Nordenham, October 12th, 25km
Today’s pictures on flickr (If we’ve had a chance to upload them!)
Today we woke up to dense fog. It lightened slightly during the afternoon, but it did stick around all day. This wasn’t much of a problem though, for this was an errand day. We’d gotten to the edge of our map and needed a new one, and we also had a pile of blog entries to upload: you must have been wondering what has happened to us!
Our primary destination was the tourist information in Bremerhaven. There were three of them marked on our map, but we had trouble finding them. Most cities make sure that tourist infomation is well marked, and Bremerhaven is a prime tourist destination, but we must have missed the signs.
They didn’t have the maps we needed but they pointed us at the bookstore right next by. They had an excellent selection of cycling maps for the local area. So we spread them out on the floor and debated routes and maps. In the end we picked up the map from the same series we are currently using. I know we’ve been swearing at it a lot, but this one is a newer issue and has a crucial addition: route names! We now should be good until Amsterdam, although we may pick up better maps for the Netherlands if we get a chance.
The bookstore also had a small selection of English books, so we each picked up a replacement. Hey, what’s a vacation without a novel along?
Next up was lunch and then to find access to the internet to update you all. We tried the library first, but it didn’t open until 14h00, so we went to find a bicycle shop instead. This time the primary errand was a kick stand for me, but we’re always keeping an eye open for other stuff, like a nice 20” tire!
The bike store was closed for lunch until 14h30, but when we asked, we found an internet cafe, so we headed there. That killed a good 2.5 hours in the prime of the afternoon (the things we do for you guys!), and then we hit the bike shop again. The first stand he gave me didn’t hold up, it started bending as soon as I put my bags on, but the second one he pulled out looks like it might do the trick. Here’s hoping, anyways.
The day was dead, so we took the ferry across the Wesser river and headed for the closest campground. We got there at 19h00 or so, and there was nobody manning the desk. No big deal; it’s happened to us quite often. We just scout out the bathroom, set up our tent in the closest open spot and pay them in the morning. However today we watched an old man use a key to get into the washrooms, so we were stymied. Luckily there was a hostel nearby, so that’s where we are at now.
We didn’t pick up any groceries, so we headed to a restaurant for supper. Bremerhaven is supposedly the biggest fishing port in Germany, so we had to have fish. And boy did we ever. We ordered a special for 2, which turned out to be 2 good size salads, a bowl of rice, a bowl of potatoes, 8 good size fish filets and 3 piles of tiny little shrimp. Of course, we didn’t realize what we were getting ourselves into, and had also ordered soup. I thought the Europeans generally ate smaller meals than the North Americans. If so, Germany does not match that stereotype; we’ve had large portions at pretty much every meal. We’ve been more than satisfied, and we both have the appetites of long distance bicycle riders!
Bethany tells me that one of the screening signs for problem drinking is drinking more than 10 drinks a week. It appears that German tradition is to drink a beer with every meal, and I’m not one to break tradition, not when the beer tastes this good. It’ll be more than a week in Germany by the time we leave, so I guess we’ll have to ask the doctor to ignore this week!
Comments
Claudia on 20 Oct 13:57