Annual Bike Tour

As the time came to start planning the annual bike tour, somewhat by convenience and somewhat by desire to adventure outside of the Alps, I decided that this year's version would be a solo event in Denmark and Sweden.


Since we had already planned to go to the North Sea with Eva's parents, it was relatively easy for Eva to stay there an additional week (with her parents on the North Sea) while I was riding in Denmark. Since Denmark borders the North Sea, it allowed us to travel most of the way there as well. Logistically it was easier. I was excited to see Denmark and Sweden in the depth that you can only do when you are on a bike.


Day 1: Flensburg - SonderborgAs I planned the tour, I wanted to make sure I got to see some of the 'must sees' in the country. Since it was in the middle of the summer, the days are long, allowing me to ride as early as 4am and as late as midnight, taking longer breaks in between to see the cool stuff.

It took me a while to find my out of Flensburg, which was a much nicer town than I had imagined (Flensburg brings shivers to most Germans since this is where all of the 'points' for traffic offenses are held). While trying to get out of Flensburg, I heard the cars honking, and this could mean only one thing: Germany scored a goal (we were in the middle of the World Cup, and the German game started when I arrived in Flensburg).

I pulled into the next Biergarten and actually saw the replay of Klose's goal.

For much of the first kilometers to Sonderborg, I was riding along the sea coast (East Sea / Ostsee) There is tons of wind in Denmark, hence tons of windmills. I was hoping that I wouldn't have too many days against the wind and that it wouldn't rain too much. Thankfully, the weather and wind was perfect...except for one day (to come later).

Virtually every danish building and home has a flag of some sort flying.

My first stop was the Sonderburg Castle, which was a bit of a disappointment, but the city was picturesque and provided a nice break before I had to ride on to the hostel outside the city.

Day 2: Sonderborg - Helsingör

Day 2 started out at 4am, and I was on the road by 430am. Breakfast was a few cold slices of pizza from the previous night's dinner.

I was at Augustenborg Slot before 5am. Such a castle is amazing to witness so early in the morning when the whole village is asleep and the tour busses haven't arrived yet.

I made it to Fynshav in time to catch my 6am ferry ride. I had all the time in the world to see the things I wanted to see and make my way to Helsingör, just north of Copenhagen, to visit our friends Keith and Manu.

I made some unplanned stops to see some cool churches.

One of my 'must sees' wea the Egeskov Slot (Castle). I made it there by 830am...but was closed until 9am. It is a golden age castle with a full on moat. From the fence, I could see it, and it did look impressive (do you see those hedges!), but not cool enough to wait the 30 minutes and pay the 20 EUR to get in. This castle was a full half day event...and I had some riding to do.

Despite being at least 50km out of the way, I decided to go to Ladbyskibet, where the best and most in tact Viking Age Ship Grave lies. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, and worth the extra kilometers (which I was swearing at on my way back due to a severe headwind.)

After riding back to Nyborg, I boarded the train to cross one of the world's longest bridges (possibly the longest). Shortly after getting back on land, I finally found Slagelse, where a rebuilt viking ring fortress lies.

Then, I had to press on to Helsingör. I had already 130km under my belt for the day, and I ended up getting to Keith and Manu's at 8pm, clocking in 230km for the day, a personal record.

Needless to say, I was pooped, but the dinner that they made on the grill hit the spot and the beer hit the spot!

1000 Dank Keith & Manu: es war super euch wieder besuchen zu können, auch wenn die Zeit ein bisschen knapp war. Danke! Danke!

Day 3: Helsingör - Skagen

After such a long day, I was in no mood to set an alarm. I just wanted to take it easy and have a nice breakfast with Keith and Manu before taking the ferry over to Sweden. Since it was about 230km to Göteborg (where I was to catch the ferry back to Denmark) and since the almost 4 hour ferry departs only twice a day, I decided to take a train for the first 130km of Sweden to allow me to 'easily' make my ferry at 4pm.

What I forgot as I was casually having coffee with Keith was that the train took off only once an hour. All of a sudden, I was in a hurry, which became a theme for the day.

Keith helped me pick up 'Wienerbrod' (which is a long super yummy danish (Plunder) and raced with me to the ferry. Made it just in time! Whew!

The ferry ride was pretty easy...just about a 15 minute shuttle across the sound. I had only 15 minutes to get to the train station, buy my ticket, and get to the train. With the train station near the port, I didn't think it would be difficult. I started to panic a bit when I didn't see any signs for the train station and nothing looked like a train station.

I actually asked for help twice...and made my train with 2 minutes to spare. Above a Swedish windmill and below a milestone (kilometerstone ;-) of some sort.

I had 5.5 hours to cover 100km - and since I had a strong tailwind and great weather, I was not too concerned about the time, and I thought that I could stop in Varberg to visit with our friend Tanja, who was vacationing there with her children. We weren't able to touch bases beforehand, which was probably a good thing, since I arrived in Göteborg with virtually no time before the ferry closed its doors.

It is amazing how a wrong term and a bad map can eat up hours on the road. When I got to the ferry, dripping with sweat, the gal behind the counter looked at me with that 'sir, we can't let you board' look on her face. All I could muster was a 'please'.

She let me buy a ticket, and I was the last passenger on the ferry. The security guard that escorted me on the ferry was super kind, and he even gave me the keys to the shower facilities (for free!!). I wasn't planning to shower, but after almost 6 hours of riding in the blazing heat, I'm sure all of the passengers were thankful.

The ferry was huge, and they had a full on buffet. Needless to say, I had to tank up a bit, and the buffet wasn't much more expensive than a sandwich and a coke, so I got a table and ate and drank more than my money's worth.

I only got to see about 100km of Sweden, but it was a worthwhile sidetrip. It was a shame that I didn't get to bumble around in Göteborg a bit more, as it looked like a very beautiful city (from what I could see in my scramble to the ferry). I hope to visit Sweden again soon...perhaps on next year's tour.

After landing back in Denmark, I still had about 50km to cover to get me to Skagen, where I was to stay for the night. The hostel had a key reserved for me, so I wasn't (finally) in a rush, so I enjoyed the final 50km (which turned out to be almost 70 since I went further north to Grenen).

Since summer was still at its peak, I didn't have to worry about lack of sun. Even starting in Fredrikshavn at 7pm, I had plenty of light and time. Unfortunately, it rained a bit and was a bit overcast, but the nature was nonetheless amazing.

After making it to Grenen, I parked my bike, and took the 30 minute walk to the tip of Denmark (pictured above), where the East Sea (Ostsee) runs into the North Sea. I was hoping to catch sunset, but with rain, it was mostly overcast. It was still very cool to be virtually alone at the tip of Denmark at close to midnight and to still have some light.

A picture of the lighthouse from the tip of Denmark. I must have snapped 20 pictures trying to catch the light in its rotation.

Day 4: Skagen - Rebild

Let's be clear: every bike tour has one bad day where you either don't feel great, don't want to ride, have flats, or have bad weather. Day 4 included 3 flats, 2 defective CO2 canisters (to fill up the flats), a butt that was hurting from 400+ km that I covered in 2 days, cold, rain, and a severe headwind (probably between 20 and 30mph (40-50 Stundenkilometer)).

There were some blue skies, which you can see as a backtrop to this church near Skagen, but most of the rest of the day was struggling with every kilometer and hoping that the road would change direction to give me a break from the wind.

There were some pretty amazing wheat fields, which were even more beautiful as they were swaying in the wind.

I did take the time to stop in Rudolfi Domkirke in Aalborg. By this time, I was pretty beat, the weather was just cold and windy, and I had to find a place to stay for the night. I was about 70km short of where I wanted to go. Under normal circumstances, I could have made it, but by this time, I just wanted this day to end.

Proof of the wind.

Eva helped me find a hostel in Rebild, which 'forced' me to only have do go another 40km. The area was very pretty (forested), and the reception building (below) was amazing, but the rooms themselves were like army barracks.

Day 5: Rebild - Norre Nebel

With my worst day behind me, things would only be better. I was now moving southwest through Denmark, and I had a few more sights to see.

After waking up at 4am to get an early start, I made it Fyrkat, the best preserved viking ring fortress, by about 6am.

What I thought I would see is from the pic above, which was merely a recreation of the fortress, which dates back to the 800-900's. Silly me to think that such a thing would survive over 1200 years in tact. The real fortress is pictured below. Not exactly what I was expecting, but impressive nonetheless. It was also nice to see it before all the tour busses arrived.

The recreated 'lodge' was also a nice touch. Still looks old to me...

Of course there is an area where you can buy tickets and coffee. They weren't open yet, so I just walked in and took a few pics.

...then I was on my way to Silkeborg. I had planned to go to the museum to see the Tollund Man (a very old, very well preserved remains of a viking era man), but by the time I arrived in Silkeborg (below), the cafes were beginning to open for lunch.

The weather was perfect for looking in the old city, and when I sat down at a cafe for lunch, I forgot all about the Tollund Man (literally). I had already seen a few old churches in Silkeborg, and in my delirium, thought that I wanted to see churches in Silkeborg. By the time I was out of the city, I remembered the Tollund Man...

I ended up changing my planned route a bit, and took a train to the coast and rode another 70km to Norre Nebel.

Day 6: Norre Nebel - Bremen

Day 6 had two main highlights: Ribe and Mögeltönder, both very old, very beautiful villages.

I arrived in Ribe around 9am (after 3 hours of riding), just in time for the town to start waking up and for me to stop in a cafe for a cup of joe.

I had to only go about 130km today, so I had plenty of time to see a lot of Ribe - the first city in Denmark, which also celebrated its 1300th birthday this year.

This was the view from my seat in the cafe.

The Ribe Domkirke is the highlight of the village. From there, it was off to Mögeltönder, a story-tale village that looks like it hasn't moved into modern times.

This street in Mögeltönder, which leads up to a castle, is considered (at least by the Loney Planet) as the most beautiful street in Denmark. The cobblestones are very cobbled, and the buildings have that beatiful historical look.

I walked up and down the whole street, stopping at a cafe for food and drink. By this time, it was getting very hot, and if I was lucky, I could catch the 3pm train to Bremen, where I planned to spend my final night before meeting up with Eva, the kids, and my inlaws on Borkum on the North Sea for the next week of vacation. I especially liked this house in Mögeltönder, with the roses and the weeds growing on the roof. The thatched rooftops are relatively commen in Denmark - especially the historical buildings, and the weeds add a nice touch.

As with other days, I ended up racing to the train station, making it just in time. There was another train the following hour, but when you are trying to catch a train, you never want to have to wait an hour in a small town...

Day 7: Bremen - Borkum

This really doesn't count as a day...I just had to ride my bike from the train station to the port in Emden to catch my ferry to Borkum.

Overall, I covered almost 1000km in the 5.5 days of riding. While the type of riding was different than the other tours in the alps, it was a simply amazing trip. I got to do what I had dreamed of doing: riding through a country, catching the cool things to see along the way, and getting to see a lot of a country very intimately.

The Danes are very kind and helpful people. I never felt in danger, and this country of over 14,000km of bike paths are very bike friendly.

It would have been nice to have had some more time in Sweden. Perhaps this was just the appetizer for next year's tour. Or perhaps I will fulfill another life's dream and ride in Ireland.

While I'm not too sure where I will do next year's tour, I like the style of this year's tour. As soon as my butt stops hurting from so many miles in the saddle, I'm sure I'll start dreaming about next year's tour.

End of Diapers ?

When Quinn woke up yesterday morning and when Eva started changing him out of his PJ's (Schlafanzug), she noticed that Quinn wasn't wearing a diaper. She asked a few times if Quinn took off his diaper (which he tends to do in the mornings now). No. Are you sure. Yes.

Eva then checks the bed. Dry.

'Hey Quinn! You slept through the night without your diaper. You're getting to be an even bigger boy now.'

Then she states that he probably wants to go to the bathroom. No.

No big surprise, when Quinn went to bed last night, he wanted to do it without a diaper. Hopefully the bed is dry!

P.S. As a sidenote, Quinn and I are going camping this weekend. It is a large father / child outing at a campground. 25+ fathers and over 40 kids. I got Quinn a kid-sized folding/camping chair to get him stoked up about camping a bit. The junk food I brought along should help a bit as well...wish us luck.

Pre Vacation Pics

For those of you that have been wondering about the lack of blog posts lately, it is because we just got back from 2 weeks of vacation. I took a week to make my yearly bike tour - this year through Denmark and Sweden, followed by a week on the North Sea with the family and my in-laws. Eva was on the North Sea (with her parents) the week I was riding (as well as the week I was there as well).

The World Cup was in full swing prior to our vacation...which encouraged us to get Quinn a small soccer goal. We have been playing soccer for such a long time (it is one if his favorite activities - to kick a ball), so it was finally time.

The neighbors girls come down from time to time and play as well...this time in our Germany jerseys. The US advanced...and the German team played great, progressing to the semifinals...only to get beat by a much better Spanish team...only 4 more years to the next World Cup!
The night before our vacation, I had a work event just north of home. The place was a mini amusement park that my business unit rented out for the night...Westernland of all places. I felt like I was in an old west movie. It looked pretty authentic, but felt a bit like the Twilight Zone being in Germany.

I wore my boots, and the CEO of our Business Unit even looked the part (below).

Below is a pic of Quinn resting on his way to kindergarten...don't ask me why he needs to rest, since he is normally in constant motion.

There's my boy looking like a big boy...

7 Year Itch

I moved to Germany 7 years ago today. It is hard to believe that it has been so long already, and a lot has changed since I landed in Germany to live with Eva and to continue to work for Siemens.

Even more difficult to believe is that I have lived in my town in Germany longer than my hometown in Texas and longer than any other town.

While such milestones lend themselves to cliches (which I have tried to avoid), they also lend themselves to reflection of a fantastic last 7 years.

Above and beyond this milestone, Emily also hit a milestone today: she pulled herself up into a sitting position today and ate her first cookie.

We also had our first parent/teacher conference at Quinn's kindergarten. While I'm sure that every parent leaves such conferences with a list of all the great things their child does, Quinn had a few points where we can help him improve on top of a list of great qualities that Quinn shows every day. His weaknesses as well as his strengths are products of his parents, and it is very interesting to see the analysis from this perspective.

At the end of the conference, I had to chuckle a bit, as for some reason, I was reminded of my 'report card' from either kindergarten or first grade (which my parents showed me when I was in college) where the teacher said that I 'need to work on tying my shoes'.

Evening Dinner Conversation

As Quinn was done with dinner...

"Mama, Papa, can I play 'drums' (with his chair) / Mama, Papa, kann ich trommeln?"
Yes

Quinn begins to beat his hands on his chair. A half a second later...

"Gotta go poop / Muss Kaka" Quinn races to the bathroom

...I don't understand why going to the bathroom is always such a big surprise...but we're happy that he's not pooping in his pants.

If we can only get him to close the door to the bathroom, so we don't have to smell his poop while we finish eating dinner.

Family Time

Neither Eva nor I were thrilled this morning when we woke up to see 10°C on the thermometer (approx 50°F). June is almost over and we've had approx 1 week of summer weather. Nonetheless, we packed up the kids and headed outside. We kicked the ball around first, then Eva went running.

Then, Quinn, Emily, and I hit the playground. Emily can basically sit up on her own now, which makes it more fun for all of us at the playground. Even while kicking the ball around, Quinn kicked the ball softly in Emily's direction so that she felt involved (at least this is my interpretation...perhaps it was just a missed kick).

After naptime (during which I put in a quick ride), we all went on a short bike ride through the forest to a new ice cream parlor that opened up on the other end of the forest. Totally cool. I think we'll head there more often (but have to remember the mosquito repellant for the forest).
On the way back, we watched some little league baseball. It is amazing how Quinn can just sit on the ground watching the 'big kids' play. For me, it was a chance to look back (a long time ago) when I played little league ball. I was the shortest kid on the field with the biggest glove.

All in all, it was a great (family) day. Hopefully, the weather will be more accommodating next time.

Will top it off in a few minutes by grilling for dinner!

Grönemeyer, Maradona, and Pele

More World Cup Excitement!



...and even though our neighbors above us are Brazilian (and German), I have to do a Pele clip....(P.S. When Brazil plays, we don't sleep...)

A New View on Sports

Before I start, let me at first be clear: I love college football, and I love CU football even better.


The "Miracle in Michigan" was one of the best days in my life. CU whuppin' up on Nebraska 62-36 in the Big XII Championship was another.

But...after almost 7 years in Germany, I have to admit, that I'm excited with the World Cup. In 2006, the World Cup was in Germany, and it was an absolutely amazing event - where a simple sporting event finally enabled a country - that has a lot to pride itself upon in the last 60 years - to show patriotism that had been culturally forbidden since the end of the second world war.

Imagine March Madness (the college basketball tourneyment for the German readers) happening only once every 4 years. That is the World Cup (of soccer).

Virtually a whole month of games - 3 a day in the first round - then the pre-quarterfinals (Achtelfinale), quarterfinals, and so on. It is a soccer fan's dream.

Quinn already has his Germany jersey...and I have mine as well. But, if the Americans find themselves against the Germans in the pre-quarterfinals...which is a real possibility...as hard as it may be to explain since I know the German team and players by heart (and don't know any of the US players at all), I know I'll be rooting for the US. It is hard to explain, but this is just how it is. This is how it works. I think that any expat can understand this. It was the same in the World Cup in 2002 (where Germany actually played the US).

Thankfully, I have two countries to cheer for...and I wish both of them the best.

...but if I had to pick one team to win, it would be Germany. For those American readers, please don't perceive this as a lack of patriotism, but the reality of an expat.

Go Buffs!
Go Team USA!
Deutschland! '54, '74, '90, '10 Wir stimmen alle ein. Mit den Herz in der Hand und der Leidenschaft dabei, werden wir Weltmeister sein!

Bachelordom

Last Thursday was the last public holiday in Bavaria until January (don't feel too bad for me, I still have over 4 weeks of vacation to burn by the end of the year ;-)

Eva took the chance to visit her family, and I got to play 'bachelor' for the long weekend. I was a good boy, of course, getting tons of honey do's done (plus a few long rides) while Eva was off having fun with her family ;-)

The weather was great (finally), and it actually felt like summer!
Katja, Quinn, and Emily with one of Quinn's favorite toy.

Yes, here's proof that Eva was there as well. Since she takes most of the pics, Eva sightings on the blog are rather rare...

Eva's dad had some sand for the kids to play in, but no sandbox...so the wheelbarrow was the provisional sandbox.

At Kindergarten (this pic was taken at home earlier in the week), the kids finished up their 'Fairy Tale' (Märchen) theme, so the kids got to dress up as a Fairy Tale character...Quinn...as a prince.

...and Quinn's feet after playing for hours barefoot outside at Uncle Wolfgang's birthday party...No one will ever criticize Quinn for not being a boy...

Uncle Wolfgang had his birthday party as well (Happy Birthday!), and, of course, the family joined them for cake and coffee. The picture above is what Quinn's feet looked like after the event (playing soccer barefeet in the yard).

Blowing bubbles with Emily and Oma.

Emily and TickTack Opa.

...more pics of Kocka, Katja, Emily, and Quinn...

...they got to practice some soccer as well...

Still the Greatest

After all of these years, Braveheart is still my favorite movie. With Eva and the kids away for the weekend, I took the time to put on a movie (or two) and turn up my beautiful home theater system.

First it was Gladiator. A great flick...then Braveheart.

It was about 15 years ago when I saw Braveheart the first time. Hard to believe it has been that long ago. Sam and I were eating chips and fresh salsa in his room. Back then, we really didn't have the cash for such luxuries, but one of us were down on our luck in the women category (ironic that I don't remember which one of us it was), and we decided to splurge.

...and then go to the movies to see this unheard (but getting popular) movie with Mel Gibson called Braveheart.

Both of us were blown away. I still get goosebumps when I think about
it.

"Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live...at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our FREEDOM!

That was a truly great day. I can still taste that salsa. I'm still not sure why such things just stay stuck in my head...and how such superficial things bring back such great warm feelings and memories, but I'm glad they do.

Airports

Yesterday, Eva and the family took off to the airport for a weekend with her family, leaving me home alone. We had to wake the kids up pretty early. Normally, Quinn is not exactly easy to wake up, but yesterday, when I came into his room, I softly placed my hand on his back and said: 'It is time to wake up and go to the airport'.

He turned around, opened up his eyes, had a huge smile on his face (because he loves airports), and literally jumped out of his bed and said, 'I'm not tired anymore'.

It was 520am.

Fingernails

Like most children this time of the year, Quinn is not real excited to go to bed at night because the sun is still shining at 7pm when we try to get him to bed.

Regardless we try, and for the most part, he does a good job. But, once we put him into bed (when we know he is tired), we have the rule that he has to stay in his room. If he wants to stay up, he can read books or something of the like.

When he comes out, we try to at least give him the chance to tell us whether something is wrong (e.g. bad dream). He is used to this question, and last night, when he slowly walked to the living room, he looked at us and told us what was wrong before we could even ask:

'Mama, my fingernails are too long...can you cut them so I can sleep?'

Hiking (with kids)

Before we had kids, Eva and I learned to love hiking together. After Quinn was born, we went hiking less often, and it was a bit shorter, but we went often, nonetheless, schlepping the poor kid around.

We never pushed it too much, wanting to make sure he was having fun as well.

After Emily was born, it was basically winter, and we never really had a good chance to go on a family hike (in nice weather) until last weekend.
We went to one of our favorite spots, where the paths were wide and not too long.

Quinn had a blast picking up sticks and rocks, Emily seemed to be enjoying herself, and Eva and I just enjoyed the fresh air and the time in nature as a family.

I insisted on carrying both Emily and the Camelback. I felt like a mule. Quinn did a great job walking the whole way (not always on the path). It is amazing how exciting and cool dandelions (Pusteblumen) are to a 3 year old.

Quinn showing us where to go...