quite nice tradition here: going to meet some friends for a "fika" - a quick coffee and some sweets or any other small food. Yesterday we started somewhere after midnight (remember, it's never dark here), had a short car ride (5o kilometers is nothing in Sweden) and went to a friend's summer cottage to have some beers, tea and home-made cookies. I really enjoyed it :-) I think I should import this tradition into Switzerland...

I'm walking...

Yesterday I met Marek on the E10 near Skaulo. He is travelling even more slowly than I travel with my bike: he is walking. All the way from Southern Poland up to the North Cape, 50 kilometers a day...

This is not his first long distance hike: before he hiked from Poland to Spain - wow! The answer he gives probably a dozen times a day: "I just fell in love with walking". And if you look at his eyes you can see: this guy is really in seventh heaven, fully enjoying what he does.

Wish you all the best on your journey, Marek!

Midnight Sun

near Pello









near Vittangi

"No, you can't take the bike in this train!"

The Swedish railway company stopped taking bikes on the Narvik - Kiruna - Stockholm night train about ten years ago. So my nice plan of cycling to Narvik and then going from there back with the train will not work. I have to take a different route. Fortunately, there is a private railway company running on the line Gällivare - Östersund - Kristinehamn. They allow bikes on their train - and they even accept interrail tickets :-) So I will start now to slowly travel to the South, using bike and trains.

As I will not have internet access too often, this blog will not be updated frequently....

Second Biggest City

Some dozen kilometers away from the hassle of the metropolis - but still a big city, slower paced than it's bigger sister, greener (also the people), very bike-friendly, ... Tampere and Helsinki (and the differences between the cities) are similar to Winterthur and Zurich (and their differences). We found many parallels between the cities. And as in Switzerland, I prefer the smaller city to the metropolis.

I really enjoyed my stay in Tampere where I had again the pleasure to surf the couch of a young family. Johanna and Mikko hosted me for three nights. I had a great time with them and their children. We walked around in the parks, went to a nice vegetarian restaurant, talked and laughed together. And often we sat at the kitchen table and discussed interesting topics until late into the nights.

Bikes, friendly people, a green city, what else do I need more? Of course, good food! And that's what we had :-) We cooked together and I showed them some recipes we cook at home and inspired them with some crazy, not-so-obvious food combinations.

Now I am preparing to go to Lapland. My train to Rovaniemi will leave at 10 p.m. Tomorrow morning I will start to cycle towards Narvik or Kiruna and enjoy the wilderness of the North.

Hello Estonia

On Thursday evening I met with some couchsurfers from Riga to cook with them. As we are all vegetarians or vegans the question which meat and which cheese to cook was quickly discussed :-) Arthurs, my host, taught me a curry recipe he learned from an Indian chef in Australia. He also created some fancy smoothies. Mmmmh.


Yesterday I left Riga, ...











... rode along beautiful fields, ...







... lakes, ...








... and forests ...







... into a beautiful sunset.





Now I am already in Pärnu in Estonia. Here I will stay with another couchsurfer. Tomorrow I will head further North. I have to do some brain work to figure out a good route for the next weeks. The tricky question is always how to come back by the end of June - and it does not get easier with every hundred kilometers that I ride northbound.

Lithuania and Latvia Impressions

the blue farm








after sunset: misty lake








nightly artwork








that's a lot for one day










fried bread with cheese: tasty







I changed my night and day rhythm: I do more in the evenings and in the night and get up later in the morning. I also need much less sleep, because there is much more sunlight that keeps me awake.
Tomorrow I will head towards Tallinn.

The art of travelling

Yeah, my life is simple: eating, riding, photography. But that's a travellers life. I enjoy it's simplicity. To say it with Michael Palin's words: "I am not a great cook, I am not a great artist, but I love art, and I love food, so I am the perfect traveller."

Talking about photography: I am in the mood to post some pictures. Nothing that fits into the context, just some pictures from Prague I found on my hard disk :-)

I already feel that I am more in the North. Today I woke up at 5 a.m. and there was already much light outside. Fortunately I could sleep some more hours and left Kaunas at around 9 a.m.

Now I am already closer to the Latvian border. Lithuania is not much bigger than Switzerland and they have no mountains - so crossing the country with the bike is much faster.

Cooking for an Lithuanian family

In Kaunas, again I have the pleasure and the honour to stay with a local family: Dalia, Rūta und Ramūnas opened their house and their kitchen for me. They wanted me to cook for them.

They wanted me to cook a meal "like you eat it at home". So no Swiss cheese bombers, they wanted to get a taste of my favourites - and that's what I did: I took some typical local food (black bread, beetroots, onions, potatoes) added some fancy stuff I found at the supermarket, some spices from the neighbours, some stuff I found in the kitchen cupboards and in the fridge and rocked their kitchen for two hours.
Their preferences are pretty different: Rūta wanted the pink canapés she saw on the Warszawa photos, Ramūnas prefers it very spicy - the two ladies not. I tried to combine everything in one meal. And this is what came out:

************ Starters ************
Black Bread Canapés with Beetroot-Goat Cheese Cream
accompanied by
Sundried Tomatoes and Cocktails

************ Main Course ************
Pumpkin-Carrot-Curry
accompanied by
Wholemeal Pasta with Brown Lentils
and
Spicy Yellow Lentil Dal
Mild Fried Tomeggos

************ Desert ************
Water Melon and Chocolate

The canapés were incredible, even better than in Warszawa. The black bread here is incredible! We had a good evening, and they really enjoyed it - "like at home".

Now my pans are full with good food (there were some leftovers :-), I have the travel advices for Lithuania - time to roll through the country. Tomorrow I will head off towards Riga.

PS: I know that I write a lot about cooking and eating. But hey, thats a rider's life: either you burn calories on the road or you have to eat to fill your tanks. And cooking with all you couchsurfers is soo much fun for me. I am looking forward to many cheerfull evenings and tasty meals.

PPS: I am looking forward to my next visit in Kaunas. They promised me that the next time I visit them, they would cook for me...

Warszawa - Kaunas

As already in Kraków I did only a little bit of (bike) sightseeing in Warszawa. I did not go out with the camera too much - I was just not really in the mood. Here is about my only tourist picture from this city. So don't expect too many Warszawa pictures when I am back home...

I rather spent much time with my couchsurfers: my host family and Chris from the USA. He works as an English teacher in Poland, loves to ride (what else would you expect from a former bicycle courier 8-) and is vegetarian too. So he knew where to get reeeeeally good veggie food in the city. He took me to a small vegan (!) food bar called "The Love Hut". The meals do not only have cool names ("Sunny Tofu", "Ocean Paradise" or "Spicy Island") - the taste of those meals is just delicious!

The last two evenings with my host family were very relaxing. Rafael and me cooked again some really good stuff. And I played with Theo, the older son. He liked to sit on my bike and cruise through the city.

And then it was already time to say goodbye to Stanisław, Theo, Wioletta and Rafael. Everything was prepared: food reserves stocked up (little bit in my bags - but mainly in my love handles :-), the maps for the Baltic states and the railway ticket to Kaunas. Today I had to get up early in the morning to get the 7.25 train to Lithuania.

There again, I can stay with a Couchsurfer family...

Warszawa

Including today, I have done 6 days of riding - time for a rest in Warszawa. I need some time for recovery and recharge my batteries. Soo many impressions, landscapes and kilometers during the last days.

After a few days of riding it's important for me to stay two or three days at the same place: this allows me to sort my emails (and reply :-) and all the impressions I had - and lets my mind follow my body.I'm still somewhere between Krakow, Auschwitz and Kielce. Here some pictures I've taken on my last days in Kraków.

After Warszawa I will take train and go more to the North.

Country Road III

The days after my visit in Auschwitz were a rider's dream: good weather, beautiful landscapes, lonely villages and mainly good roads. "Brain off, legs on": I didn't think much (didn't have to), I just rode - straight on, 270 km in three days.

Time to say thank you to a few people I met: the numerous people I asked for the route ("lewo - prosto - prawo"), the farmer who allowed me to use his toilet (he and his wife were fascinated from my bike), my couchsurfing host Paweł here in Kielce (he learned me how to pronounce the "ł" and I gave him some advices for digital photography), Paweł's girlfriend Marta (for the good soup and having me as a guest on her couch) and last but not least: all the Polish truck drivers (for the large distances they keep when passing by my bike).

When I arrived here in Poland I had some concerns - or fears - about the life on the roads. My fears were about the road conditions and about the trucks. Trucks are the most dangerous vehicles in the traffic because of the air draft they produce. But fortunately all (!) truck drivers up to now were very careful with that little crazy biker on the right side of the road. They all kept a huge distance when overtaking me. Up to now I only felt a little bit of air draft from two or three trucks. So thanks guys. My concerns about the road conditions? Well there is quite a range: sometimes balancing on the little hill (or the line) at the side of the road is not so easy, but usually there is quite much of space for me and my bike :-)

Today I will go on towards Warszawa. Singing some of the songs dedicated to all those country roads...

In Auschwitz

After 90 km of riding and the visit of Auschwitz-Birkenau, I felt empty. And full - of thoughts.

I decided not to camp out in the fields. I did not want to hide somewhere, I just wanted a calm and comfortable place to sort my thoughts. The International Youth Meeting Centre here in Auschwitz offered me this place. I will camp on their grounds. Tomorrow I will head towards Warsaw.

Bye Szymon, bye Bartek

Yesterday I had a fantastic lunch with Szymon, my host, his roommate Bartek and one of their friends. We had spinach, spicy sauce with pepper vegetables and tofu, potatoes, rice and a salad. Delicious!

Cooking with Szymon (he's in the veggie, too :-) was always a pleasure. One of the things that made me feel like at home during the five days I was in Kraków - apart from many others. We created great meals by just adding what he bought and what I bought to one big meal. I really enjoyed this and hope Szymon and Bartek will continue the tradition we started.

Today I packed all my things and left Krakow and headed to the west, towards Auschwitz. Goodbye Kraków guys...

Cooldown

The last 24 hours were pretty intense. The topics are quite different - I will post every one of them in a separate post. I need to sort my thoughts.

Futher, I also added a picture to one of the Wałbrzych posts. Check it out :-)

Retreat in Kraków

After the first 460 km of riding and the cheerful evening with the other couchsurfers in Wrocław, I decided to take some days off.

I use the time here in Kraków to relax, meditate, fill up my energy reserves and simply do nothing. Kraków has - compared to Switzerland or other towns in Poland - many vegetarian restaurants, which makes this city very attractive for me. There are also many nice, inviting cafés. I really like this city.

Apart from walking around in the city and hanging around in cafés or veggie restaurants, I sometimes cook and eat together with my host, Szymon. I enjoy the simple live that I am having at the moment: apart from eating, sleeping and walking around in the city I don't do much more. Like a little retreat...

Rollin' up the river

My last days in the Czech Republic were pretty exhausting. I followed the Labe cycle route (Elbe-Radweg, Nr. 24) from Pardubice to Vrchlabí. More than 100 km in one day!

In Vrchlabí - a nice little town in the Czech mountains - I met Jana from Couchsurfing. She taught me some words of Czech and we had a nice chat about this and that. Although she was very busy with her university exams, she was so kind to host me. I slept like a baby on her couch (well, it was a veeeeeery comfortable bed). Thank you, Jana, and good luck for your exams!

Then it was time to head towards Poland: going up with 25+ kg of load and a 16 kg bike (plus the driver) was quite some work. But the good thing with going up: the longer you go up, the longer you can roll down :-) So the ride on the Polish side was quite easy.

Bye Prague - Bye Keen

In Prague I found Keen via Couchsurfing website (http://www.couchsurfing.org). He is Malay and studiying in Prague at the moment. We had a nice dinner and breakfast before I left Prague yesterday at lunch time.

It was nice discussing with you, Keen. Wish you all the best for your future!