June 2006

Date
Datum

Photo of the Day
Foto des Tages

More Photographs
Mehr Fotos

Sun

25 June

Trip along the Chalk Cliff Coastline on the Kalinin - Cutter

This is a must. From Sassnitz, there are many ships that travel along the coast to the north for look at the chalk cliffs. This is the only place in the world with this phenomenon.

My recommendation: Take the cutter Kalinin -- not as smooth as the big tourist boats, but the captain and narrator for the trip is excellent. Only German, sorry.

Königstuhl - The Largest of the Chalk Cliffs at 118 meters

Mon

26 June

Wild Coastline in the Jasmund Park North of Sassnitz

Sassnitz itself is interesting. If you walk along the coast to the north, you can see an empty natural wonder of a coast that is not destroyed by civilization. Walk only few hundered yards, and you can see the beginning of the white chalk cliffs.

Binz Locomotive

From Binz, a steam locomotive takes you to several stops to the south, including the beautiful beach city of Göhren.

Tue

27 June

Junk Kunstler

This house with a reed roof is more than just a place with rooms for rent. It is the home of a junk artist. His entire 7 acres of land is covered with his artwork.

As you can see from the names on the city limit signs, many towns in this region have interesting names.

Towns in MeckPomm - People in this town tell stupid jokes!

Ladies in this town wear no bras!

Wed

28 June

V2 Rocket at Peenemünde

How can I describe this day? First, I made a visit to the birthplace of the first successful rockets that were used in a war. Werner von Braun was the leader of a team that was able to complete one of the most significant developments of the 20th century.

Ahlbeck Beach

My favorite beach of all the Baltic beaches - and I have seen them all. I will plan my next beach vacation in Ahlbeck. Germany. Fantastic!

Thu

29 June

Kaminke - Last Corner of Germany

This picture is more an emotion than a photograph. I nearly killed myself and my lungs were pounding after an hour of hard pedaling. My words when I arrived in Kaminke “Scheisse, Scheisse, Scheisse”. I had just missed the ferry to Ueckermünde by 2 minutes. It cost me 6 extra hours of riding on terrible trails to reach the same place that I would have landed earlier that morning.

House near Rieth on Polish Border

The home of a rich man. Many of the homes along the Polish border were more like boxes. 

Fri

30 June

Apartment House in Northeast Germany

The style of this apartment home was common in a few of the villages on the border to Poland in the upper corner of eastern Germany.

Below is a typical “highway” in the country. It is constructed using huge concrete blocks laid end to end. I call them Tank Blocks. I have learned to hate these, because at the end of an hour riding on these, I feel like I have been shaken from head to toe. The cracks between them are just too wide for comfortable riding.

House for 20 Euros per Night

For the WM soccer game between Germany and Argentina, I rented the blue house on the right. New roof, blue leather sofa and modern furniture for only 20 Euros per night. The jobless rate is 20 percent in this region and the people are happy for every penny they can get. I saw other vacation apartments for only 15 Euros per night in this region. 

Sat

1 July

The Longest Day

154 kilometers in one day is a new record for me. It would have been further, but part of the time I was bucking a strong headwind. There was no intention to ride so far, but as you can see in the picture to the left, there wasn’t much to see but scorched grass and the Oder river that flows between Poland and Germany

Highlight on this boring day was some artwork in the town of Gross Neuendorf (see photo on the right).