Day 111: Dortmund to Münster

Yesterday morning, I left Kerstin and Beate’s place around 10:40 AM. It was the latest start time for me.

I realized I had made a mistake when planning my route. I could have gone directly to Rheda-Wiedenbrück from Dortmund than going to Münster first. It would have saved me a day’s time. But Beate told me Münster is a good city to stop by. It’s a university city and the bicycle infrastructure is very good due to the large number of bicycles. Since I already have a Couchsurfing host in Münster, I decided to go there anyway.

I mainly cycled on quiet streets and passed by many farms on the way to Münster. For lunch, I had a pizza, a cheesecake, and milk at a bakery. I noticed English is rarely spoken in small towns. I had to use Google Translate to help me with ordering.

Around 3 PM, I arrived in downtown Münster. I parked my bike by the city hall then walked around. The city has many shops and seemed very touristy.

There are three impressive churches. I later learned from my Couchsurfing host Christian that there are some Catholics living in the city, along with Protestants. Catholics are more common in south Germany and not so much in the north. Münster is the last place where there are a lot of Catholics before there are more Protestants in the north.

I arrived at Christian’s place at 6 PM and rode 45.8 miles that day. I met Christian and his partner Miriam, along with his daughter Camela. After taking a shower, we had a vegetarian gnocchi dinner.

Christian and Miriam both work as physicians. They met when Miriam hosted Christian on Couchsurfing in Tunisia. Christian has traveled to many countries. It was very interesting to see all the travel photos on his wall. I recognized a few places I’ve been to.

After dinner, we chatted about German and US politics. We tried to analyze why Trump became popular in the US and how the right wing conservative party, the AfD, became popular in Germany. I learned about the multi-party system in Germany and how the current government is trying to ban AfD from being represented in the government even though they have about 25% support from the people.

Around 10 PM, I was tired and went to bed. This morning, I woke up at 7:30. I spent some time to revise my route so I can arrive in towns where there are Warmshowers hosts rather than strictly following the EuroVelo 2 route. I also sent out more host requests.

Today, I’ll be cycling to Rheda-Wiedenbrück and staying with a Warmshowers host there.

Nice gravel path next to the water

This is like a painting.

I think it should say: Heaven IS Earth.

I love it when there are trees next to the bike path.

Passing by a corn field

Münster City Hall

St. Lamberti church

St.-Paulus-Dom

Liebfrauen-Überwasserkirche church

He looks like he's traveling.

Another view of St. Lamberti

Just a few bicycles

Cool looking building

We should all reach for peace.

Yes to the trees and the bike path!

A photo of my previous Warmshowers hosts, Kerstin and Beate, since I couldn't get a photo of them when I was at their place. This is a selfie sent to me from Kerstin.

My Couchsurfing hosts in Münster, Christian and Miriam