Well I am at the end of the North Coast part of my trip. I am heading out of Lübeck tady and back to Berlin along the Elbe. Lübeck is a really beautiful city with five amazing old churces. I have some pictures of course but alas cannot post them now. The cities of the North are part of a history that is quite separate from the rest of Germany. Many of these cities were ruled by Swedes for centuries or were part of the Hanseatic trading routes through the Ba...

Well Güstrow and Schwerin have lived up to all that I hoped they'd be. I have even been able to relax a bit. It stormed real hard here last night. The museum in Schwerin has been one of my favorite places so far. The regular collection was great. The exhibit was Kandinski to Tatlin- Constructionism in Europe. As usual my favorite things were artists I have never heard of. Ljubow Poppow, ...Von Stuck, and others whose names I wrote down but can't remember now. ...

I rolled into Schwerin today. I am nearing a thousand miles but I'm going to stay here for a few days. Schwerin is another of thoose places that I kind of dreamed about and so far it seems to be living up to those imaginings. I mean it has a castle sitting on an island in the middle of the city. Also, La Traviata is playing and I think that there is a Kandinsky exhibit. So... I came today from Güstrow. Güstrow, it said in my travel book was set in the b...

I'm in Stralsund- sort of the gateway to Rügen. It's another beautiful day. I rode 58 miles and I'm headed to Rostock tomorrow. The odometer reads 789 miles and I feel pretty good. Rügen was really beautiful but I felt once again odd and out of place. And indeed I am out of place, a bit. The island is overrun by other tourists. They are at least twice my age and generally they ride in big buses. The trails on the island were a myriad of wonderous and devili...

Today it is beautiful outside. I have so many thoughts and stories but alas I must get out and ride up into the woods overloking the sea. I am on the island of Rügen- in the small town of Sassnitz. Rügen has been a popular vaction spot for generations- even during the GDR days though not for westerners. It's what the island has the most of- tourists, sights, natural beauty. I've ridden almost the whole island and will likely leave tomorrow. Most of it is ve...