The Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain: March 11 at Olli/UVM
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Visiting
The next few posts will be about my visits with people in Kella, population plus minus 500. When Germany was divided after WWII, Kella ended up in the 500-meter Schutzstreifen (“protective zone”) right next to the border strip, which meant that its residents had to put up with considerable restrictions on everyday life, imposed by… Read more Visiting
“This is my country”
More contemplations from the borderland: Excerpts from Chapter 7 In the Middle Ages, Heimat was a legal term that meant someone had the right to settle, live, and follow their trade in a particular location. The word still has the meaning of home place, or the place a person is from[1]. But most of the… Read more “This is my country”
More on Heimat, and Sauntering, and Gratitude
During my expedition along Germany’s death strip-turned-green-belt, I followed a strategy I came to think of as “structured sauntering.” The former border strip itself, with the help of a guidebook in my handlebar pouch and a GPS route in my phone, provided the geographical structure for my journey, from the Baltic coast in the north… Read more More on Heimat, and Sauntering, and Gratitude
Remember the good news stories
For me, this has been a year of discovering small, almost hidden treasures: Rare birds, small towns, bobcats, mystery wetlands – off the beaten path and yet, right in the middle of Germany. I encountered these treasures on my expedition along and around the strip of land that once ran through the landscape like an… Read more Remember the good news stories
Roaming the Rhön Mountains, and lunch at the Bay of Pigs
I had learned by this point in the expedition that I should not even attempt to ride more than 50 km a day. A 30 km day yielded enough impressions, encounters, and food for thought to last for several more days. And then there were the hills, which were more like the Green Mountains than… Read more Roaming the Rhön Mountains, and lunch at the Bay of Pigs
People of Geisa: Lessons from a bike mechanic
Somewhere along my first breezy descent from Point Alpha to Geisa I had noticed that the numbers on the odometer were not moving. While the bliss of flying down the hill almost made the moment seem timeless, there was likely another reason. I checked whether the sensor lined up properly with the plastic sleeve that… Read more People of Geisa: Lessons from a bike mechanic
The Peaceful Revolution
So I had promised to fill you in on my most recent “detour” a couple of weeks ago, when I spent ten days in Leipzig. I was there for the practical purpose of driving buses, but like my previous “detour” to Eisenach (for other practical purposes like bike repair), this was not really a detour… Read more The Peaceful Revolution
Topography and history, and Cold War flashbacks
I had hoped to make it to Point Alpha on the scorching day of the phantom villages, but an unsuccessful shortcut on a hiking trail plus the sweltering heat made that less likely as the day wore on. I had stopped to cross-reference the GPS route with my paper map when three men in athletic… Read more Topography and history, and Cold War flashbacks
Day of German Unity
I took this photo three years ago, on a sunny August day in 2014. The moment is etched in my memory: I was on a ferry, crossing to one of the islands in the North Sea for a mini vacation, when I noticed this sticker on a fellow traveler’s suitcase. I had never owned or… Read more Day of German Unity
