Germany 2022

Trip List Calendar

2022-09-02 : Altefähr isolation day
We tested Brent this morning and he’s still positive. We’re going to spend two more nights at the Altefähr campground and then move on, as is allowed by the current Germany restrictions, and advised by the cdc. We’re mostly hanging out today, and I’m making new travel plans.
We had breakfast on the beach again today. Our two swan friends came back, and for the second day in a row spent some time on the ocean ramp preening. We noticed that they both have silver rings on their legs, which confirms our suspicion that they are married. ;)
As fascinating as watching Bob and Frank (our swans) is, I had to do something today. I did laundry. Using one of the dry bags that I bought for travel laundry. Seems to have worked ok, but the proof will be in whether or not we deem our Covid-laden bandanas to be actually clean or not. Stand by….
I am quite happy with having the iPhone as my only tech on this trip. Sometimes I miss having the Surface, and sometimes I miss having two separate devices, but for the most part I’m managing. I can Detail my DAMs, and I’ve been able to book travel and accommodation. Thanks to Gertrudis, it was really easy to find transportation that was eligible under the nine euro ticket in August, and now that that’s over, the OMIO app is proving to be worth its weight for finding and booking transport.


2022-09-03 : Ferry to Stralsund
The ferry from Altefähr is open-air and we’re feeling pretty good so off we went today. We explored the city a bit but mostly went on a quest for bike helmets. Our tour sells them for E40 but we would like to find cheaper ones if possible. Schnitzel and beer in the sun and then we returned to Altefähr.


2022-09-04 : To Hamburg
One of life’s unsung pleasures: packing up a dry tent. Unless something changes again, today will be our last morning packing up our tent on this trip. We are grateful for (1) no rain and (2) no dew.

Our original plan had us going straight north to the coast (through Hamburg) then east to Stralsund, but Covid changed that. When we found out we had the virus we headed straight to the Stralsund area in case we were sick right up until the time of our Bike and Barge trip. Now that we’re able to travel again, and we have a few days to do so, we’re backtracking a bit. We’re heading to Hamburg today and then Wismar tomorrow. We might squeeze in a day trip to Rostock since we’ll be in Wismar for three nights.

having the E9 ticket in August was nice, but it also meant the trains were REALLY full. Today is our first time traveling at full price and it’s kind of nice to be in a train that’s more than half empty. I’ve been kind of considering booking us into the first class compartment if the trains continue to be cattle cars. On the trip from Altefähr to Rostock (where we transfer to Hamburg) we had to produce our tickets. It was our first time using an electronic ticket purchase through OMIO. The lady scanned our QR code, and gave us an approving nod. Easy peasy.
When I looked on Airbnb to find us a place in Hamburg, a listing came up for a Hippie Camper with a pic of the cutest little trailer. I had to stay there. Brent agreed to it, because that’s what Brent does. <3
When we got to the PierDrei hotel they let us check in right away. It’s a really unique and fun place with regular hotel rooms, plus three little trailers in their ‘Camper City’ up one floor from main, on the roof. PierDrei also has a really great restaurant and bar, plus a rooftop garden. Highly recommend!!


2022-09-05 : To Wismar
Since we first got sick we’ve been sleeping a lot. Afternoon naps and long nights. Until Friday, when we both stopped feeling a need to sleep so much. Yesterday we traveled to Hamburg, checked in, went for a walk, had lunch and beer, and then crashed, hard. We laid down around 4pm and didn’t get up again until 6am. I guess we’re still fighting some residual effects.

Today I contacted our tour company about what to do if we’re still testing positive when the Bike and Barge starts. They indicated that we should remain in quarantine, which is different from what I’ve seen on the government websites, but that plus some gentle questioning from a long lost cousin has me wondering if we’ve been doing the right things. We quarantined for the required five days and then we quarantined for a few bonus days until we were both asymptomatic. But now I’m wondering if we should have quarantined until we both test negative. We tested this afternoon and I was negative (to our surprise, because I have some residual symptoms) and Brent was positive (to our surprise, because he does not. We’ve moved on to Wismar, anyway, and we’ll quarantine Brent until he tests negative, hopefully within a couple of days.

Properly navigating this whole thing has been very complicated. We can’t just ‘go home and isolate’. When we discovered I was positive we had just arrived at an Airbnb which was only available for three nights. We had to go SOMEWHERE. We chose to go camp in a place that was close to where we would need to be on Sept 10th in case we ended up sick right up until the day. Camping was good for isolation because we were off in our own ‘unit’, as it were, but we still needed to use bathrooms and get groceries. Once we were asymptomatic and had quarantined for the required number of days, we felt we could move around more freely. That seemed to be supported by the German government and the cdc… but… was it really? We don’t know. We’ve done our best and we hope for the best. This shit’s complicated when you’re traveling!
The whole town of Wismar is a UNESCO site. Here’s what the ‘Most Beautiful Places in Germany’ website says about it:

Sat on Germany's Baltic Sea coastline, Wismar is a weekender's delight. With its colourful and characterful buildings (evidence of Swedish rule during the 16th and 17th centuries), Gothic architecture and old harbour, the once powerful trading port is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Wismar’s picture-perfect looks have long lured filmmakers too: its harbour famously featured in the 1922 Dracula movie Nosferatu.


2022-09-06 : Day in Wismar
Covid or no Covid, i think that early morning walks when we’re traveling may become a favorite activity. We really enjoy having places almost to ourselves and it’s nice to see sights with few or no people in them.

Besides our early morning walk, today was just an isolation day. I popped out to do some shopping, but otherwise we’re just hanging out. If Brent doesn’t test negative by the 10th we’re not going to be able to go on the Bike and Barge so we’ve discussed contingencies. If that happens we’ll go back to the campground at Altefähr and wait it out.


2022-09-07 : Day in Wismar
Welp, Brent tested positive again today so after our early morning walk it’s just another fun-filled day of hanging out in our Airbnb. Hopefully he tests negative on Friday so we can start our tour on Saturday!

With all of these early morning walks and not much else, my photos of this trip are looking a little post-apocalyptic: dark, reddish and devoid of people.


2022-09-08 : To Stralsund
We’re heading back to Stralsund today. Hoping Brent will test negative tomorrow. We’ll then have to get an official test done so that we can get on our Bike and Barge tour. The forecast is calling for a lot of rain over the next week or more. Whether we’re Bike and Barge-ing or continuing to isolate, that could make things less pleasant…
When we got to Stralsund today, Brent mentioned that he was hungry. I asked him if he wanted to go out, or if he wanted one of our traditional Isolation Sandwiches (Rug bread, salami and cheese). Oh he wanted so much to go out, but not until he tests negative. It’s raining, so even eating in a safer outdoor setting wasn’t feasible. We have only tested me the one time recently so we bought two tests and tested both of us to make sure we were safe to go out for dinner. YAY! We both tested negative! We went for dinner and beers and tomorrow (or, probably Saturday morning) we’ll get our official tests done so that we can go on our Bike and Barge tour.


2022-09-09 : Errand day in Stralsund
Now that we’ve both tested negative we know how the remainder of our trip should go. We are preparing for the Bike and Barge tour - yay! This morning we stopped in at the Covid test kiosk to get the info we needed to get tested appropriately for the tour. Then we went off in search of bicycle helmets. We chose not to bring helmets along because we didn’t want to have to haul them around for the month before the tour. We could buy helmets from the tour company for E40, but for that price we’d rather find and select our own. We headed off to Fahrrad Wollman, the nearest bike shop to us. They had limited selection and quite expensive. One of their helmets looked like a Gilligan hat and if it had fit Brent we certainly would have bought it but alas, it was too big. We decided against getting helmets there and went to Hagebaumarkt - a Hardware store that we had scouted out last time we were in Stralsund. After getting helmets from the hardware store we made our way back to the old town and the Hugendubel store that I’ve been keeping an eye on. It’s a book store that I’ve found to be a good source of cycle tour books and maps in the past. We had decided that, since our days of hauling packs around are now limited, maybe I would buy a few cycle maps there for our tour next year. Sadly they didn’t have what I was looking for - they only had maps for the north of Germany, which I’m not looking for at this time. Oh well. Brent took me for ice cream in the Alte Markt and all is well.
The rains predicted for this afternoon didn’t appear so we sat outside and had a couple of beers. We thought we might walk around a little and see if we could find our boat for tomorrow which was supposed to arrive around 1:30. Well, as we sat there around 1:30, the boat pulled in and parked, literally, right in front of our Airbnb. No walking around required. Ha!
While we were waiting for the bike shop to open we took a walk through the St Jürgen cemetery. We both really enjoyed it. It had a lot of ‘wild’ and we imagined he people buried there as being, now, up in the tops of the trees in the park.


2022-09-10 : Barge: Start from Stralsund
We went first thing today to get our official rapid tests done. The test kiosk is being run out of a pub here in Stralsund. The tests they’re using seem to be pretty much the same as the tests you can buy yourself here from the Apoteke. We were both relieved to have our official tests come back negative.
We spent the afternoon at the Ozeaneum, which was interesting. Then we had a beer at the pier until it was time to board the ship.

Boarding the ship was easy except for the old guy who wiped out straight into Brent and knocked him over. Thankfully he landed on his backpack and there was no harm done. Apparently we are the only English speakers on board so we have been assigned to Table 18 for meals, sitting with a staff member who speaks English. Let the adventure begin.


2022-09-11 : Barge: Stralsund – Lauterbach – Peenemünde
Since we’re the only English speakers on board we’ve been seated with a couple of the tour staff members. They’re very nice men, but it has also created an uncomfortable segregation. The other guests don’t seem particularly inclined to talk with us and it’s kinda lonely. We’re also on the low end of the age curve so there aren’t many folks that we’d probably have much in common with. There’s one woman, Christine, who is traveling by herself and who we visited with a little in the mandatory orientation last night. Like us, she will be riding a push bike, not an ebike. The majority are riding ebikes, so even though most of them are older than us, they’ll probably still be much faster. Christine is in very good shape and will probably ride a lot faster than us on the push bike.

Apparently on the last tour they had a whole table of English speakers. Some folks from Britain, the US and Finland. I would love to be able to speak better German so that I could converse with the folks on the tour, but my skill level is really just at ‘get basic needs met’. I can’t hold down a proper conversation. Sigh.
Today is the longest and most complicated riding day so we got our own personalized overview in English today. The forecast has been calling for rain all day today for the last week, but that fizzled away into a few showers around 1pm. The showers actually showed up around 11am but didn’t last long. It was a really nice day for riding and Brent and I were really happy to be on some bikes. I’m super relieved that the longer ride (not quite 50km) didn’t trigger any post-Covid hacking, which both of us have been having a bit. Rügen is a very flat and agricultural island. Most of our riding was through fields and forests, punctuated by the occasional really pretty little town. Putbus is a little on the larger side and we thought we might stop there for first beer, but with all of the beer behind us by the time we climbed up to town we decided to go all the way to Lauterbach for first beer. We arrived at the same time as our boat… about 2:30pm.
The boat were on has a captain, a manager of hotel operations and a manager of the cycle tour. The cycle tour manager is the fellow who’s table we’re assigned to for meals. He also has an assistant who sits with us. We’ve really enjoyed getting to know them a little and find out how they got involved in running Bike and Barge tours. The manager is a retired police officer from the Netherlands. He REALLY likes people. We’ve pondered how he would have done as a traffic cop. The world can use more traffic cops who really like people, we think. The assistant got into this field later in life and quite accidentally. His wife works on cruise ships and one time she fell ill and couldn’t go to work, so he stepped in in her place, and the rest is history. Fascinating.
The crew has a great ‘bucket brigade’ process for moving all of the bicycles on and off of the top deck of the boat. Many hands make light work!


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