Out of office replies
I just recently came across some funny out of office replies. Check this out:
I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position.
I'm not really out of the office. I'm just ignoring you.
You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn't have received anything at all.
Hi! I'm busy negotiating the salary for my new job. Please don't bother to leave me any messages.
I've run away to join a different circus.
AND, FINALLY, .... I will be out of the office for the next 2 weeks for medical reasons. When I return, please refer to me as 'Monika' instead of 'Steve'.'
Flock
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If you are looking for a "swiss army tool" to manage your blog, your flickr photos, your you-tube videos and many more media then you should check out flock browser. This web browser is based on the open source Mozilla code and it integrates social networking, photo uploading, bookmarks, and other features.
You can download Flock from this website:Flock
Earlier I have used for each account an own application, but having found this I can manage all of it with just a single application. Great tool!
Blogged with Flock
Finnish summer day
A wonderful sunny day in the forests around Iittala
www.flickr.com
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11. day - Klein Rosenburg - Dessau
Trip: 38,4 km/h
Average speed: 17,8 km/h
Max. speed: 32,4 km/h
Overal time: 27:14h
Arrived! Mette and I arrived in Dessau today. As planned we will end our tour here. Tomorrow morning we will go back to Ludwigshafen by train. And next Monday we will take a flight back to Finland.
I probably need some days or weeks to process this trip. But alreay now I can say that it has been a great experience. We saw so many things. We passed through beautiful landscapes and we meet many interesting people. I never thought that I would enjoy this trip so much. Biking is a very good way to travel.
PS: I will post some photos of our trip to this blog during the following days.
10. day - Magdeburg - Klein Rosenburg
Trip: 54,3 km/h
Average speed: 16,9 km/h
Max. speed: 28,8 km/h
Overal time: 25:04h
This morning, for the first time during our trip we had a lack of motivation. We both wished that we could have slept a bit longer. At the breakfast table I came across a brochure of Magdeburg's suburban railway. Their offer appeared tempting: bicycles transportation free of charge. We checked the schedule and it would have suited us just perferct. There would have been the possibility for us to take a train next to our last night's hotel and get off pretty close to our today's hotel. However, I am very proud to say that we did resist this temptation and we biked.
I have to agree with Mette. I did not find Magdeburg very exciting either. Many of the buildings looked a bit dull. Besides the cathedral and the Hundertwasser house, there are rather few interesting buildings. And the infrastucture is showing many features of Soviet style architecture, mainly how the streets are arranged.
Once we left the centre of Magdeburg, the houses became more appealing. Some houses along the old Elbe riverbed are representative, indeed.
For a while we followed the dyke and shortly before we reached a town called Schöneberg I saw a young calf which, for some reasons, was outside the pasture fence. I went to the farm nearby as I thought that I should inform a responsible about this. I was lucky, the farmer was just on the court yard. I told him about the calf and the fence, but he said that everything is alright and the he does not bother that the calf is outside the fence.
I have to admit that when cycling through the Eastern parts of Germany during this trip, I liked the smaller town, the villages and country much more. The bigger cities that we have passed, like Wittenberge or Magdeburg, looked cheerless and dreary. On the other side, people that we have seen and met on the country side somehow managed to maintain their genuine friendliness and their joy of living.
Mette and I started to have a habit during this trip. Each evening we discuss about the highlight of the day. So what was my highlight of the day? Actually, today there had been two. The first highlight today was a break that we took in a small village which name I unfortunately do not recall. Anyway, we sat on a bench and ate some cake that we bought from the local bakery. That cake tasted do good. The other highlight was not a particular moment as such. It was more of a feeling, a good feeling. And this came from the fact that we, besides being a bit unmotivated in the morning, still went by bike today. It was a good decision.
9. day - Buch - Magdeburg
Trip: 64,7 km/h
Average speed: 19,7 km/h
Max. speed: 42,1 km/h
Overal time: 21:51h
Monday special! Today's report is written by Mette...
Ja, för omväxlingens skull också lite svenska (hoppas att det inte hindrar dig från att läsa).
Vi visste att vi skulle ha en lång färd framför oss, och var visst lite oroliga gällande den möjliga motvinden, så vi steg extra tidigt upp och njöt en god frukost i buffetstil på vårt härbärge.
Kom alltså i god tid iväg och hade tur eftersom det inte var blåsigt. Annars var de bekanta gråa molnen på himlen, fast idag var de inte fyllda med regn : ) Fördelen med ett tjockt molntäcke är ju att den skyddar från solen, som skulle leda till ännu mera svett och dessutom solbränd hud. Idag var det rentav lite morgonkyla i luften fram till tio tiden.
Vi hade alltså bra "drive" och kom snabbt framåt, så vi utnyttjade situationen och försökte köra non-stop. Några pauser blev det givetvis: Svens tarometer spelade lite spratt och slutade fungera för en tid, tankaden vatten i oss och köpte mera i en liten ortsbutik, åkte färja osv.
Hade otur när vi ville åka längs med den utvisade cykelvägen och ignorerade en liten skylt om att vägen inte var användbar. Landade därmed i flera hundratalsmeter fårskit (ursäkta uttrycket, men det var som jag säger). Visserligen träffade vi sedan också fåren, vilket ju i och för sig alltid är trevligt, men denna gång hade fårskötaren också sett till att cykelvägen var spärrad och vi hade inget annat val än att köra genom samma bruna och luktande väg tillbaka och ta en omväg för att komma vidare.
Lite föra Magdeburg träffade vi också på en stor sluss så vi kollade in hur det massiva verket fungerar eftersom det kom två båtar som åkte in. Enormt vilken kraft vattnet kan ha!
Magdeburg är en stor stad så gps fick hjälpa oss videre till härbärget, vid det här laget var vi faktiskt redan ganska slut (hade dessutom fått lite motvind). Var smått besvikna när ingen öppnade på härbärget, och fick inte kontakt ens per telefon. Väntade flitigt och visst kom vår värd, hon hade varit utan telefonkontakt i den lummiga trädgården och jobbat. Vi fick ett trevligt rum och skyndade att göra oss färdiga så att vi kunde åka till centrum. Tog spårvagnen och steg av vid domkyrkan. En mäktig kyrka, delvis under reparation. Intressant arkitektur av Hundertwasser, peppade på ett trevligt sätt upp centrumet som kanske annars var lite av en besvikelse för oss.
Köpte vårt kvällsmål i butiken och njöt den på rummet. Vi känner av musklerna. Två dagar kvar till Dessau, så det ger oss ännu tid till många sevärdheter längs vår färd. Vi njuter...
8. day - Havelberg - Buch
Trip: 52,1 km/h
Average speed: 16,9 km/h
Max. speed: 40,1 km/h
Overal time: 18:34h
We had breakfast in our hotel. Later on we found out that there had been a Swedish couple at the same table. Our departure time today was a bit earlier than the previous days. Our legs were recovered and our motivation was strong. Even the weather had been good. In short, excellent conditions for a biking day.
The only downside was that several times it had been difficult to find the right direction today. Once we even lost our way. Shortly before Arneburg, where we crossed the river, we found our selves biking on the dyke's turf. And around Schönfeld we ask a farmer for direction and we thought that we understood his instructions well, but still we ended up on a path which was certainly not suitable for bikers, eventhough that the signpost indicated that this should be the case. As the Elbe river made a slight turn towards west after Havelberg we currently face strong side winds. This should be over once we have reached Magdeburg, our tomorrow's destination.
A highlight of the day had been Tangermünde, with its medieval houses, fortress and churches. Tangermünde had been mentioned for the first time by bishop Thietmar von Merseburg in 1009. It had been built as fortress to protect against Slavian people from the east side of river Elbe. In the 14. century it served as side residence of the German emporer Karl IV. He wanted to support trade between Prague and the trade centres in England, Scandinavia, in the Baltics and Nowgorod in combination with the allied Hanse towns in Hamburg and Lübeck.
Nearby Tangermünde there is a town called Schönhausen, in which Bismarck was born. As it was a bit off our our track we decided not to go there.
Our today's accommodation is on a horse farm. I suppose that our sleeping rooms served as stable in the old days. We got to know a couple from Saxony who stay over night on the same farm. We went out to eat together. After we eat they invited us for a glass of vine. We had a nice little conversation.
7. day - Havelberg (a day of rest)
Trip: n.a.
Average speed: n.a.
Max. speed: n.a.
Overal time: n.a.
We took a resting day in Havelberg. Happily there had been many things to see and do in Havelberg, because there had been a festival today. We listened to the open ceremony of the mayor. The festival itself had not been that big. It mainly consisted of some shops, local clubs and exhibitors. We enjoyed watching a show of some kind of children celebrity "Theo Tintenklecks", who is some kind of puppet representing a cartoon figure for children. Most of the kids sang together with Theo Tintenklecks. They kids even had their own performance. The were singing in a quier and had a ballet performance. We enjoyed watching the kids performances and observed the life in the town. The impression that we got was that of a peaceful small town in which people enjoy to live.
Later on I took part in a wine game. My tasks was to blind taste four different wines and find out which of the wines are white and which are red. Three samples had been pretty easy, but one was a bit more diffcult. However, I managed to identify all of them and as reward I won a small bottle of liquore.
Mette and I played lotto today. There were 17 million Euros in the jackpot. Unfortunately we did not win anything.
In the afternoon, we watched a fashion show of a local boutique. It was obvious that all models had been amateurs and they took great pride of participating to the show. However, I can not deny that the combination of dresses, colours and themes was pretty stylish. It was also interesting to watch the local older ladies who carefully watched the show.
In the evening we went to an Italian restaurant where we had some pizza. It was a good idea to take a day rest. We could recover from the previous days. Now we are looking forward for tomorrow's trip to Tangermünde.
6. day - Cumlosen - Havelberg
Trip: 46,5 km
Average speed: 20,0 km/h
Max. speed: 30,8 km/h
Overal time: 15:30 h
We left Cumlosen at ten o'clock in the morning. Before that, I tried to repair Mette's suspension seat post. For some reason's it started to make some noise. It had been annoying us already yesterday and today I thought I would do something about it. I put some grease on it and at least it helped for a little while.
Today was a very windy day. Happily the wind had been blowing from the back which helped to increase our average speed again. In addition, I feel that my condition became a bit better. My legs somehow feel a bit stronger, or at least they got used to biking.
We passed Rühstädt on our way. It is a small village, famous for its many storks. I have never seen so may storks before. The whole village was full of them. Almost every third house had one or even more stork nests on its roof. It was very interesting and fascinating. Mette and I climbed up on an observation platform form which we could observe the gracious white birds even better. If it is true that storks bring babys then this small village does not need to worry about the ever so much discussed demographic change.
After Rühstädt we followed the dyke along the river Havel. Again the road conditions had been excellent and marked with clear sign posts.
I have recognized that there are biker friendly and biker unfriendly villages and towns. Those biker friendly villages have good roads for cyclists. The have managed to adjust the traffic infrastructure to bikers needs. As an example for this could be mentioned a bike stands on which the complete bike including the frame and wheels can be locked on. As another example I could menion special sign posts for bikers with clear directions and distances.
In the afternoon we arrived in Havelberg. Unlike Wittenberge, which we did not like that much because of its many empty houses and sad looking people, Havelberg is a beautiful and lively little town. We will take day rest tomorrow and stay here. A young man had been welcoming us at our arrival at our bed&breakfast hotel. He did not mind that we arrrived hours before our estimated arrival time and he showed us directly to our room. The appartment is surprisingly big and with its location, in the city centre, very suitable for a day of rest.
The people here seem to be friendly. I had a little chat with some old people standing on the street. We started to talk while I was shooting photo's of Havelberg's old town. Mette and I took a walk around the town after had left our bikes in our room. The lower part of the city with the historic old town are located on an island in the Havel river. It is not very big. One can walk from one side to another within five minutes. Actually we are lucky, as there will be some kind of festival tomorrow.
5. day - Dömitz - Cumlosen
Trip: 71,5 km
Average speed: 18,5 km/h
Max. speed: 42,1 km/h
Overal time: 13:10 h
While having breakfast at "Radlerpension" in Dömitz we had a little talk with our host who, for some reason spoke Hungarian. Our conversation focused pretty much on comparing Finnish and Hungarian language. We discovered that besides being rooted in the same language family the two languages have rather little similarities.
We left Dömitz at around ten in the morning. The weather conditions had been excellent. We had strong back wind today, so we could increase our average speed. Our today's trip took us first to Gorleben. It is a small village, which at least many Germans know. Gorleben had been in the news many times, because a storage centre for nuclear waste is located in this village.
Shortly after Gorleben it started to rain heavily and we had to seek shelter. A cafeteria nearby protected us from rain. We continued our trip after a little while. The road conditions had been really perfect. We biked most of the time on the dyke, with nice views to the left and right. The landscape is getting broader. We see more and more meadows and every now and then some storks.
We took a break in Schnackenburg. Mette and I had been waiting for this visit to Lower-Saxony's smallest town. When planning this bike trip we came across this town. We thought that the name "Schnackenburg" is funny and we have been talking about this town many times.
After Schnackenburg we passed the river by ferry and continued the trip on the other side. Cumlosen, our today's destination, was just a couple of kilometres away. Once we arrived our host had been welcoming us at "Landgasthof Schmidt". We went to our room, left our bags and took our bikes for an afternoon ride to Wittenberge. We went to eat to a Chinese restaurant.
Now we are in our hotel and watch TV. The weather forecast promised more sunshine during the weekend...
4. day - Bleckede (Neu-Wendischthun) - Dömitz
Trip: 27,3 km (plus a couple of km by boat)
Average speed: 17,6 km/h
Max. speed: 34,9 km/h
Overal time: 9:18 h
Today's bike ride was short one because we decided to take part of our trip by boat. We left our accommodation at "Alte Schule" in Neu-Wendischthun at around ten o'clock. Before that our host served as a really delicious breakfast. There was plenty of food and we took some on our way. Actually we had been the only guests and the place we stayed could not have been more on the country side. We slept with the window open and we could hear a cow all night long. The cow had been really loud and I was wondering what was wrong with her something must have really bothered her. I would like to mention that the cow did not bother me at all (nor did she bother Mette), I was just curious to know what her problem was. I decided to ask our host: "If a cow is mooing all night long, what is her problem? Is she hungry, lonely or..." The answer was prompt and simple. The reason for a cow to moo alnight long is that her udder is full and she wants to be melked. I should have known this myself.
After we left Neu-Wendischthun we went back by ferry to Bleckede. On the ferry we could already see our cruise ship "Bleckeder Löwe" which we intended to take to Hitzacker, about 20km north of Dömitz, our today's destination. In front of the ship there was a bus and a bunch of elderly people. I was wondering whether they intented to go on the same cruise and whether we will be ending up on some kind of sales show where we had to buy under group pressure some very expensive (but useless) household devices. Mette told me that these sales shows are known in Finland too. My worries turned out to be unneccessary. The bunch of people were retired colleagues of a German health insurance company, the "Techniker Krankenkasse". Nice people indeed and some of them talked with us. Mainly they were curious where we are from and where we will go. Having them on the cruise might have been useful as we were the only passengers besides this bus load of people. I wonder whether the ship would have departed just for the two of us.
Once we arrived in Hitzacker we went of board first. While mounting our bags on the bikes another biking couple arrived. Without even greeting the woman complained to me that we would be standing in their way. She told me: "You are standing in a stragically stupid position" Mette and me looked at each other and felt sorry for her. It was obvious that the reason for her being upset was not us but her being uncapable of carrying her fully loaded bike over the small landing bridge to the ferry.
We spent a shortwhile in Hitzacker. Its main attraction is a historic old town with timbered houses built on a peninsula. We decided to take off for the 20 km ride to Dömitz after a while. The ride was excellent because we were cycling on a special bike road on the dyke. The road smooth surface, the excellent sign posts and backwind made our ride enjoyable. We passed a farm on our way and I thought that this had been the best view of today. The farm house was really beautifully restored. It was built of red brick stones with white windows and thatched roof. The stables were built in the same style. There was life on this farm. A cow was grazing under an old oak tree, some henns with their chicken and a proud rooster were picking worms in a meadow full of apple trees and some pigs enjoyed wallowing in the mud. It was just like a farm in a children book.
Shortly before Dömitz we passed the river another time. The bike path followed over the bridge a heavy trafficed and rather big overland street. It said on the poles that the bridge had been built in 1992. No wonder, some years earlier the river had been the inner German boarder and there was no need for a bridge.
We arrived at our hotel shortly after four o'clock. It was easy to find the place. Once we arrived we saw the same couple that we already got to know in Hitzacker. It turned out that they will be in the same hostel tonight than we are.
Mette and I very much enjoy this bike ride. We came to the conclusion that traveling by bike has many advantages if compared to other means of transportation. It is fast enough to get somewhere. In the same time it is slow enough to enjoy the scenery. I believe that biking is a much more intensive way of traveling if compared to car or public transportation, because it simply combines more senses. One does not only see, one can also hear and smell. And on a bumpy road you can even feel...
3. day - Geesthacht - Bleckede (Neu-Wendischthun)
Trip: 50,9 km
Average speed: 15,0 km/h
Max. speed: 45,7 km/h
Overal time: 7:45 h
We started our day with a traditional German breakfast, which was just the same "old-school" style as the whole "Hotel zur Post". Delicious indeed, and excellent charming service from our host. There was plenty of food and we were encouraged to even take some with us for the long day. Without even asking our host brought us some paper bags for the two roles that we took along. We sayed good bye to our host and we thanked him for his hospitality. I would certainly recommend this hotel to anyone seeking for a charming accommodation in Geesthacht.
Right after we left Geesthacht we passed the nuclear power plant in Krümmel. It had been in the national news recently because the plant had been shutdown and taken off the electricity network after a fire in the trafo-house. The fire had been caused due to running the plant on over-capacity. This was because another nuclear power plant in Brunsbüttel had some problems too and Vattenfall wanted to compensate electricity supply. A guy in the hotel told me this the previous evening.
Unlike mentioned in the weather forecast there was no rain during the morning and the early afternoon. When we woke up the sun was shining even. However, shortly before Bleckede, our today's destination, it started raining.
Our today's bike ride had been diversified. In the very beginning we cycled through a forest. The track was pretty bumpy and we went up and down and up and down...This might be ok for a mountain bike ride, but with a trekking bike loaded with heavy bags it requires a good balance. There were some very nice views over the Elbe landscape on some of the hills. We passed Lauenburg, with its beautiful little timbered and half-timbered houses. Our ride continued towards Boizenburg along a well built cycle path with a smooth surface. We took a break in Boizenburg on the market place. It was interesting to watch people passing by. The picture I got was that of a nice little small town where everyone seems to know each other by first name. I recogniced that people in this region very much like to greet each other, and even more surprising also us foreigners.
Our tour continued along the former German-German border. We decided to take a short-cut and biked on the dyke. We saw many birds. Most interest was to watch a group of storks, around nine or ten. Two of them were fighting for food. The one with the food in his mouth was traced by another stork., in the air. This play went on for more than five minutes including some artistic flight movements. None of the both seemed to give up. However, in the end the one with the food was able to defend his lunch.
As we approached Bleckede it started to rain. We stopped for a while and changed our clothes. We continued our ride with raingear. It was a good choice because it also got a bit colder. Because Bleckede is on the other side of the river we had to take the ferry. It was 1,50€/person and 0,50€/bike. Once we arrived in Bleckede we went to a ecological supermarket and bought some fruits, yoghurt and chocolate. The food was quite expensive, but the yoghurt was very delicous. Hard to say whether it tastes so good because it was an ecological product or because I had been biking the whole day and starving for food. Maybe it was more the latter reason.
We took another rest in the castle of Bleckede in which the tourist information is located. This gave us the opportunity to ask where the passenger ship "Bleckeder Löwe" will depart tomorrow morning. Mette and I will go on a river cruise from Bleckede to Hitzacker tomorrow.
Before we biked to our today's accommodation we went to a supermarket and bought some food and drinks for tonight. Our today's sleeping place is called "Alte Schule" and it is located in Neu-Wendischthun which is a bit outside Bleckede on the other side of the river, which means that we had to take the ferry again.
We both took a shower now and I guess we are going to eat something soon...
