Since our previous tour consisted of 50% driving and 50% resting, we want to increase the first part a bit. Therefore, there will be a little more movement in this blog entry :)
But first, we have to announce some not so happy news: Unfortunately, our visit to "Neukirchen", which was planned for Saturday, had to be cancelled. This time not because of problems on our side, but because of health problems on their side. But luckily, the "Neukirchens" don't usually run away. :)
On Saturday, we started the day comfortably and decided to continue the tour in the "House of History" in Bonn. We treated ourselves a glimpse into the fashion of gardens in the various decades. Tilman was almost flabbergasted when he spotted his grandfather's garden.
The museum yielded more surprises: On the one hand, there was a letter written by children to the ARD [one of the two national public service television broadcasters in Germany] and a moment of déjà-vu regarding our current situation and the oil crisis of 1973/74. We would have liked to have stayed longer, but unfortunately, "Night at the Museum" only exists in the film and so we were kindly invited out at closing time.
We spent the evening with one, two or three cozy rounds of "Dog" in various variations and then snuggled comfortably in our sleeping bags.
The next morning - Sunday - it was unfortunately time to say goodbye to sweet Kaya and her great parents Hannah and Malte. Of course, a test drive and, in Kaya's case, a test seat could not be missed this time either. Today's destination is Krefeld, where Markus, a good friend of Tilman's, lives. The few days of rest probably didn't do Ida's knees that good, so we switched positions for today: Tilman in front, Ida in the back. You can see what that looks like for me (Ida) here:
We would like to highlight one of our breaks: In Neuss, there is a great barefoot path with a forest next to it. Forest? Wow! you must be thinking... And indeed, it's a very special forest: Married couples could plant a tree there and since then it grows beautifully.
Shortly before our goal today we saw another tandem in front of us, which awakened new strength in us and we caught up with them. It was a married couple who had just come from Lützerath - for the anniversary of the vigil. When we got to Markus we first took a nice shower. Markus and Tilman then let their chess pieces compete against each other once again.
The next morning - Monday - we comfortably ate fresh, homemade bread. Strengthened by this, Markus not only wanted to test our tandem, but he was brave brave enough to try steering! For this splendid performance we give him a 10 in the D mark and a 9 in the E mark. For more information regarding the point system, please refer to: code de pointage. After this great performance, we drove on without Markus. After all, there are still people who have to work. We hadn't been on our bike for long and it was time for a break again: Burg Linn in Krefeld. Unfortunately, it was closed, but it looked so impressive from the outside that we would recommend a visit to everyone.
Between Krefeld and Xanten, we met an older gentleman with exactly the same bell as ours! Hard to believe... err ringing, right? In Xanten, we paid another visit to the cathedral.
After that, it got pretty boring. Today's cultural program used up! Do you still remember the day when it almost always went straight? If not, then you should rewind a few entries. :) After today, I not only forgot what right and left means, but also what curves are. It only got exciting again when the first border crossing of our tour was imminent!
And here's a little game for you: Find Puschel! If you don't know who or what Puschel is, please have a look further down in this blog entry.
I think you can recognize the border crossing not only by the sign, but also by the quality of the road. Today's sleeping place was organized for us by Tilman's mom Andrea. A friend of hers, Cilia, said we could camp in the yard of an abandoned horse farm. And so we did. :)
And that's how we spent our first night in the Netherlands. (Note from Ida: Have you ever thought about the word NETHERLANDS?! Hint from the translator: The german word "Niederlande" translates to "lower land"...)
The next morning - Tuesday - we started with a natural shower: rain. But we weren't angry about that at all, the soil needs water. Our first destination: Nijmegen! A beautiful city! We drove across an impressive bridge and stopped at the nearest supermarket. There, we were immediately approached by a woman who offered to show us her community: It was designed in such a way that they take up as little space as possible, live ecologically and have a lot of company. The three principles were environmental, social and education. We found this type of living very interesting. Above all, it can probably be found in very few travel guides. If you want to know more: https://iewan.nl
When we drove out of the city, we saw something else very strange: water dwellings! The Dutch are prepared for anything!
Relaxed and safe from cars, we continued our journey towards Arnhem on the bicycle highway. Before we finally drove to Cilia, we wanted to make a stop at a small planetarium. As we drove through fields and occasionally past a farm, Tilman said that we would soon reach our destination. I was a bit skeptical. Unfortunately, it was closed. So we rang the doorbell in the neighboring house and asked if we were lucky. After a few language hurdles, we got an appointment for the next day. So you have to be patient for a few more lines.
In the evening, we arrived at Cilia's and immediately got to work with our new cooker (wood gas burner) to get something to eat. We talked to Cilia and played with her dogs. But at some point it was time for bed...
With full anticipation for the day - Wednesday -, we got up and enjoyed coffee and croissants from Cilia. The first km were very relaxed: 20km until 2 p.m. and of course a lot of confusion due to the loop that can now be seen on our map :-) Finally, having arrived at the first planetarium of our trip, we found it open and unfortunately without free chickens...
...but with many other guests. On the premises/garden/field/whatever, there were not only various planetarium technologies, but also own replicas of various larger buildings in the world.
The group was initially divided into two: one went to the planetarium, the other to the replica of the Eisinga planetarium in Franeker. We went to the planetarium first. With our perfect Dutch and our planetarium experience, we understood the most important thing. Before I introduce you to the details of the planetarium, I would like to point out the craziest thing of all. Hen Olthof built it all alone and just for the fun of it. The entire planetarium with all its technology sprung from his mind! He passed away in 2010, but a foundation set up by his friends continues his legacy. 'Til today!
The planetarium just had a capacity for 10 people + presenter. It was completely different from any planetarium I've ever been to. Usually, you have a solid dome with a projector in the middle, which then projects the stars into their proper place. In this planetarium, it was the other way around. You sat in the dome and the dome revolves around you. The stars are holes in the shell, behind which are lamps. And that's a super impressive and weird feeling when the dome starts spinning around you! And that's not all. Henk Olthof's spirit is still in the planetarium today and brings children and adults alike closer to the starry sky. Before his death in 2010, he recorded an audio file, which is now being played. His voice echoes through his life's work, explaining the earth, the stars and the planets to you. Simply magical! The best thing for me was that my favorite constellation - the dolphin - was explicitly mentioned in the show. Apparently, Henk Olthof was also very interested in this constellation :-)
In the second part, the replica of the planetarium in Franeker was shown and demonstrated. Super impressive how someone can rebuild the whole gearbox just by visiting Franeker! In the end, I revealed to the two presenters that I myself worked in a planetarium and that I am considering writing a book about planetariums in Europe after the tour. That obviously motivated them to show us even more :) So we additionally saw the dome that Mr. Olthof built especially for the southern starry sky and much more! (https://www.achterhoeksplanetarium.nl)
All of this meant that we were ready to drive again at 5 p.m. - a delay that we gladly accepted. And so we headed north. Secretariat "Don Tilman" was looking for a place to stay at the back of the tandem. In the end someone from welcometomygarden called us - we can sleep at his place. So we started the final sprint for the remaining 50km. We arrived at 8 p.m. and met a super nice couple. He hikes a lot himself and thought the idea of the site was very cool. During deeper conversations, we realized that it was our first guest experience with welcometomygarden, as well as for him as a host - a nice coincidence :)
The next morning - Thursday - we continued. On our way through the Netherlands, we really got to appreciate the cycling infrastructure. Lots of little things, where you really got the feeling that someone had thought of something, make driving in the Netherlands a very pleasant experience.
We also noticed that many people hung the Dutch flag upside down. Even by puzzling back and forth we couldn't explain it and just asked a man on the street. With a mixture of Dutch and German we were able to get to the bottom of it. It is an expression of the farmers' protest against the regulation of nitrogen use in agriculture.
For the evening, we organized a place to sleep with Lys and David via warmshowers. The two were super nice and welcomed us warmly, even though they had a very stressful week with many guests behind them. After supper, we sat together for a long time and chatted a lot. Besides Dutch and English, Lys also speaks Fries - a minority language in the Netherlands - super interesting to learn more about it! Of course, when darkness fell, we took the two of them with us on the tandem.
The next morning - Friday - we wanted to leave on time because we wanted to see the original planetarium in Franeker in front of the Afsluitdijk (a closing dike). The first 20km flew by. Franeker is a super beautiful city! As soon as we arrived at the planetarium, we were greeted with a chime of "Ode to Joy"! The planetarium in Franeker was also very special. Around 1775, Eise Eisinga built a planetarium in the ceiling of his living room. The occasion was a series of several planets and a priest's prophecy of the end of the world. In order to educate the population a bit, he worked out a very impressive construct with many gears to simulate the movement of the planets. And it still works very well today. His former living quarters have also been put to good use and filled with a really good exhibition! On the picture with the star map, you can also look for "Berenice's hair". We struck up a good conversation with a presenter and she was very enthusiastic about the idea of making a book about planetariums in Europe. Besides, she didn't even know that there is a replica of the planetarium somewhere in the Achterhoek between corn fields. (https://www.planetarium-friesland.nl)
The next adventure of the day was already waiting for us: the Afsluitdijk.
ATTENTION: now there are many turns: We originally wanted to cycle over this impressive construction of the dyke BUT it is currently under construction and the bike lane is closed. BUT there is a replacement bus for bikes EXCEPT for tandems and bikes. HOWEVER, there is an extra bus for these vehicles, BUT it did not drive (after several phone calls we found out) between 29.07. and the 04.08. BUT we thought: we'll try it anyway and: TADAAAA we managed to smuggle ourselves in :-) Smuggling is a bit harsh to say. When we got to the bus stop, we had a long chat with a super cool bus driver who was in charge of an extra bus. And because we had such a good chat with him, he put in a good word for us at his colleague and hey presto - she took us across the Afsluitdijk.
Since our journey across the lock dike wasn't so sure, we didn't bother looking for a place to stay overnight. But once we got over there we took the time and texted different people at warmshowers. From about 5 p.m. there was still no answer (after all, we were also super short with our inquiries). And so the idea stuck in our heads to just drive through in the direction of "Leiden", where we had a place to stay. We were still super fit and motivated. In order to do that, we wanted to stock up on chocolate and snacks beforehand. And just before this break, we got a call: "You can sleep at our place tonight". What a blatant coincidence that was: Our warmshowers was exactly in the neighboring town of where we were just taking a break. So we were allowed to spend the night with Niels and Nicole. He picked us up at a bridge and rode the remaining meters on the back of the tandem. There we enjoyed an evening with great conversation, a deaf cat and lots of laughter. So, a day full of good surprises! By the way, we are very grateful to all the people who take us in and become part of our journey!
Finally, we would like to introduce you to Puschel: Puschel is a rhino with wings and the mascot of the opera house in Dortmund. In Tilman's circle of friends, it was customary for everyone to have a travel mascot, and Tilman received Puschel as a gift. Puschel also accompanied Tilman on his 4-month trip through Europe. However, on the last day, when he rode his bike with Malte, he decided he wanted to see a little more of the world. After Tilman & Malte's trip to Neukirchen, Malte gave Tilman a self-crocheted Puschel 2.0. This one will of course come with us on our journey :)
At the end of this entry there should also be a short presentation of a constellation and of course, this week it is out of question: the dolphin! Last week I briefly introduced you to the Summer Triangle. And at the bottom right of the Summer Triangle is the coolest constellation of all: the Dolphin. Very good to see and really recognizable as a dolphin :)
That's it from us for now - we'll see/hear/write each other again next week :-)
Ida & Tilman