Contrary to popular belief (mainly held by my brother), Germany wasn't all about the
driving experiences. The purpose of the trip was for a bicycle trade show. Not just any trade show, but the world's largest and the world's best (and, incidentally,
worlds better than Interbike, happening in Las Vegas next week). And while I did spend more time behind the wheel than I did on two wheels, I cherished the opportunity to explore some very cool cities via bicycle. Okay, time to regain some of my carbon credits.
After heading up from the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, I arrived in Köln/Cologne and checked into my groovy little Euro hotel room (on the top floor, unseen from the street as I had a shared balcony)...
...and did some exploring by foot prior to meeting my contact, who was to provide me with a bike to ride around. He put me up in a cool neighborhood, incidentally the same one that he lives in and that his business is located in. Nice restaurant row around the corner:
The Bier Bike was getting ready to depart with what appeared to be a bachlorette party.
A pedal-powered pub in a city where it's 100% legit to walk down the streets with a beer (or "bier") in hand. And here's demonstration of a great way to work off that beer gut.
I passed an Electra retailer that had a lot of our bikes on the floor:
So nice to see such great representation of the brand. Turns out that this was just a fraction of the Electras in stock at this particular shop (owned by our German parts distributor). Later I ended up in a bar-zone and encountered all sorts of Germans out having fun:
Or maybe to much fun, perhaps this crew had stopped by this fine establishment prior to heading out for the evening:
Anyway, I ended up meeting my contact for a nice pizza dinner at an Italian cafe - Montanara Inn.
It's odd, but I've had some of the best pizzas in Germany. The one from here was no exception, fresh out of a wood-fired oven.
The next morning I awoke to clear skies and perfect late-summer temps. Grabbed my borrowed (and un-stolen) Townie Balloon 3i from the street and headed out for a ride with the hour or so of free time I had prior to my meeting.
This T-Mobile tower apparently once housed a disco. Now vacant aside from the communications equipment, it's still a cool piece of 60s architecture. Now on to the cycling...
The Electra Townie Balloon 3i was a perfect ride for Köln.
A nice head-up riding position, 3 speeds are all that's needed for the relatively flat topography and the Schwalble Fat Frank balloon tires do a fantastic job taking the edge off the granite curbs and brick cycle lanes.
And speaking of cycle lanes, the Germans do a great job of separating cyclists from motorists and pedestrians. Similar to what George Bush famously said about the humans and fish ("I know that the human being and fish can coexist"), all forms of transportation can coexist in urban areas. For the most part, cyclists just need to stay on the red brick portion of the sidewalk...
...or better yet, enjoy an exclusive lane or path:
Any route chosen was good. Cars were very good about leaving space when I had to ride the road while pedestrians did a great job of staying off the brick lanes.
I had to run back to the distributor for my meeting, returning the bike in the process. After the meeting I had to head up to Hamburg. More on that later. For now enjoy one more shot of the Townie Balloon in Köln.
The bikeway is about nine miles long in total, but due to some time constraints we headed back once we reached the halfway point. Our total mileage was 9.25.
Celeste and the Coronado Bay Bridge
Along the way we encountered a few little educational "monuments"/art installations that Celeste naturally had to explore...
We even saw a cool tall ship, possibly the Californian (?)
Another great afternoon in the San Diego sun.
Built in the 1940s-60s as an aquatic playground, the park is popular with boaters, jet skiiers, kayakers, sailors, fisherman and general picnic day usage. There's also a network of multi-use paths that follow most of the shoreline. And with it being flat, a good place for Celeste to get some mileage in without having to endure the hills here in North County, nor the traffic of Coast Highway.
Picnickers were out full force, most shelters were occupied and, with the boats zinging around the bay and green foliage, it was easy to forget that it's mid-October. We still can't believe we live in a place with palm trees.
Celeste had to bring all of her clip-on handlebar flowers - always gotta make the bike look pretty.
Of course it's nearly impossible for Celeste to pass a playground without stopping to get the urge to climb out of her system.
I bet this equipment has been in place for 40 years
Overall we only rode a 5 mile out-and-back along the eastern side of the park...
...but it was a great way to spend time with the grrrls on a nice October afternoon. We'll get back there soon, maybe bringing the kayaks or renting a boat.
main train station
Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes)? They sure smelled good...
...but I wanted something a bit more than fried potatoes. Ooh, a bäckeri...
...but they mainly had sweets and some bland-looking sandwiches. So I found (yet another) small pizza joint and enjoyed another great Germany pizza. After dinner I walked further east to check out Hamburg's Rathaus, or city hall.
Built in neo-renaissance style between 1886-1897, it's Hamburg's city hall and occupies an entire city block. Quite stunning at night too. After spending some time at the Rathaus, I wandered past some of the high-end boutiques just to the north before taking a taxi back to my hotel.
yet another groovy German communications tower
This is Hamburg's seedier part as well as home to it's red light district...
...which isn't all that hoppin' at 10:30 AM. Note that the sign above states that those entering have to be at least 18 - and that no women are allowed. I doubt I could find any of the kinds of tools that I am interested in at the shop below.
This is also the area of Hamburg where The Beatles regularly performed from 1960-1962.
I should add that the Schwalbe Fat Franks 2.35" wide tires were fantastic on the pavers.
I found the warehouse district the most interesting part of the city. Built in the 1880s to, uh, warehouse the goods offloaded in the ports, the large brick buildings have very interesting canals running between them.
Looking up you can see the apparatus for hoisting crates of cargo long ago:
After sitting virtually-abandoned for decades, these buildings have been rehabbed and now house offices, restaurants and other small businesses.
With my shop visits complete and GPS battery running low, I chose my route carefully so that I'd be less-prone to becoming lost - so I decided to ride around Hamburg's inner-city lakes, Binnenalster and Aussenalster.
Some of Hamburg's grand old office buildings face Binnenalster, the smaller of the two lakes that is also closer to Hamburg's downtown.
Aussenalster has very Madison-esque bike and walking paths surrounding it. Being a beautiful day, the round-the-lake ride or run was a popular late-afternoon diversion for Hamburgers (yes, that's what the residents are called).
Overall I was able to get in a leisurely 25-mile ride over the course of the day. Here's where I went - well, most of where I went, I accidentally forgot to resume the GPS's tracking function a couple of times.
And thanks to Akki and the Electra Hamburg staff for the hospitality and letting me borrow the Amsterdam Balloon.
And finally, I saw this sweet late-model Mini Cooper parked outside the great restaurant we hit for dinner:
If only I could have crammed it in my carry-on luggage.
...and did some exploring by foot prior to meeting my contact, who was to provide me with a bike to ride around. He put me up in a cool neighborhood, incidentally the same one that he lives in and that his business is located in. Nice restaurant row around the corner:
The Bier Bike was getting ready to depart with what appeared to be a bachlorette party.
A pedal-powered pub in a city where it's 100% legit to walk down the streets with a beer (or "bier") in hand. And here's demonstration of a great way to work off that beer gut.
So nice to see such great representation of the brand. Turns out that this was just a fraction of the Electras in stock at this particular shop (owned by our German parts distributor). Later I ended up in a bar-zone and encountered all sorts of Germans out having fun:
Or maybe to much fun, perhaps this crew had stopped by this fine establishment prior to heading out for the evening:
Anyway, I ended up meeting my contact for a nice pizza dinner at an Italian cafe - Montanara Inn.
It's odd, but I've had some of the best pizzas in Germany. The one from here was no exception, fresh out of a wood-fired oven.
This T-Mobile tower apparently once housed a disco. Now vacant aside from the communications equipment, it's still a cool piece of 60s architecture. Now on to the cycling...
A nice head-up riding position, 3 speeds are all that's needed for the relatively flat topography and the Schwalble Fat Frank balloon tires do a fantastic job taking the edge off the granite curbs and brick cycle lanes.
...or better yet, enjoy an exclusive lane or path:
Any route chosen was good. Cars were very good about leaving space when I had to ride the road while pedestrians did a great job of staying off the brick lanes.
