From Rostock to Berlin I sit on a train, too far, to cold I decided, to be riding the bike all the way, to Berlin and Frankfurt and see family and friends.
Couchsurfing.org has once again proven invaluable. I had hoped initially to travel via Gdansk in Poland, and contacted 3 different couchsurfers in that city where my mom was born in 1940.
I had never been there and thus very curious. Everyone i wrote to replied and was very enthusiastic in meeting or hosting me, but i had calculated a bit to tight and so i decided last minute, due to weather to change my route and bypass Poland, and go to Germany directly, sorry folks, and so much thanks for your forthcoming, I'll look you up next time.
So I contacted a friend in Rostock, regarding a visit, but 1 hour before arriving in Rostock after 25hrs on the ocean @10PM cell phone reception was reestablished and a message from my friend reached me almost last minute, informing me his business trip to Bremen had taken longer and he wouldn't be back.
Couchsurfing.org has once again proven invaluable. I had hoped initially to travel via Gdansk in Poland, and contacted 3 different couchsurfers in that city where my mom was born in 1940.
I had never been there and thus very curious. Everyone i wrote to replied and was very enthusiastic in meeting or hosting me, but i had calculated a bit to tight and so i decided last minute, due to weather to change my route and bypass Poland, and go to Germany directly, sorry folks, and so much thanks for your forthcoming, I'll look you up next time.
So I contacted a friend in Rostock, regarding a visit, but 1 hour before arriving in Rostock after 25hrs on the ocean @10PM cell phone reception was reestablished and a message from my friend reached me almost last minute, informing me his business trip to Bremen had taken longer and he wouldn't be back.
SOO lucky me, I was just sitting and talking with an interesting fellow traveller and Couchsurfer from Slovakia named Robert F., who had arranged to stay with a couchsurfing host in Rostock, and upon hearing about my situation without a warm place to sleep, it was minus 10 degrees out there, and although i had slept out at -40 before during my years in Alaska, I'm no longer such a fan of cold weather, and the troubles that come with it,
offered to send an sms to his host asking if the very same could accomodate another Couchsurfer.
The reply was an almost instantaneous: YES! Sure, why not, of course! That's what hospitality is all about!
So all was well again in an instant! Thanks to these great people we live with on this planet.
Arriving in Berlin I sought out the Cycling Gypsies, a footloose Quattro, of world citizen travellers from Australia and Canada, whom I had come across through the couchsurfing website while on Åland.
I had invited them to come visit me with Åsa and check out the Cannibal Tub, but they had to decline because entering Finland from Sweden on the way to Estonia would have meant excruciating troubles due the rules @ entering the country with dogs.
They had been travelling nearly 17000 kms by bicycle through Western Europe since 2008, together with their canine friends Paco and Jack and were then trying to be one step ahead of full winter heading south through Scandinavia behind them.
Then I had received an invitation to join them for a few days in Berlin on my way south, where some other couchsurfers, worldcitizens, and long distance bikers, who had come across their blog had invited them to house-sit for them in East Berlin, while heading to South America for a couple of months.
So Now I was here ready to take them upon the offer, and looking forward to a few days in germany's large but friendly capital, and check out the organic supermarket dumpsters if accessible together with Fin and Zoa.
Still -12 degrees cold I made my way through the city, checking dumpsters as I encountered them on my random course across this Metropolitan area.
offered to send an sms to his host asking if the very same could accomodate another Couchsurfer.
The reply was an almost instantaneous: YES! Sure, why not, of course! That's what hospitality is all about!
So all was well again in an instant! Thanks to these great people we live with on this planet.
Arriving in Berlin I sought out the Cycling Gypsies, a footloose Quattro, of world citizen travellers from Australia and Canada, whom I had come across through the couchsurfing website while on Åland.
I had invited them to come visit me with Åsa and check out the Cannibal Tub, but they had to decline because entering Finland from Sweden on the way to Estonia would have meant excruciating troubles due the rules @ entering the country with dogs.
They had been travelling nearly 17000 kms by bicycle through Western Europe since 2008, together with their canine friends Paco and Jack and were then trying to be one step ahead of full winter heading south through Scandinavia behind them.
Then I had received an invitation to join them for a few days in Berlin on my way south, where some other couchsurfers, worldcitizens, and long distance bikers, who had come across their blog had invited them to house-sit for them in East Berlin, while heading to South America for a couple of months.
So Now I was here ready to take them upon the offer, and looking forward to a few days in germany's large but friendly capital, and check out the organic supermarket dumpsters if accessible together with Fin and Zoa.
Still -12 degrees cold I made my way through the city, checking dumpsters as I encountered them on my random course across this Metropolitan area.
The cycling Gypsies without bikes! Yikes!
Their neigborhood had a few organic supermarkets, which we approached, trying to find the backside and the dumpsters, but no success. It's often a bbit tricky in cities, the backyards are often only accessed through lockable gates, only accessible by the residents, so in the short days in Berlin I felt a bit frustrated not having the local knowledge to the locations of some good containers. Of course in an ideal world I would hope not to find any waste, with food businesses well organized, but I really doubt that that was the reason for not finding much.
The gypsies got a kick out of it anyway, perhaps I did inspire a new hobby nontheless, and it that way a lot of food getting eaten right from the brink of destruction.
On my way to the trainstation i did however pass some supermarkets from the Edeka chain, which seems to not lock their dumpsters no matter where in Germany I found one, so there was a whole bunch of stuff, but the severe cold had already finished of the food, the fruit and veggies although in otherwise fair shape judging from the looks were all frozen solid.
Sadly only frozen Veggies and Fruit at Edeka in Berlin Reinickendorf
So I left Berlin to the Berliners and got on a train heading south to Frankfurt.
The Bankster and Fraudster Capital of Europe, well there are nice people there aswell in the shadows of the money stacks made with blood sweat and tears
Just in time for a rich dumpster Christmas!
Read more in the next Post!!
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