08/16/2021
It is 9:30 a.m. and we are mentally a little exhausted. We no longer feel as physically fit as we did three days ago. The lack of sleep, the sun and the physical exertion are slowly but surely wearing us out. Andreas has a sore throat and a headache, our faces are burning and despite drinking liters of water, our lips are dry and chapped. All ideas and attempts to elegantly leave the stretch between Magdeburg and Wittenberge behind us without completely wearing ourselves out and falling even further behind schedule have failed so far. We have even already called the shipping authority to see if a cargo ship heading that direction could take us on. That would not be a problem in itself, but there is currently nothing going there because the Elbe is not carrying enough water. We cannot say to what extent that is true, but that is not working either.
Believe it or not, we completely forgot our appointment with Magdeburg’s cultural director at 1:00 p.m. today, are sitting under the Magdeburg water cross and now have to cycle the fifteen kilometers back to Magdeburg. At least a team from Radio SAW has announced that they will be attending the meeting, as has the city’s press spokesperson. In addition, the editor from yesterday’s MDR team even wants to come and take a photo for the DPA.
After some deliberation about whether to do it or just cancel and carry on, we discovered this promising spot on the casing of the left wheel of our trailer. This was the deciding factor in our decision to go back and try our luck in a bike shop again so that we could carry on with a clear conscience. A bursting tire when driving fast is certainly not so fun! And yesterday a spoke broke, yay.
2:00 p.m.: Now we’re sitting where we were yesterday, at Ulrichsplatz. Only we’ve covered over thirty-five kilometers in the meantime. Let’s see how it goes… Whatever happens, we want to be in Wittenberge this evening!
7:00 pm and still in Magdeburg. Quote from Andreas: “We are currently having a really big hitch.”
We have a really big trailer! We are becoming more and more aware of that. After we met the head of the cultural department of Magdeburg and the people from Radio SAW, we made our way straight to a large bike shop. The result: unfortunately sobering. They didn’t have our tire there, but were kind enough to call a few colleagues and workshops, unfortunately again with the sad truth. Apparently, Magdeburg doesn’t have the bike tire we need.
In the meantime, another appointment came up. Man, man, man… Another photographer wanted to take pictures of us for two magazines. So we drove back to the Elbe and took a few more photos just before the rain and stormy weather started.
We’d finally had enough of stalling here in Magdeburg and decided, like yesterday, to take the S-Bahn to Wittenberge. When we arrived at the station, there was of course no ground-level access to platform one and the elevator was too small for our trailer. We were about to unload everything and take it to the platform one by one when someone pointed out to us that Deutsche Bahn had not transported cargo trailers for a year and a half and that there were no exceptions. Oh, that makes us happy! Excuse the cynicism, but we’ve really lost our momentum.
After two hours of phoning around, waiting, making more calls, receiving rejections, building up hope and making more calls, we finally breathed a sigh of relief. We’re still getting away from Magdeburg today, even if it’s not possible until 11:30 p.m. and unfortunately it didn’t work out on the elegant water or rail routes. At least this time someone is coming to pick us up with a trailer, driving straight from Witternberge and bringing us back with all our belongings. That’s a really great effort. They’re even the same people who offered us a house to stay in and who we’re now even more excited to meet.
Refuge from cold and wet while waiting for our rescuers from Wittenberge
In the meantime, we are sheltering in a huge, empty hallway until the security guard chases us away. Let’s hope that he doesn’t come for a long time, because at least it’s warm and dry here and I can continue writing the blog in peace.
Just as we received the call from our rescuer that he would be here in twenty minutes, the security guard came in: “Okay, get out of here!” Personally, I would have liked that to be a bit nicer, but how would he know that we are “culture bums”? No matter, it was still perfect timing and we had peace and quiet there for at least four hours.
00:30 everything is stowed away and we are heading to Wittenberge
Wow, now everything is packed on the trailer. Win did everything he could to help us. His friend Remo drove, someone else sponsored the trailer for the trailer and his lovely wife even prepared a little picnic with coffee to give us some strength before we left.
5:30 am: Unbelievable, but true. We just gave a concert.
It’s too crazy! This trip is simply more than just an adventure. After a car ride with stimulating conversations about Rilke, various philosophers and other poets and thinkers, picnic items including a bottle of wine were packed and a journalist was contacted. The reason for this was Win’s crazy idea of experiencing a night concert on the Elbe. Completely exhausted, but ready for the idea, we drove to the Elbe bridge with a view over the Elbe meadows to Wittenberge. The strange thing was that despite the night hour, there were still a few trucks on the road. We even managed to remember to stream the concert this time and started at 3:45 a.m. Let’s just say that the wind, the trucks and the cold didn’t exactly make it our best experience, but definitely a special, crazy, adventurous one. Amazingly, in addition to our hosts and the ambitious journalist, there were even viewers watching online at this time.
Now it’s 6:00 a.m. and we’re finally lying down and can close our burning eyes. We hope we can get some sleep. Good night… oh no, I mean good morning 😉
Anyway, we’re going to get some sleep first.
Next entry: Waiting for Anna and thank you tour through Wittenberge
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