Berlin Marathon

Our hostel near Potsdamer Platz is very centrally located. Therefore, it fills up with sporty people staying there for the world famous Berlin Marathon, a 42 km run through the city centre. But it's not only a run where you can watch the best and world famous endurance runners: there is also a separate events for inline skaters.

Most of the bus lines are interrupted all week-end, there is massive police presence in the city, lots of roads are blocked for the events.

It feels like every single person in Berlin is either running, skating, marshalling, working behind the scenes, or simply watching the events. On Sunday morning we walk to the 21 km (half way) mark and cheer the athletes.

Berlin: The Glass Dome of the Bundestag

Berlin has got two most famous buildings, right next to each other. One is the Brandenburger Tor, the other is the Bundestag, the main building of the government. Visiting the glass dome on top of the building is free, but we need a ticket for a specific day and time. We choose the evening hours, when the sun is setting and the city lights come on.

There is a double helix spiral ramp leading into the top of the dome. We take headsets that provide lots of explanations on the history and architecture of the building as well as current political system in Germany. We also get a nice view over the city which is all flat.

The Centre of Europe: A week in Berlin

Apart from visiting all those friends and family during our trip to Germany, and also apart from that beautiful bicycle trip along the North Sea that we have just completed, Mum had one other big item on the agenda: visit Berlin, the capital in the centre of Europe.

When I was just under 2 years old I had apparently spent a week in Berlin already. Mum has got a photo of me in a pram at Brandenburger Tor. The plan for this year is to visit more family as well as museums, and savour the European culture in general.

Our first hostel is close to Potsdamer Platz where we start our adventure with an afternoon tea of Currywurst, the dish that was invented in Berlin.

We've got a bus, tram and train ticket for one week and we criss cross the city centre until even I tire at night.

Last Day, Day 8: Schillighörn to Dangast

The summer seems to have come to a sudden halt. It is overcast. No sun screen today. Long pants and jackets for Oma, Opa and Heinz, but not for us young ones.

Today is a long distance trip again (50 km), Mum is slightly worried that we might get tired.

She needn't have worried! The sky might be overcast, but the strong winds are blowing our way! It turns out that we break all our previous speed records, and easily so. Even without pedalling, just being propelled by the winds, we make 10-12 km/h. Add to that that the track today is very straight and very new, with lots of smooth concrete.

Opa challenges me to a race, and he checks the speed with his fancy speedometer. I break my previous record of 24 km/h by 3.8 km/h, totalling 27.8 km/h along the dykes of Wilhelmshaven. My brother got 30.1 km/h with Aunt Petra!

At Hooksiel: Petra, Niklas and me looking at a sailing boat leaving the water lock. 

Fancy hair style!

Yeah!

Someone deposited these hay balls on our path, so we move them.

The last of these posed pictures for the trip: Petra, Opa, Niklas, me, Heinz and Elke conquering a hay ball (Mum taking the photo).

Day 7: Second Rest Day in Schillighörn

The kite surfers have inspired us. Oma and Opa get Niklas and me some fancy sport kites. This is all we need to be happy! The rest of the day is spent in the dunes and on the beach, until long after sun set.

Opa Siegfried is very good at chess, but I manage a draw.

Science experiments: wind force, direction, variation. 

Opa Siegfried is keen on flying my kite, too! 

Higher and higher it goes...

I am teaching Opa Siegfried how to steer and do tricks.

Great Uncle Heinz...

...is addicted, too.

Why do I have to help everyone to get their kites up?

I can't get enough of the kite flying: this one is after dinner, at sun set.

My style: almost like a dance. 

Let's go fly a kite, up to the highest height, oh let's go fly a kite!

Opa pretending to be a priest. Amen.

Up and up and up.

The sun is setting, we keep going.

Heinz in front of the ebbing ocean, we keep going.

And keep going...

...until after dark, under the full moon

Day 6: First Rest Day in Schillighörn

We have two rest days in Schillighörn. This is paradise! Our Youth Hostel is right behind the dyke. On the other side of the dyke, we find a white sandy beach and lots of "Watt", the shallow ocean floor that is covered in thick mud at ebbing tides.

Opa Siegfried and Uncle Heinz pretending to be at Copa Cabana. Heinz is sucking in his tummy, Opa relies on gravity doing the job.

Petra has just come to shore after a mud bath in the "Watt".

Me being buried alive. 

Heinz is pretending to lay an egg (=horse poo).

Niklas laying a nice little round egg, too (=horse poo).

More than 50 kite surfers enjoying themselves before they run out of water in the ebbing North Sea.

Day 5: Esens to Schillighörn

Another gorgeous day (sunny and 27 deg C), another long bicycle ride along the dykes.

We have now cycled through these towns: Greetsiel, Nessmersiel, Dornumersiel, Bensersiel, Neuharlingersiel, Harlesiel and Carolinensiel. Schillighörn is very close to Horumersiel.

Two questions: (1) Who can spot the pattern? (2) What does "Siel" mean?

Within our little cycle group, we are all falling into a pattern.

• We have got the guide at the front (Petra).  Not only does Petra know the area of Ostfriesland well, but she also has got the laminated maps to guide us on.
• We have got the sweep at the end who makes sure that no-one is left behind (Heinz). Heinz' job includes waiting for people who need to stop for a drink, who need to stop for sun screen, who want to count the sheep to the left or the cows to the right, who stop to take photos, or who feel tired. 
• The steady companion (Oma Elke). Usually second or third rider in the group, she keeps a steady pace throughout.
• The sprinter from back to front and vice versa (Mum). 
• The entertainer of us kids (Opa Siegfried). Always good for a joke or a little sprint race.
• Us kids (Niklas and me), doing whatever we feel like: braking to count sheep or to try and pat one, asking for drink when we have just resumed the ride after a break, needing a pit stop just after a break, challenging Opa Siegfried to a speed race.

8 km short of our destination, Oma Elke's eBike breaks down. The chain is still in place but the pedals are running idle. It must be some issue within the front gearing mechanism that even Uncle Heinz, our engineer, is hesitant to tackle. After all, an eBike has a motor, and they are hard to fix on the track.

Thus the grown-ups change bikes: Oma Elke takes Opa Siegfried's eBike, Opa Siegfried takes Mum's ordinary manual bike, and Mum take the broken down eBike. For 8 km, Mum partly scooters on the bike, and partly she hangs onto Heinz' bike for a tow. Heinz puts all his effort and concentration into a steady pace and straight course, so that Mum, who is hanging onto his back wheel, doesn't steer her front wheel into him. This is hard work, they don't talk at all. All their focus is on getting us to Schillighörn to re-assess and make further plans.

Finally we make it to Schillighörn and our next Youth Hostel. Heinz and Mum are pretty exhausted from the tow.

Heinz playfully kicks the broken eBike, saying that "such a new bike should not have gear issues" - when he realises that the pedals grab the chain again. The three kicks have fixed the bike! It is always so important to have a specialist engineer on a trip, he can fix anything!!

The didn't get the spelling "Schremmer" right at this café in Harlesiel. This is the only photo of Mum on the trip as she took all the other pictures.

A close up of me flying a little kite. This is only the warm up for the next day.

Day 4: Rest Day in Esens

Lucky we are staying another night in Esens/Bensersiel, so that Niklas and I can play more with the other school kids.

We get a lot of questions why we are cycling with our family instead of being at school, as is it forbidden in Germany to take kids out of school for leisure activities. Lucky us we belong to a different system!

On our rest day we visit the old centre of Esens, and do a guided walk on the "Watt", the ebbing ocean floor of the North Sea. The North Sea is a funny ocean: At low tide it disappears completely and we can walk on the ocean floor for kilometres. Only at high tide there is enough water to swim, and even then the water is very shallow for a long way from the beach.

Also, the North Sea as well as as all rivers flowing into it is completely bordered by dykes. They shelter the flat, low lands from storms and big floods. These dykes are covered in grass. Sheep graze on them. For long sections, the bicycle track leads along the dykes.

We are enjoying our well deserved first rest day.

The track between Esens and Bensersiel.

Pension Nordlicht Kappelmann, as seen in Esens.

Special treat: The owner allowed Niklas and me to sit in his fancy car.

Me with edible sea salad.

"Wattwurm": a worm living in the ebbing sands.

Walking the ocean floor. The ferry in Bensersiel uses a dredged waterway behind a stone wall.

Esens wind mill.

Day 3: Heinz' Birthday - Norddeich to Esens/Bensersiel

We simply love Norddeich! The weather is glorious, our Youth Hostel is right behind the dyke. Sandy beach and giant playground are inviting us to stay. However, the accommodation is booked the following night and we must push on to Esens/Bensersiel, 44 km away.

But before the start our day, we have got one big surprise for Heinz. No-one had mentioned a word before, and certainly not Heinz himself. However, we have not forgotten that the 12 September is his birthday. The first birthday that he celebrates in a Youth Hostel, for more than 60 years! He gets a double bounty chocolate and a packet pf gummy bears from us, as well as a plate of tomatoes and cucumbers from the chef at our hostel. We must be on a trip to be content with such presents!

When we arrive at Esens/Bensersiel, our Youth Hostel is busy with 4 school classes on their annual school excursion, all staying for the week. Two of those classes are Year 4 kids. We make friends with them instantly, especially with Armin and Fabian who invite us over to play table tennis and pool billiard with them. I love Youth Hostels!

Youth Hostel breakfast at Norddeich, with Birthday Boy Heinz in the foreground 

Heinz' presents: bounty, gummy bears, tomatoes and cucumbers. 

Approaching Greetsiel for lunch. The world-famous Pilsum Lighthouse in the background.

Being touristy at Pilsum Lighthouse.

Oma Elke at the end of the day. 

Birthday boy Heinz.

Opa Siegfried.

Aunt Petra.

Day 2: Emden to Norddeich

We've got another long day of cycling ahead, from Emden to Norddeich - 56 km. However, we start the day with the best part of Youth Hostels: Entertainment. Whilst the grown ups pack and get ready, Niklas challenges me at the table soccer.

From Emden on, we have well and truly reached the North Sea. The bicycle track takes us along the waterfront, on either the water side of the dyke, or the inland side. The concept of a dyke is strange: They have build a 3-4 m high wall along all of the ocean, including bays and river mouths, so that king tides and storm floods are being kept being the earth wall without flooding the land.

Table Soccer in the bicycle-parking area in Emden.

Ready to push on. Clockwise: Petra, Opa, Oma, Great Uncle, me, Niklas 

Kesselschleuse in Emden: Europe's only 4-way water gate where 4 different water levels meet.

Me and Heinz along one of the dykes.

They don't want to be patted. But I am fast enough to catch some. Their fur is very oily!

Morning tea break somewhere along the dyke.

This one is for Isaac: As close as I get to Holland on this trip! The ebbing ocean in the foreground, Holland across the bay in the background. I am the one with the red helmet.