Along the bike path near my hotel
I'm not sure why, but I didn't sleep well last night. Perhaps it was becasue I had internet access so I was able to check up on the state of the world ;-{. Or perhaps it was because I stayed up too late working on my day05 ride report. Or maybe it was just the fact that the weather is warmer and not as good for sleeping. I still got enough sleep, but didn't enjoy it as much as I usually do ;-}.
Breakfast, my most important meal these days, was good. I ate a lot, probably more than I should. I think that last cheese course was definitely overkill! Then I went back to my room and worked on finishing web pages. It takes me about half an hour per page just to get the images, which I've already uploaded, into the proper places. That combined with the approximatey two hours it takes me to create the content on a web page, takes a big hunk out of the non riding part of my day. On this tour, I've been eating a light supper from my supplies rather ad eating a big breakfast and lunch. That saves money and give me more time to work on web pages each evening. This evening, I'm going to a birthday party in Berlin, so I'm typing this sitting outside a bar at a very busy corner in Berlin. I'm giving up some great people watching in order to create this web page ;-}.
Along the bike path near my hotel
I left my hotel at 10:15 AM and reached the center of Potsdam at about 12:30. It really was only a dozen km to Potsdam. It just was another eight, mostly rather rural, km from the edge of Potsdam to the center.
Several km of the road had no bike path and 1 km of this was under construction
Bike path along the road near Potsadm
I had, from looking at google maps yesterday, a rough idea where the main train staion was. I was surprised when I got into the city that there were no signs for the Bahnhof. When I got near where I thought it was, I asked a bicyclist for help. Then it was just a matter of making my way along and across - along is easy - bike lanes - but across takes finding a crosswalk with a signal - several, very busy multi lane streets. At the station, I bought, with a little help from a lady who helped me find the S-Bahn office and tracks, ticket for myself and my bike and, after a snack at McDs, got on a train. Then I realized that the train had a bike car and moved my bike down to that car just before the train left. I caught my Townie pannier on the door of the car in thr process and did a little damage to its mounting. I improvised a better way to support the top that pannier after I got to East Berlin and found my final destination.
On the S-Bahn, yet another use for my monopod
The Berlin Wall, on my short ride in Berlin
The Berlin Wall, on my short ride in Berlin
I had a moment of worry when, after I left the train at the ost-bahnhof station. I discovered that my gps wasn't doing Berlin! I stopped, briefly, at a Subway and noticed that the micro-SD card with my European maps had come partially out of its slot on the gps. After pushing it back in I was able to use the gps to get me to my final destination at 1:30 PM. The route there runs along the east side of what is left of the Berlin Wall. There were lots of tourist looking at the graffiti on the wall as I rode along it. After about 2 km, I reached a very busy street at the east end of a major bridge. I ended up crossing the river on the bridge in order to find a crosswalk! That actually worked at well because, exploring possibilites for getting back across the river, I found a good place to pee for free in the middle of Berlin. I had several hours before my host would be home so I rode around for a while. When I saw a good shaded grassy area, I stopped to deal with my Townie problem. I used both some paracord and a bungee to improvise better support for that pannier. Then I continued my ride, on some very bumpy sidewalks, and eneded up here writting this report. My improvized solution had held up well, but only time, and a lot of use, will tell if it is good enough.
The new improved Townie support system
A car I would trade my bike for ;-}
Now, I'm riding back to my hosts - daughter's sister in law - home. We've got that birthday party to get ready for.
My bike at the door to my hosts apartment building
The birthday party lasted to 12:30AM and then it took us an hour to get back to the apartment, so I got to sleep about 2 AM. I guess that is an early bed time on a Friday night in Berlin ;-}. Yesterday - Saturday, we did museums and today, Sunday, we are going bicycle touring in Berlin. Tomorrow, I plan to take a train to Dresden and ride up the Elbe into the Czech Republic.