IT'S OVER!!!

I just finished the final final presentation, the last ever task for the Masters and I am FREE! Free to get caught up on everything else, that is. Expect blog update tonight. Well, tomorrow afternoon at the latest - there is wine to be drunk :-)

Biomineralization rocks! (that's a pun)

End of the line

Deventor is a charming place to learn about Dutch train tickets, Dutch train routes and Dutch banks. First, you can't use a German Postbank card (without a chip) to pay for a train ticket, nor a North American Visa. But the Postbank card does work in the Dutch Postbanke machine to get cash... but then you can't pay for the ticket with cash either... unless you have it all in coins! Thank goodness for the vegetarian snack place or I would have dropped dead!

Fortunately a friendly Dutch fellow used his bank card to pay for me and I just managed to jump on board a fast train, connecting at Arnhem to Leiden. The Dutch conductor had a bit of fun with me about my bike - its 6€ to take on board... if you pay at the ticket machine, but 31€ if you pay on board! But I can pay at a ticket counter in Arnhem. It would be nice if they would announce Arnhem. After the milk run from Oldenzaal, it was a surprise to find myself at the end of the line in Nemigen just a few minutes (and 2 stops) after leaving Deventor. Missed connection meant a detour through Utrecht to Leiden, and a lovely conversation in broken Dutch with an old couple from Leiden. Thankfully my German phone works and Chris met me at the station on time and took me to the local pub where I learned how to lose at Go.

I LOVE Leiden!

Bremen to Leiden in 20 easy steps:
Stay tuned - more on ESTEC, Basel and Colmar tomorrow!

Longer cheats

So continuing on by bus and bike and whatever vehicle is going my way, I stopped at a Lingen to look for a Dutch-English-Dutch dictionary. Only finding a Dutch-German-Dutch phrase book, I at least learned how to ask for a Dutch-English-Dutch dictionary in Dutch. I took yet another city bus from Lingen to Nordhorn, which I knew from my trusty map was on the Dutch border. Finding a bookstore in plain sight, I was about to try out my feeble Dutch phrase, when the lady behind the counter asked if she could help me - in German! I cautiously asked if she spoke German, in German, and she said "Natürlich" and they didn't have a Dutch-English-Dutch dictionary but she did have a map and at least I learned that Nordhorn is still on the German side of the border ;-)
(Note to self: forget the phrase "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?")

After locating tourist information and finding the route to Holland is (would you believe) along a peaceful canal, I rolled over the (non-existent) border to Denekamp, home of the best-hidden Tourist Information Office in Europe. Denekamp is under construction, and with only enough Dutch to get myself a Nederlands-Engels-Nederlands boek, it took a German tourist to help me trespass my way to the VVV, where they don't have free local maps, but did have good (Englis) instructions to the next town. One city bus later, I found the quaint village of Oldenzaal, where I spent an hour tracking down a hardware store to replace the tarp I dropped somewhere en route. In Dutch. (Everybody here speaks English, but at least they don't mind if you practice Dutch on them.)

By this time (5PM) I was hungry and tired and decided to get off the bike/city bus loop and try the Dutch train. It was the milk run to Deventor, which gave me enough time to count up bus tickets and discover it would have been cheaper (but less fun) to take the train.

Allen aan boord!

Short cheats

Today is all stops and starts. I pedaled my way to the first gas station - and stopped to scrape the leaves off my feet in the bathroom.

I pedaled like mad to the next town - and stopped to scour the leaves off my arms.

By the third town, I looked a little less Grizzly Adams, but my shoe had blown a rivet - and I had to stop to collect my water bottle. Three times. I was already yawning by the time I hit the 40-km mark at Loningen. So when I saw the 48-km sign to Linden, (I yawned) and stopped to ask the friendly tourist information Frau if there was a bus and a cobbler. After multiple phone calls and some very convoluted instructions, she explained there was a local bus to Herzlake, and there was one from Haselünne to Lingen, but between, who knew? So I dashed back across town, and the driver managed to stuff my bike into the *van* to Herzlake, which connected with a small bus to Haselünne, where I found there was indeed a city bus to Lingen and half an hour spare change.

Time for a 2-minute shoe repair at the local cobbler, Wilfried Brümmer:
Who says you can't get anything for a Euro!

Das Blair Witch Projekt

I made it to the wilds of Wildeshausen last night, and beyond. Venturing into the twilit woods toward Cloppenburg, I turned down a beckoningly-tent-shaped bus shelter (too close to a house), detoured around a dead end (to near a parked car) and at last managed to make out a hiking trail sign in the gathering gloom. It was so dim that I had to walk my bike up the trail, where I found a Comfy Nest of Leaves nestled behind a mound of earth, shaped to fit. I laid out my small tarp and unrolled the camping mat and sleeping bag. It was so warm, I only needed the bag as a barrier between the bugs and me. I was encamped in about 20 minutes.
My path for the evening (click "sat" to see the woodsy landscape):

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After a last frantic day at work, 11 km by tram, 8 km by bus and about 35 km pedaling, I was ready to hit the sack at 10PM.

And then the shoe dropped. At least that's what it sounded like. IT was very close. I held my breath. IT did it again. After a few breathless minutes and a barrage of "shoes", I realized They were acorns and I was camped under an oak tree.

But then the rustling started. Surrounded by leaves, it was hard to decide which direction They were attacking from, so I tried to sound like a snoring bear. Then I realized it could be the tired bear that was looking for his nice Comfy Nest of Leaves. Fortunately, my attackers sounded too light of foot. But still, even mice have teeth. The rustling was getting on my nerves, so I turned on my wind-up flashlight. And the stick next to me jumped.

Nothing in sight, so it must have been a mouse. Off with the light and under the cover again. And again with the rustling! This mouse had to be blind and deaf. Now it was scrabbling on my mat. ON with the light!

My noisy neighbour was a big black beetle. Big enough to hear the *thunk* when he hit the tree. OFF with the light. Finally adjusting to the noisy neighbourhood that is the German Woods, I dozed with one ear up. Did you know that 1 in 4 of your neighbours is a beetle? I don't want to know what the other 3 are.

An hour later, IT shrieked - a plaintive, unidentifiable cry. I was awake. A moment later, a more complex cry. And again. Minute after minute. Closer and closer until it sounded like it was across the path from me. Was IT a bird, a fox, something out of a Grimm's tale? At last IT settled at a constant volume and distance. I reasoned, if IT was a nocturnal bird, then IT could do that all night - and serve as a sentry. So I dozed off, one ear up.

An hour later, IT stopped. Both ears up. Was that rain? Or just leaves rustling in the breeze. Time for the tarp? I waited. The oak sheltered me - no rain reached the ground. Embraced by the oak, I drifted off.

Dreaming blissfully of gingerbread houses... CRASH! Thunderbolt! And about 10 seconds later, the Deluge. The oak had parted and the skies let down a torrent of rain. Over with the tarp. Out into the rotting leaves, barefoot and besoaked. Out with the now-invisible red cord, around the oak, then lashed down to my bike in the sea of rotting leaves. Over with the tarp and under with all my belongings. Lucky I can tie a bowline with my eyes shut. Only I was wet.

(What are those strange lights?)

As I sorted out my gear, I noticed the glow of light against the tent-side. Oh great - now I have to explain why I am disturbing the "peace". I peak out - it is the glow of pre-dawn. I check my watch - 04:30. Time to pack up and hit the road.

First night on the trail. If a tree falls in the forest, no one will hear it fall - because of all the other racket!

Reporting live (barely) from Cloppenburg ...

On the road again...

I've just (finally) finished my final report and departed OHB and Bremen for a long windy route to Strasbourg and graduation. First stop: ESTEC in Noordwijk, where I will meet friends who are working on some of the coolest projects on Earth.

I plan to arrive in 2 days, so with the delayed start I expect to be adding a little motorized power to my trip at some point. But let's see how far I can get on my 2-wheeled horse.

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Not too hot, not too cold and NOT raining - it's just right for a bike trip. Next tram is leaving in 6 minutes ... and I see a "Dutch sky" ahead.