I was leaving Bremen today. It’s a nice place with lots of great old buildings, tourists, cobblestones and shops as well as some distinct districts with different characteristics. I’d been industrious in Bremen too.
I picked up a reconditioned iPad from Amazon to help make my planning, reading and research a little easier. I’m totally sick of looking at my phone screen and zooming and scrolling. It’s difficult planning a long trip on the small screen.
So, I picked it up at the Amazon desk at the Karstadt department store then got to work setting it up. Unfortunately, it didn’t charge well at all. It took all night to get to 90%. Next, I chatted to support. Long story short, after half a day, they suggested to send it back for a refund.
Ok, I’ll just go down to the DHL Pack station. They’re open and provide that service. But they closed early for some reason. That’s ok, I’ll go there tomorrow morning. In the morning, I found the Matilda’s quarter final on free-to-air tv and was thereafter glued to the set until the end of the excruciating penalty shoot-out.
Then, it was off to DHL. All good, except they couldn’t print the labels that Amazon had emailed me. mmmm. Being Saturday morning, my options were limited. I went to tourist information and they suggested a photo printing place not far away. Full marks to the Tourist information people. Now, I had all I needed and headed back to DHL – the large one in the city, again. And … they closed early again. Aaaaagggghhh !
I searched for a post office and smaller Deutsche Post / DHL outlets that were open, found one and explained what I needed to do. He had everything except bubble wrap and couldn’t suggest where to buy any. Back to Karstadt, and Yes ! Bubble wrap. Then back to DHL to go through the confusing labelling and packing process, and the minute, I was done, the guy picked up all of the packages from that location my first bit of good fortune in this whole episode.
Next, I walked 50 metres up the road and bought a new iPad but this time, a new one for a similar price.
That was nearly a full day. I immediately needed to eat an sit down.
Let’s go back to leaving Bremen.
The first half was very quiet and boring. I was riding on cycle paths beside roads and it was very quiet because it was Sunday and very few places were open.
I found a nice cafe in Oldenburg and had a break. Oldenburg was actually a nice interlude. I rode around the cobbled narrow streets for a while. Then I pushed on for the last part, and back onto some boring cycle paths.
I noticed that the GPS unit had stopped recording at 49.8km, so I stopped and pressed a few buttons. Nothing worked, so I reset it. When I took off, I had a flat rear tyre.
It’s the continuing saga. Stupidly, mid ride, I deflated the tube and massaged the bump out of the tyre and reinflated. That would have put too much pressure on the little patch covering a good sized cut in the tube. All still related to that Adelaide bike shop !
So, I backtracked 100m to a parking area near a house and shop. I had everything disassembled when the house owners came home. They smiled and said it was fine for me to be there. The guy wanted to bring me a bottle of the ‘best beer in Germany, and he insisted, saying that I would feel good afterwards, and above all, I had to enjoy my day.
I like his attitude, and the beer was really nice. It’s Jever, from this area, East Friesland.
I repaired the tube. I keep forgetting to get new ones. Then reassembled and got going – for about 2.5kms when the same thing happened. I hope nobody heard me yelling and screaming in frustration. I found another spot, and repeated the exercise. Luckily, it lasted the few kms to the campground but it was flat again soon after. The timing is terrible as most bike shops are closed on Mondays.
At the campsite, I met two Dutch guys, Wim and Johan. They’re great guys. They’re neighbours on their annual bike tour. What a nice thing to do. Wim has a Koga, so I knew they were Dutch.
We all had dinner together at the local pizzeria where the German love of cash came to the fore. The guy went through the process of trying to use his card machine, complaining about our credit cards, putting paper in the machine etc. I bet it hasn’t worked in months.
Of course, I overate but the pizza was nice.