European Parliament again?
Yes, this time I had the Chance to visit the Parliament in Brussels. I had a fantastic day and it was the perfect completition of my tour
Many thanks to Thomas Mann who showed me the work of a MEP. Tomorrow I will go home again but I will always remember this tour.
A last thing to all of the EU-critic people out there, I recommend you to go and have a look at the work of our Parliament and the other EU-Institutions before you criticize a thing you don't know ;)
I arrived in Brussels on Saturday and I used the last days for some sightseeing.
Brussels is a big city with many different faces. Some of these are very beautiful old buildings or nice public parks. But some are unaesthetic and dirty as well.
It was interesting to see a lot of cultures and a wide range from rich to poor people living together in this city.
On Monday I continued my sightseeing (it's a big city) and met a friend in the evening who was in Brussels for his job.
Today I visited the European Parliament, but that's a story for tomorrow.
Today I travelled towards Brussels but as I didn't want to go the 130km at once, I stopped at a nice Camping site in Belgium
As I have no mountains anymore my speed increased rapidly. The only thing that slowed me down today was the wind, but 20,3km/h with 50kg of luggage is quite OK for me.
I have about 45km left for tomorrow so I will be there very early.
Today I'm in Maastricht which is a lovely city. But I was asked why Maastricht is part of my EU-tour.
That's easy because the EU was somehow born or at least refined in Maastricht.
I was able to have a look on a copy of the
Treaty on European Union which is placed here in Maastricht. I also visited the meeting hall and saw the table where the treaty has been signed.
Today I passed the border between Luxembourg and Belgium and made it to Cheneux. I found a nice Camping site and take a rest for the next bicycle tour.
Tomorrow I plan to reach Maastricht.
What I like best about that? No Mountains anymore :)
So if everything works fine I'll be in Brussels on the Weekend.
Luxembourg is a great city and I stayed a day longer than planned. Yesterday I went for a 30km run through the Alzette-valley and today I did some sight seeing and met a friend from Luxembourg (thanks for the nice evening Joe)
There are a lot of EU institutions in Luxembourg and it is great to see them growing (new buildings) while the EU is decreasing a little (Brexit)
My personal opinion is that we need a stronger EU with more potency instead of a weak EU that a lot of populistic people like to have.
Tomorrow I will go for the next bike trip in the direction of Maastricht
Today I only had a short trip from Sierck-les-Bains to Luxembourg City. But on the way I stopped in Schengen as it had a big influence on our life in the EU. (#No-border-control)
Now I reached Luxembourg which is a very nice city. I will have a further look on its beauty tomorrow ;)
I crossed the borders between France Germany and Luxembourg about 10 times last week.
Sometimes even without recognizing...
That's only possible because the border controls were abolished here in Schengen in 1990.
Thanks Schengen, thanks EU.
Today I reached the border of Luxembourg. I travelled for 101km and made 1348m of altitude difference.
I have seen a lot of bunkers on my way which were obviously built to protect from the Germans.
But as we have the EU and a good relationship between France and Germany those are obsolete.
Thanks EU ;)
Today I had a sightseeing tour through Strasbourg and took the train for a few kilometers as I started in Strasbourg late in the afternoon and wanted to reach Sankt Avold. But I had to realise that it is too late to reach my target so I tried to find a camping site.
But all camping sites in the region were closed...
I found a nice French man who let me put up my tent at his place. So "merci Sandy"
Tomorrow I will go as far as possible towards Luxembourg.
Today I had the chance to visit the European Parliament and talk to the MEP Thomas Mann.
I reached the European Parliament today. This was my main target, so whatever happens from today on, I am happy.
Tomorrow I will visit the Parliament and talk to one of it's a sitting members who invited us to Straßburg.
There is nothing that can't be fixed by duct tape and cable ties...
In this case the only thing I had to borrow was a drilling machine from THW Landau (Thanks for that and the nice evening to Florian and Andreas)
It is the 3rd day of my tour and as I didn't reach my goal on day 2 (because of my broken phone mainly) I had to travel some additional kilometres today.
But I also wanted to visit the Miramar in Weinheim and as I planned to meet some friends from THW in Landau I wanted to be there early.
So I took a day off (from traveling by bike) and took the train.
But nevertheless I made about 25km by bike that's enough for today 😉
Besides the Miramar, I had the opportunity to taste some special foods from the Pfalz like "Saumagen" and "Schorle"
All in all I had a really nice day and look forward to the next bike trip tomorrow which will be about 60km.
Today I had a long journey through the Odenwald. Naviki sent me via some mountains so i had 800m of altitude difference.
To be honest this is a real torture for me with 50kg of luggage on the bike.
But when I just made it and the rest of my tour should go downwards or at least flat, my mobile phone went out of order (it didn't charge anymore...)
So I went towards Heppenheim without a y navigation and as I was a little late and really exhausted I put up my tent at a camping place nearby.
Say goodbye to my old phone, I'm now writing from a new one I just bought.
I had some trouble on the first day with trees that blocked my way in the forest of Münster. (The whole forest seemd to be damaged by a storm we had a few days earlier) But after 45 min I found a way arround that.
My first stop was in "Fischbachtal" at a camping place called "odenwald Idyll"
It was a really cold night but I slept quite well.
After a nice Breakfast I am packing my belongings to start the next trip to Mannheim.
Ok you found my Blog. I assume you know what it's about but if there is some one reading this who does not know me, I'll explain what my tour is about:
I'm on a 3 week bike/camping holiday. I'm not fit enough to travel trough the complete EU, but you will see why I call it an EU-Tour in a few days ;)
I started yesterday from my hometown with all I need for 3 weeks of biking and camping.
