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Blog
How many doctors does it
take to carry a message across Europe? 35 medical students and young
doctors
have taken some time out of
their busy schedule to be part of this GREAT event.... a life changing
experience! Our organizers: Michael, Alex, André, and Roman have
been
supportive and diligent in sending support letters for visas and
answering emails promptly.
Day -1: Thursday, August 12th, 2010 - The
first arrivals
The day started with the
arrival of the
27 rental bikes in Düsseldorf, which were delivered to the
wonderfully helpful Radstation right behind the train station. Chloe
from the US, Vilena from Russia, André from Switzerland, Agyeno
and
John from Nigeria and Carlos from Portugal were the first BAN Tour
participants to arrive and were put up at the
apartements of local IPPNW doctors, medical students or MediNetz
members. The MediNetz is a local institution run by the refugeee
initiative stay! and IPPNW
doctors and medical students,
who attempt to offer undocumented migrants access to health services.
The MediNetz office was also turned into a little nuke-workshop, as
some of the early arrivals began to assemble our B61 model, which was to accompany our
tour and visualize the threat that nuclear weaons still pose to the
health of the European population.
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After some
hardcore painting,
nailing, wood-cutting and uranium enrichment in the MediNetz-backyard,
we went on to explore the Altstadt, the historic old city of
Düsseldorf. This place, which is basically a conglomerate of bars
and food stalls is popularly known as the "longest bar of the world"
and served us well for a first evening of getting to know each other
over a few German beers and some great food. Alex eventually took off
for his last night shift of that week and some of us got lost in the
intricacies of German public transport, spending most of the night at
various train stations before finally falling into bed at around 3 am.
What a start for the tour....
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Sum up of the day:
Gemütlichkeit (a German word, encompassing
"comfort", "relaxation", "atmosphere", "total well-being" and much,
much more ;)
Distance covered: 5
m, pushing the bikes from the transport van to the
Radstation
Props: the Deutsche
Bahn for all the nice rental bikes as well as the
Radstation Düsseldorf, the refugee initiative
Flüchtlingsinitiative stay! e.V. and to all the MediNetz members
who hosted us
Day 0: Friday, August 13th, 2010 - Meeting
in Düsseldorf
| On August 13th, the rest
of the participants trickled into the city. While Chudamani from Nepal
was picked up early in the morning by Alex, others were met by
Christoph from the local MediNetz group, holding up a BAN-Tour Sign and
again others arrived at the train station by train. Except for Cesar
and Ahmed who somehow got stranded at the airpor, the welcoming
committee did great work and eventually everyone made it to the
Rheinwiesen, the large public park on the Rhine riverfront, opposite of
the old
city and the Landtag - the parliament of Northrhine-Westfalia. Here,
the first tents were pitched, as more and more of the BANnies made
their way to the site. |
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The hungry travellers were greeted by a
delicious vegan dinner provided by the local peace
group "Food - not Bombs", who had offered to do the catering in
Düsseldorf. They
then took turns, transporting the bikes from the
Radstation straight through the city to the Rhine shore, taking various
tours through the regal Hofgarten Park, down the posh Königsallee
or alongside the Landtag across the bridge to the Western side of the
Rhine. In the evening, as the sun went down behind the houses along
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Allee and the colorful candle-lit lampions were hung up
in the trees above the campsite, the air was filled by the sound of
René Dombrowskis voice and his guitar, as we welcomed the BAN
Tour participants with songs against exploitation, war and militarism.
After a welcoming round and some last minute planning for the following
day, we all went off to sleep in our tents, cuddled by the
fresh air of the city and the excitment of what was to come.
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Sum up of the day: Great day, cool
night
Distance covered:
countless kilometers shuttling bikes back and forth
from the Radstation to the Rheinwiesen ;)
Props: Alex and
Stephi for making practical preparations
for our comfort, Christoph for picking up people at the airport, the
mayor of Düsseldorf for giving us a special permission to camp on
the Rhineshore and the Youth Hostel of Düsseldorf for letting us
use their showers and toilets for the night
Day 1:
Saturday, August
14th, 2010 - Düsseldorf to Köln
| Our first wake up call came
a little too early for some of us, while others were already up,
testing their rental bikes, warming up and getting ready for our first
day. While the five people who had volunteered to take turns driving
the wicked VW Bully, Carlos, Rauf, Liina, Alix and Alex, had gotten up
extra early in order to pick it up from the other side of town, the
rest of the BANnies were cycling across the bridge to the press
conference at the Landtag, the state parliament of Nordrhine-Westfalia.
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It was there that we met up with Hans-Christian
Markert, a member of
parliament for the governing Green party. It was here that
we organized our first Target.
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"Food - not Bombs" prepared a
wonderful vegan breakfast for us. Who would have guessed that vegan
scrambled eggs or vegan Mett (specialty of the Rhineland, usually
consisting of raw meat with onions) would be this delicious!
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After a well
attended press
conference and some opening statements by Mr. Markert,
we started off with our brand new yellow BAN Tour T-shirts, which had
come all
the way from the Phillipines and have been a great help when
identifying the
group.
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| After an amazing ride through the inner city and
Volksgarten
Park of Düsseldorf, we eventually reached the small suburb of
Benrath with its bodacious pink Rococo Palace. |
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In
Benrath we were
hosted by the Totzauer family, whose daughter Maren is an IPPNW member
and a veteran of the Baltic and the Overriding Trident Bike
Tours. The Totzauers were wonderful and generous hosts as
all Germans we have met so far. After refilling our bottles with fresh
water, we continued alongside the Rhine until the ferry-dock.Loading
our bikes and the Bully onto the crowded ferry, we said goodbye to
Düsseldorf and our hosts who stood waving on the dock and were
carried across the stream to the medieval
city of Zons.
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| This old
tolling post of Cologne has remained largely
untouched by the times ever since the Rhine - its
lifeline- was diverted away from it. It is a worthwhile place to
visit when in Germany - the old towers of the city wall, the mighty
windmill, the cobblestone alleys and the hal-timbered houses of the
14th century gave us all a sense of the history of the pleace. From the
memorial square of the "war of swine" (appearantly one of the more
infamous chapters Zons' history), we cycled south towards the old Roman
city of Cologne. |
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Stopping
for
an hour, we cooled ourselves of and enjoyed a swim in
the cozy Fühlinger Lake.
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| After this refreshment, we arrived at the old
medieval Northern
city gate of Cologne after our first 35 km to be greeted by an old
friend - Andrzej from Poland, an old veteran from the Baltic Bike
Tourhad spontanously taken some vacation in order to join the tour from
Cologne onwards. After an exchange of hugs and greetings, we were led
by Stephi, our local guide for Cologne through the beautiful Belgian
Quarter and the Stadtgarten Park to our sleeping place - a day care
center of the Quakers. Amongst children's toys, tiny chairs and loads
of cushy pillows, we put down our sleeping mats, freshend up and left
for the Aachener Weiher, a giant pond in the middle of the green belt
of Cologne, right beside the university. |
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There, we were
already
eagerly
awaite by the regional IPPNW group, who waited with a huge BBQ,
kegs of local beer and wonderful company. Needless to say that the
sunset behind the Aachener Weiher and the skyline of Cologne was a
proper end to an amazingly rich first day of cycling.
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Sum up of the
day: "Make food not
war!"
Distance covered:
53 km
Props: Michael
Gnilo for making and sending the great T-shirts from the
Philippines (without the use of child labour !) and Alix and Dominik
for taking over the driving of the van that day... we felt very sorry,
seeing you sit in the scorching bus, waiting to get on the ferry...
Day 2: Sunday, August 15th, 2010 -
Köln to
Bonn
In the morning, Stephi and Alex spend the better
part of an hour
driving through the deserted town, looking for some bread and finally
happened upon an open Merzenich Bakery, where they found all those
wonderful breakfast items that Germany is so famous for -
Röggelchen, Vollkornbrötchen, Weckchen and whatever else your
tastebuds desire. After a hearty breakfast in the courtyard of the
Quaker House, we packed up and cycled into the inner city. On our way
we passed remnants of Roman towers and walls as well as medieval
buildings like the heraldic armory with its peculiar red-and-white
windows until the flat marble square of the Domplatte opened up before
us to reveal the cathedral of Köln, the Dome. Whenever in
Köln, make sure not to miss visiting the magnificent
and awesome Dom (luckily, it is located right beside the train station,
so you can't miss it!) With tourists all over the place and today being
Sunday, there was no better place to hold our first flashmob... please
take a look at the video on Youtube.
Thanks
and much
love to everyone from Köln who came and joined in, spontaneously
falling
to the ground and lying there, playing dead for 30 seconds. This event
which managed to cause quite a row amongst the tourist groups and
passerbys on the square, was meant to call attention to the onging
threat that nuclear weapons still pose to each and every one of us -
even in a city like Cologne, the danger of a nuclear attack still
exists - be it inadvertandly or by the hand of terrorists. As long as
nuclear weapons still exist, every city is a potential target. But
cities should not be targets.
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That's why after the flashmob, we held a Target installation on the square, informing
the public about the fact that nuclear weapons were still
stationed in Germany and about the effects that a nuclear attack would
have on a city like Cologne. Like most public events in Germany, it was
great until the rain started to pour own on us. Helped by Carlos, who
manged to organize a delicous cup
of coffee for everyone to warm us up, we started our 43 km long journey
towards Bonn despite the rain and wind.
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Enduring almost endless masses
of waters in our faces, clothes and shoes, we somehow managed to reach
our lunch meeting point at the Augustusburg palace in Brühl.
Instead of camping in the palace garden, however, we decided not to
risk drowning and rather had a
very entertaining, eco-friendly lunch, sheltered from the rain by the
roof of the Brühl railway station. Ulli and Rauf had down wonders,
organizing scrumptious wraps and pasta salads for everyone. Having thus
regained some stamina and perhaps inspired by the
super fast trains passing us every couple of minutes, about half of us
decided to weather the storm for another 20km and continued on to Bonn
by bike. Cycling along the Rhine river in a monstrous speed, they
arrived at the Biergarten Alter Zoll, where we had originally planned
to drink a rewarding Radler (typical German summer drink of beer and
lemonade) and found the shutters closed, the benches littered with
fallen chestnuts and the ground deluged by rainwater. What a storm it
must have been! The other half of the group sought out the dry quarters
of the Evangelische Studierendengemeinde (ESG) early by taking the
train to Bonn directly from Brühl.
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Once we had all gathered in the
ESG on the splendid Poppelsdorfer Allee, André, Stephi and Alex
drove off for a little shopping tour to Cologne-Bonn airport and Stephi
and Misha created a bountiful meal of Pita-Pizza, Bread-Lasagna and
some steaming, sweet German Glühwein (mulled wine with cloves,
cinammon and sugar) as digestif.
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Sum up of the day:
"Less
tiring than yesterday" -- Rauf (well, he drove the bus...)
"Wet, Dirt
and Fun" -- Alix and Soila
"Wet, yet warm. I am starting to feel the
group bonding" - Lori
Distance covered:
44 km
Props: The people
who joined us for the flash mob, Misha for loading up the van, and with
Stephi, preparing a really
tasty, warm and vergetarian dinner
Day 3: Monday, August 16th, 2010 - Bonn to
Koblenz
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After a well
rested night
of sleep we had an energizing breakfast of scrambled eggs and German
specialties and took off from the ESG in Bonn
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From the ESG,
we biked down Poppelsdorfer Allee
and biked down town where we held a Target X
and the mayor of the
city, Mr. Nimptsch welcomed us and showed his support for our cause.
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| During the target X, we
had some people sign our postcards addressed to the
German minister of defence, asking for the removal of the last US nukes
stationed in Germany. |
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Following
some chat
with the press and
informing people about the purpose of our trip, we finally got started
and passe through the luscious Rheinauen Park just south of Bonn's old
government district. Passing down the
Rhine river on its Eastern side, we came by the ruins of medieval
castles like the Drachenburg (Dragon's castle) or the Rolandsbogen
(Roland's gate) and were introduced to fairytales and legends of the
knights of the Rhine, of dragons, sorcerers, dwarves and giants... Of
course we stopped on the way to enjoy some scrumptious blackberries and
green apples from the trees alongside the road. Eventually, we passed
some giant hills full of grapevines, which gave our tired legs the
rest... we were in desparate need of some lunch!
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| After some hardcore
biking up and down the grapevines, we finally met up with the van,
which had set up lunch at the foot of an old palace. After eating lots
of
chocolate at the lunch site, we went downhill to continue on our way
again. Coming down the steep vinyards, Mohamed from Egypt got too close
to the curb and tore a ligament on his elbow - our first real injury on
the tour and sadly the end for his biking... |
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Before getting to our
final destination, we were received in Neuwied by members of the
christian peace group EIRENE, who treated us to home-made
cakes and drinks and had also organized some TV coverage of us passing
through the narrow streets of the old city.
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After some
refreshments in the garden of EIRENE, the injured and tired bikers
took the train the last bit of the way, while the majority of the group
got on their bikes again and drove off to the final destination of the
day - the Koblenz suburb of Arenberg - a beautiful community whose only
fault lay in its situation on an impossibly steep hill... After
getting to Arenberg
with barely enough air in our lungs to speak, we had to get down to
the business of fixing dinner - and endeavour that was spearheaded by
Misha, Stephi and Katja. What a great way to end this hard day of
cycling!
The
night was spent sleeping in the community centre of the local
church. Andy, a friend of Alex from Düsseldorf had organized this
accomodation and his parents let us take turns using the showers in
their home. They were smiling throughout - despite around 30 people
using their bathroom until well past midnight. Luckily, tomorrow
will be
downhill and hopefully when it is done, we’ll still have some
strength in us to share some laughs.
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Sum up of the day: A day above the clouds
Up, up and above
Distance covered:
78 km
Props: Andy's
parents for being so patient and sitting together with us until well
past midnight, waiting for everyone to take a shower...
Day 4: Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 - Koblenz
to Cochem
|
We
woke up really early
and took off downhill to reach downtown Koblenz, where we did a Target
X.
People are getting better and better at reaching out to strangers and
getting them to sign postcards. For a few, especially those who don’t
speak German, it is quite intimidating to approach people. However, it
was good practice for Misha and Agyeno who seemed quite taken to
their new-found vocation, learning German. Of course Stephi, Alex or
any of the other German speakers were always nearby to come to the
rescue.
.
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While
the others took off on their bikes, following the Mosel river down
towards the airbase of Büchel, Mohamed was taken to the local
hospital by Alex so that his arm could be looked after. While Mohamed
was waiting for his X-ray, Alex spent a few hours stocking up on
groceries. Two carts of vegetables and fruits, one professionally taped
cast and two hours later, they met up with the group in a small village
of half-timbered houses on the Northern shore of the Mosel and shared a
refreshing lunch.
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| Having
arrived in the evening in Cochem, we offloaded the
van, packed ourselves in, picked up
Roman, the fantastic organizer of the Basel student congress and
Beverly, just arrived from the Philippines, and all the
group headed off to Buchel, the last remaining nuclear weapon base in
Germany, to make our anti-nuclear voices heard there. Only Tamar and
Paata were left at the campsite, where they prepared a Georgian Chili
von Carne for the group. |
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In Büchel, we were
not allowed to take pictures of the base or the Tornado airplanes, so
we demonstrated our anti-nuclear stance to the people wth a Target X, leaving the base
in the evening as well as the security guards and took some pictures in
front of the main entry. On the way back we stopped for a panorama view
of Cochem with its beautiful castle on a hill overlooking the Mosel
river and went back to the campsite in order to enjoy the delicious
Georgian Chili! We finished the evening around a campfire eating
roasted
marshmallows and listening to the sound of Misha's guitarplay, Tamar's
Georgian eloquies, Estonian folksongs and German and Finnish lullabyes,
courtesy of Alix and Soila.
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Sum up of the day: How many anti-nuclear activists fit in a VW
Bully?
Distance covered:
58 km
Props: The hospital
Ev. Stift for treating Mohamed's torn ligament - all for the surprising
fee of 36 Euro! No wonder German hospitals are underfunded ;)
Day 5: Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 - Cochem to Oberwesel
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Adventure
started today after we left the camping site, most of us refreshed
from finally showering after two days and going for a swim with the
swans in the Mosel
River. Due to the large difference in speed amongst the participants,
we decided to split into two groups: the
fast group and the “wellness” group. The ride was very smooth and we
enjoyed the
landscape, castles and vinyards along the river… well, that was
initially before
things went uphill. In order to bridge the distance between the
Mosel and the Rhine river, we had to cross the Hunsrück mountains
and were faced with a grueling 6 km uphill climb - on our bikes, of
course. Not everyone too it sporty like Katja or Sebastian and there
was a number of people looking for Alex's head on a platter by the time
we had reached the plateau.
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They
were
rewarded, however, but some of the most beautiful scenery so far. While
the fast group had reached the top of the plateau after about an hour
of cycling steep uphill roads, the wellness group took a wrong turn at
the base of the mountains and ended
up on the wrong side of the range.
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| Being
off the assigned path, they were faced
with the irony of wonderful scenery of forests and mountains on one
side and arduous uphill battles on the other. But they fought on
through more
and more hills until the forces of nature defeated them, forcing them
to get off our
bikes and push them until the next train station. In
the meantime, the fast group had met up with another one of the many
surprise guests making appearances during this tour: this time it was
Maren, one of the veterans of the Baltic Bike Tour, whose parents had
hosted us in Benrath a few days before. Out of nowhere, she popped up
with her blue car, providing the cyclists with some refreshments and
encouragement while battleing their way up the mountain. |
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Lunch
was taken in the midst of green pastures, populated by horses and
cattle and consisted of a delicious greek salad, courtesy of Tamar and
her team. After all that hard work, biking up the Hunsrück, we all
felt that we had deserved a nice round of wellness... time for a
massage-line!
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The
downhill part for
the fast group was fun-filled. Once the decision was taken to
follow the un-tarred forest path (aptly named "Murderer's Creek"), it
was full of speed and adrenaline,
as any slight error would have probably meant shattered dentition, a
broken limp, a wrecked bike… or all. It was awesome when, despite
all of these dangers, Roman from Switzerland rode on only his rear
wheel for
about 50 metres!
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Once
the fast group had mastered the steep ravines of the creek, they found
themselves back on the timid shores of the Rhine, where they sped along
the last 30 km of the day, past he famous Loreley - a rock formation
overlooking a dangerous curve in the river, where legend has it, a
beautiful maiden caused boats to crash on the cliffs through her
singing. Once they had passed this fabled landmark (without any
beautiful maiden even rearing its head let along turn theirs), they
entered the picturesque town of Oberwesel with its gothic churches,
castles and its 16 magnificent towers. Outside of the city wall,
they were met by a represetative of the Franciscan covenant who ran the
hospital in the city and were ushered into the large red Church of our
Lady, where the BANnies were treated to an Organ concert and a tour of
the premises.
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The
evening continued with a welcoming buffett, courtesy of Dr. Psczolla,
head of the Loreley clinic. No one ate less than two plates; the
food was just too tasty. We all are looking forward to breakfast at
the same venue tomorrow. As we walked through the gas-latern-lighted
cobble-stone streets of the town, we felt that it had all been worth
it.
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| Today,
as we climbed up the hills, we had plenty
of time to think about ourselves, the group, and our goals. We learnt
two lessons today: First, this tour is a physical expression of what
we believe in. We are regular people biking through Europe with a
message of peace and nuclear abolition; not an easy task, but we work
very hard on it. Second, group work is the only way to get there,
both to the top of the hill and towards a nuclear weapon free
world. |
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Sum up of the day: I take the low road, while you take the high
road, and I'll be in Oberwesel before you... ;)
Distance covered:
63 km
Props: We
specially want to thank those people who have taken the
responsibility to lead the groups and to wait for those who have a
harder time biking. And of course to Dr. Psczolla and the entire crew
of the Oberweseler Loreley Clinic, whihc treated us so kindly that some
of us thought seriously about handing in our applications to work
there...
Day 6: Thursday, August 19th, 2010 - Oberwesel to Mainz
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Breakfast
was again a delightful buffet offered by our generous hosts of the
Loreley clinic. What a great place to come for a coffee in the morning
;)
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Now
full of
energy and after a good rest in our tents at a soccer field, we had
an overall easy biking day. Our two biking groups did an amazing job at
sticking together and reaching Bingen, where we met up at the ferry
port. We sadly said
good bye to our dear Mother Goose, Soila, who we will miss very much
during the rest of the tour and would like to thank her for her great
team spirit and care throughout the tour, and hope to see her in the
next IPPNW pre-congress tour.
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Waiting for the ferry to reach us, we
played a few rounds of frisbee, marvelled at Misha's ability to climb
trees like a Koala and at the catches of Apil which always prevented
the frisbee from flying into the river.
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The
van drivers prepared a delicious lunch
for us in Rüdesheim after crossing the Rhine River on a ferry
once more. After Alex introduced the group to the intricacies of the
federal republic of Germany (the Rhine is at this point the border
between the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hessen and we would be
crossing more state borders in the days to come), we played another
round of frisbee, enjoyed the prickling sensation of Brause in our
mouths and planned the rest of the cycling day...
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From
Rüdesheim, we passed several small wine-producing villages and
towns, many, many vinyards and the occasional castle on a hilltop. This
region, called the Rheinaue, was one of the most beautiful in terms of
landscape so far.
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For
the first time in the tour, both biking groups were at
5pm
in our final destination: The rowing club in Mainz, where we were
hosted
by long-standing IPPNW members Ute and Christa. After setting up our
tents, relaxing a little and
bathing in the Rhine, Ahmed injured his foot on one of the pontoons and
had to be stitched in the hospital.
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| Some group members went into
town
to have a look at the old city with its mighty sandstone dome, the
remnants of medieval Mainz, the Gutenberg university or simply one of
the many internet cafés around the station. In the meantime,
Sebastian
rushed to get some of the bikes repaired, which had broken down in the
past days... |
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| In
the evening, a wonderful dinner was served by our hosts and during
dessert and
while enjoying a glass of delicious local wine, we watched a video of
the first IPPNW bike tour before the 1982 IPPNW congress in Budapest.
We enjoyed the video very much and laughed at the similarities
between the two tours. |
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Sum up of the day: Let’s
have a reunion tour in 25 years! – Misha
Distance covered:
56 km
Props: Definitely
to Ute and Christa for hosting us so kindly and for the Mainzer
Ruderfreunde for letting us use their boathouse. Also to the doctors at
the university clinic of Mainz for treating Ahmed's foot.
Day 7: Friday, August 20th, 2010 - Mainz to
Heidelberg
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We woke up to a wonderful
breakfast prepared by Christa and Ute - lots of hearty German bread,
strong-smelling cheese and of course some homemade sausages... after
enjoying the fresh air of the morning and the warm sunlight on our
heads, and shaking off the soreness of legs, arms and backs during a
nice hot shower, we took off to
the city hall (Rathaus) of Mainz.
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In
front of the Rathaus and the Rheingold hall, mayor Beck already
awaited us with a warm welcome. After his encouraging speech, we were
offered the traditional refreshing drink of Germany: Apfelschorle
(apple juice with mineral water)…wonderful combination! Kindly, the
mayor had also organized a small lunch bag for each of us which came
in handy along the way.
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Another city, another Target - of
course we could not be stopped from rolling out our red carpet once
again.. only the nuke turned out to be buried deep beneath all of the
other stuff in the van, so that we had to do without our "mascot" this
time...
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Today
was the longest distance travelled so far. We ended up splitting into
3 groups, who each fought their way through the scorching heat.
Cycling through vinyards most of the day, there was hardly any shade
and we stopped frequently to stock up on sunscreen and drink some of
the refreshing water we had brought with us from Mainz.
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To
everyone’s surprise, the “wellness group”, led by Alex, arrived
in Worms first. They treated themselves to an ice-cold Radler
(a drink, whose name means cyclist in German and which is a
mix of beer and lemonade) under the shady trees of a riverside
Biergarten.
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Our
van had somehow gotten lost on the way to Worms, so we had our lunch at
6pm (technically speaking we did
not have lunch), after which the group split up again in the “worn
outs” who took the train to Heidelberg and those who biked the
last 40 km and arrived in the dark. Sebastian
maintains to this day that those 40 km were the best ride of the tour
because, in his words, “we were driving at really top speed, at
about 30 km/h, and it was just great”. Apil, Chuda and Cesar took a
little detour and ended up at a Turkish Doner bar, where they had to be
picked up by Carlos later that evening.
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That
evening, we camped in the Heidelberg Wildwuchsgarten, an organic
farm, run by the local IPPNW group, who also welcomed the tired
bikers upon arrival and had prepared a hearty dinner for us with
their own farm-grown vegetable. Let's just say it was supreme, and in
most of our opinions the peak of our pledge to live sustainably
during the tour. After dinner, Florian and Jule played wonderful
melodies from their guitar and violin at the camp fire. Surely now,
the last strings of nostalgia had been severed from the hearts of
those who missed Soila’s lullabies...
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Sum up of the day: It's been a (very) long and winding road...
Distance covered:
101 km
Props: To all of
the kind people at the Wildwuchsgarten for receiving us with drinks and
cooking kettles - and for introducing us to the intricacies of the
compost toilet!!!
Day 8: Friday, August 20th, 2010 -
Heidelberg to Karlsruhe
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After
a good night’s sleep in our tents, believe it or not, we woke up to
the sound of music! Guitar and drums just before 7 am, courtesy of
Florian and Roman, ushered us to a delicious breakfast. Our youngest
member – since the previous night –
Phillip, the son of Luise entertained us with cuteness and
tranquility. We celebrated Ahmed's birthday with a homemade cake and
singing in all the languages of the earth (or at least the ones we
knew).
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Cycling
into fairy tale Heidelberg, we took to the street for another Target and a flashmob
- shocking
the people of Heidelberg with a die-in on Universitätsplatz and
illustrating to them the proximity of the US nuclear airbase that we
had just visited a few days back.
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Leaving Heidelberg, we
had a three-group split. The usual wellness group and fast groups,
and our new addition, the middle group, christened the “Party
Harder Group”, with dropouts from the fast group and upgrades from
the wellness group. Thereafter, we headed off to a well planned
refreshing and fast ride along the forest.
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Lunch
was hosted by IPPNW activists near the nuclear power plant of
Philippsburg. They had prepared some delicious potato soup and salad
for us and talked to us about their activism against the plant. We
learned that there is a raging debate in Germany right now about the
end of nuclear power and that IPPNW Germany is at the forefront of
the fight to shut down the remaining 16 nuclear plants in Germany,
organizing lawsuits, issuing information material, leading
demonstrations and gathering medical data such as the study on
childhood leukaemia near nuclear power plants. It was wonderful to
get to know the local activists and talk to the about their work. The
press was there, as well...
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After
saying goodbye to the Philippsburg activists, we started our
afternoon journey, took a quick swim and by
6 pm the groups started to arrive at
Karlsruhe University, were we stayed at the old stadium, had very
well deserved showers and enjoyed a soothing Nepali dinner prepared
by Chuda and Apil. Before going to bed, Roman got 31 good-bye hugs.
We look forward to rejoining him in Basel.
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Sum up of the day: Nuclear power stinks!
Distance covered:
65 km
Props: Thanks go to
the nice people of Philippsburg and surrounding who hosted us for
lunch, as well as the crew of the Wildwuchsgarten for a wonderful
breakfast and the AKK in Karlsruhe who offered us a place to sleep -
what a hospitable people ;)
Day 9: Friday, August 20th, 2010 -
Karlsruhe to Strasbourg
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Despite
the fact that it was on a Sunday morning and not very many people
were expected at the main square in Karlsruhe, we still decided to do a
flashmob.
To our surprise, we
found quite a few people there and a big group of French tourists,
who after our “general collapse” they were very interested in our
topics, and Gott sei dank we had Andre who had just the
perfect eloquence in French to get our message across and get many
postcards signed at the Target.
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One
more day of biking under a glaring sun! Though we don’t miss the rain
and
the wet shoes so much, the sun and its heat have taken some energy
out of our bikers, making the ride a little harder. However, everyone
was very happy to reach the second country of our tour:
France! After
35 kms of biking under the sun we reached the French-Germany border,
where we had lunch.
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After the break, it
immediately started to rain. Well, not exactly a surprise anymore:
as Alex says, every story in Germany ends with, “and then it
started to rain”. Spot on. Some
people who were too tired by all those weather shananigans opted for
the train, the rest biked through the refreshing storm and in the end,
everyone reached the Montagne Verte campside in Strasbourg - the
capital of the Alsace. We quickly set up our
tents, took showers and dressed up to the nines for a night in town...
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| We were
all anxious to see the restaurant where we were to have our one and
only bought meal during the entire tour... Alex led us through the
maze-like alleys of the old city of Strasbourg, past the magnificently
lighted cathedral and an open-air performance of young dancers... Strasbourg
is a beautiful city, inspiring and cultural. The river, the buildings,
the half-timbered houses...
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| After a
few more curves, we finally arrived at the Au Brasseur, where we met
Kathrin Madejski, a former German IPPNW National Student
Representative, who now lives in Strasbourg and had organized an
evening of merriment in the traditional local Bierstub (beer tavern)
that Strasbourg is famous for. Singing drinking songs, drinking locally
brewed beer and eating the wonderful Flammkuchen
(flame cake - the French answer to Pizza), we felt reborn and left all
our soreness behind... so we tried hard to follow Alex' advice: "eat as
if there was no breakfast!" |
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After being literally kicked out of the
tavern by the guys wanting to close shop, we cycled through Petit
France, the picturesque little quarter of canals and bridges in the
heart of the old city and towards our campsite. What a magical
evening it has been...
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Sum up of the day: France - it's like another country!
Distance covered:
81 km
Props: To Kathrin
for organizing the all-you-can-eat at the Au Brasseur and for the van
drivers for preparing a wonderful border-lunch.
Day 10: Friday, August 20th, 2010 -
Strasbourg to Biesheim
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Normally,
we are woken up by a loud “Goooooooooood Morning [insert city we've
just slept in]” from Alex, but not this morning. Today it was a
loud “Booooooon jour Strasbourg” instead. We woke up to a cloudy
day with enough rain not do our Target X in front of the EU
parliament. Breakfast was a French affair, with some café au
lait and freshly baked croissants, courtesy of the campsite.
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| Despite
not being able to see the EU Parliament, we still go the expert’s talk
on the
organization of the EU by Prof. Stephi. For many of the non-European
participants (and even most European ones), it was very valuable new
information.
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The road
out of Strasbourg continued for many, many kilometers straight down the
Rhine-Rhone canal, which honestly is not a name anyone can pronounce
without sounding completely stupid.
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With
many people with hurting buttocks (bike pants are over-rated), sore
legs and cracking knees, we all enjoyed the lunch break in the corn
fields of the Alsacian plains. Not that we were especially hungry - the
supply of plums, blackberries, apples and pears along the canal was
virtually neverending and we spent what felt like hours, snatching and
eating fruits right off the trees.
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| From our
break, we biked the rest of the 79 km to the camp site, which was
situated conveniently on the tip of an island in the Rhine - right in
between Germany and France. We pitched our tents and cooked a great
dinner (including some strange-tasting corn on the cob from our own
"harvest"), singing under the lampions until even the last of us got
tired and slipped into their sleeping bags. Our last night in tents,
the
nostalgic sentiment was already hitting some of us. |
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Comment
by Carlos: Almost
in the end of this bike tour I just want to say that the energy of a
human being has no limits and we were able to do and plan the most
wonderful things during this BAN Tour. Today a French woman advised
me to eat more fruits and vegetables, following up on which advice I
ate about 10 apples during the journey from Strasbourg to Biesheim.
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Sum up of the day: How long can this canal possibly be ?
Distance covered:
79 km
Props: Thanks to
all those diligent people who planted apple and plum trees along the
canal!
Day 11: Friday, August 20th, 2010 -
Biesheim to Basel
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Last
day of the bike tour. Sad, exciting! We got up early and for the last
time, this time, we picked up all of our stuff and started off our
final stretch to Basel. Rain
welcomed us this morning and it was crazy packing and eating
breakfast, but we managed. Today we decided to bike as one group,
since we all have been biking at almost the same speed for the last
2-3 days, we thought this would be a nice way to end the tour. Finally
everyone was interested in the right way! We were
helped with the wounded by Roman Dolgov, a member of Russian IPPNW, who
had driven all the way from Moscow in the past three days and had
volunteered to accompany our tour into Basel. We quickly turned his car
into an ambulance ;)
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After
cycling through deserted little ghost towns (man, those French really
do take their summer vacation seriously), we entered the forest that
would stretch all the way to the suburbs of Basel. After a very early
lunch, we
had a bit of rain and a few of
us, tired of wearing ponchos and raincoats, just decided to embrace
the rain and biked along with it. It was amazing! The
view seemed prettier than other days - was it the nostalgia or was it
the excitement of arriving our final destination? We don’t know,
but it certainly has left some unforgettable memories for us all. At least
we had our beloved canal back in the end... Oh - and
we even met some distant relatives of Soila on our way.
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As
we reached Basel, crossing from the French part of the city across the
Dreiländer-Bridge to the German part, we noticed that we were
about two hours early for our
meeting with the mayor (yes! we were early for once!). So we took a
little break and had a most unusual surprise birthday party - we were
in fact able to surprise Chudamani, who had not realized that it was
his birthday that day!
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After
some welcome chocolates and a hot coffee, we embarked as a united group
on the last few kilometers through Basel, crossing over to the Swiss
side of the city and meeting up on a bridge to await the exact time to
enter the Rathausplatz, Basel's main square.
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While we waited, our friends and
colleagues already gathered on the Rathausplatz, joined by many
interested locals and tourists, who had come to watch the bike stunt
show organized by Roman.
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Finally, the moment all of us have
waited for... our ceremonial entry into Rathausplatz - with a ringing
bell concert and cheered by hundreds of people on the square, we
circled twice around before parking our bikes near the Target that
Roman, Carlos and the others had already set up shortly before.
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After
a speech by the mayor of Basel, Dr. Guy Morin and another round of
stunts by Roman, we felt that it was time to receive a good round of
applause for the more than 740 km that we had just cycled and all of
the great activism we had participated in - and what an applause we
got!
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We
could not arrive in Basel without doing a proper flashmob. So after the
initial round of welcoming speeches and greetings had died down, we
dispersed over the square and had one of our most memorable flashmobs
of the entire tour - the whole square fell to the ground at the site of
the nuclear umbrellas and Misha's "Was ist das?" resounding over the
Rathausplatz. If you want to see it with music, check out the Youtube link.
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Upon arrival at the very
unique Youth Hostel at St. Alban's, we immediately,
with military discipline under the watchful command of Sergeant
Major Alex, offloaded the van for the last time and separated
all of our junk, found all the lost stuff and got the bikes in the
van so they were ready to head back to Köln. We then sat together
for a round of debriefing and goodbyes. As we
sat there on the grass, we all expressed
our gratitude to all the organizers and to one another for making
this a wonderful tour. With all of our diversity and differences, we
just made all of it a very enjoyable and fun adventure that we’ll
never forget and will bring a big smile out in times of remembering
what IPPNW is really about.
On
our first night in Düsseldorf, when Alex welcomed us, he said the
tour
had four major parts: one
fourth is activism, one
fourth is networking, one
fourth is fun and the
last fourth was left for us to find out and fill in by the end of the
trip. Now
that we have come to end the trip we are have learned that the last
fourth is "family".
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| We all
signed the BAN Tour flag that is to be handed over to the IPPNW Central
Office. We're sure they'll find a nice spot - right behind the Nobel
Peace Prize, for example ;) As
everyone headed towards the showers and linen beds, Misha, Stephi and
André drove the three remaining bikes to the station in order to
have
them shipped to Köln while Alex started off with the Bully in
order to
be in Köln on time to pick up the bikes from the train there... |
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Sum up of the day: It was all worth it - in the end ;)
Distance covered:
67 km
Props: Thanks to
Roman Sandoz and his crew for creating a truly marvellous entry into
Basel and for Roman Dolgov for helping with the ambulance driving ;)
Day 12: Saturday, August 21st, 2010 -
Basel to Cologne and Back
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Midnight: The Bully passes Strasbourg
1 am: Heidelberg and Mannheim pass by in the clear moonlight
2 am: Memories of sunny days come up as the Bully passes Mainz
3 am: Koblenz glimmers under a starry sky
4 am: Arrival in Cologne. Alex begins to unpack the van
5 am: Van unpacked, all 24 bikes are standing in front of the station
6 am: The remaining 3 bikes arrive with the night train from Basel
7 am: One half of the BAN Tour stuff is dropped off in Cologne
8 am: The remaining half is dropped off in Düsseldorf
9 am: The Bully is returned to its
family of yellow and purple cow-cars
10 am: Trainride back to Basel...
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Sum up of the day:
BAN Tour in reverse - what a long, strange trip it's been..
Distance covered:
740 km (x2)
Props: To the
friendly people of the Deutsche Bahn for all their support and their
great bikes, trains, everything ;)
And finally: a great big thanks to Nidia, Agyeno and their team for
sitting down together in the evenings to put together this blog...
If you want to read the
blogs of the last two IPPNW bike tours, click
here:
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