08/19/2021

NDR shoot in the morning

After spending the night in yoga-like positions, as the ground was unfortunately anything but flat, we had to get up again before we could sleep in. This time someone from NDR had announced that he would be coming and wanted to film the dismantling of the tents. Our motivation to leave the tents was limited as it was raining again. So we quickly ate something small, brushed our teeth and packed everything else so that it would still go relatively quickly. I was still in the tent with my sleeping bag when the filmmaker arrived and, like my colleague in Torgau, had to do everything on her own. Checking the sound, taking pictures and arranging the interview, all in the rain. We hit it off straight away and this time we were not held up in any way, we could just follow our schedule. She was just there and, by the way, it turned out to be a good report. With wet tents and damp clothes we drove the last few kilometers to the old town of Lüneburg. We only allowed ourselves a short stop at a small snack stand with a young woman with whom we talked about jobs and prospects while we ate our breakfast of lasagne and pasta.

We rolled into the city center not quite on time and even the rain had stopped, except for the occasional drizzle. We quickly put the bench next to the piano and, overwhelmed by Lüneburg’s architecture, we drove to the market square. This time I sat on the tandem and Andreas played the piano during the ride. People immediately came over, applauded, put a few bills in our hats and bought CDs.

In Lüneburg

Of course, there were photographers and reporters on site again and after everyone had their material and Ms. Schiller from NDR had everything in the can, we wanted to try a little city tour.

We were just about to leave when a lovely woman came along and invited us for cake and cappuccino, and we chatted with her for a while.

Meanwhile, Andreas was playing for little boys and got chatting to the “Klomann,” for whom he really wanted to play because he was super nice and really needed a little concert. No sooner said than done, and he, who is actually already retired but loves chatting to people, was really happy about the surprise.

The drive through the alleys of the romantic city center of Lüneburg was stunningly beautiful! Andreas and I took turns driving and playing and were able to enjoy the views, the smiles and the beauty of this city in different ways. If you haven’t been there yet, you should go, I will definitely go again, albeit in a more comfortable way.

Next sporting destination: Hamburg

After we had received some really useful tips from a number of people about how best to get back to the Elbe, or rather to Hamburg, we drove on and on and on. If we didn’t have another breakdown, we wanted to reach Hamburg today. A friend was already waiting for us there with the promise of a warm meal and a warm shower, as well as a cozy bed: the great joys of a trailer traveler!

Of course it started to rain again at some point, otherwise we would have been bored and perhaps not motivated enough to actually reach our destination. It got later and later and our knees and necks started to hurt again and worst of all: our bottoms! We were less and less sure how to sit and unfortunately just riding standing up didn’t work either. What helped us was the fact that we were making good progress and the beautiful landscape, which distracted us a little. Funny place names also helped a lot with our motivation. Over? Not yet!

In Bullenhausen there were actually only sheep.

Yes, I know the humor leaves something to be desired, but the psyche is looking for every straw it can get to keep itself happy.

We reach Hamburg and still have a lot ahead of us.

The street sign that really lifted our spirits was the one for Hamburg. Yippee, we had at least reached the city limits, even if it was another fifteen kilometers from there before we could drive onto Maienweg.

The really exhausting thing about driving around town with the Tastdem is the many stop and go situations. Every traffic light, every small curb forces us to stop and then accelerate, which feels like hours of interval training, especially after already driving seventy kilometers.

Finally, at 11 p.m., we arrived completely exhausted. We had completed our longest stage of eighty kilometers and finally, finally, without any technical problems. Hallelujah!

We locked our vehicle securely and hoped that it wouldn’t stand out among all the other bikes and that the piano in particular would remain undisturbed. After we had carried everything loosely into my friends’ apartment, we immediately started eating pasta and enjoyed a warm shower. I don’t remember how we managed to sit up while we ate, only that I couldn’t sleep on my back that night. We didn’t live long that evening and slept the sleep of exhaustion.

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