Yesterday, I bid farewell to Harry after packing my things, then I started my ride out of Hildesheim. I didn’t realize that Hildesheim is actually a big town. If I wasn’t short on time I would have done some exploration.
In any case, I rode mainly on the bike path next to Route B1. I passed by more farms and some small towns. The temperature wasn’t too hot or too cold so it was perfect for cycling. Since I started late, I didn’t eat lunch until around 1 PM.
At 4 PM, I reached my Warmshowers host Beatrix’s house in Helmstedt after cycling 54 miles from Hildesheim.
Beatrix works as a freelance journalist and has written several books. One of them was about her hike along the east and west Germany border. To see some of her projects in blog form, visit her Instagram page:
www.instagram.com/Beatrix_Flatt.
After taking a shower, I did laundry. When Beatrix’s husband Lorenz came back from work, we chatted more while having a vegetarian dinner in the back porch.
Lorenz told me about his four children. All are very successful. I quickly realized that both Beatrix and Lorenz are great at parenting so I asked Lorenz what’s the secret. Lorenz told me that they are not helicopter parents. Sure, they watched over their kids when they were growing up, but they allowed them to explore on their own.
After dinner, Lorenz and I took a walk into town. Lorenz showed me the old monastery, a coffee shop that’s run by students that he helped set up, the city hall, the building where Lorenz’s great grandparents started their business that Lorenz now owns, the old university before Napoleon disbanded it, and the site where Lorenz will build his next house.
By the time we finished the tour it was dark already. When we came back to the house we ended up chatting more in the back porch over wine and apple pie about many other topics, such as the German public education system, which is completely free. I feel America is so far behind in healthcare and education that it’s better to live in Germany, The Netherlands, or somewhere else in Europe.
This morning, I woke up around 7:30. After sending more host requests I had breakfast with Beatrix and Lorenz. Today, I will ride about 35 miles to my next Warmshowers host’s place in Magdeburg. Since I don’t have to be there until 6 PM, I have plenty of time.
Beatrix suggested I should visit Gedenkstätte Deutsche Teilung Marienborn, a museum about the east and west German divide after WWII that’s on my way to Magdeburg. I will do that since I have the time.
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| Another beautiful day for a bike ride |
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| Wind turbines in the distance |
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| Even more wind turbines |
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| These are sugar beets. |
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| Sometimes the bike path is on the right... |
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| Sometimes it's on the left. |
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| I call this "shadow selfie." |
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| The gate at Helmstedt |
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| The restored monastery |
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| A solar clock |
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| Inside the student-run coffee shop |
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| The coffee shop is located inside an old horse stall. |
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| Lorenz holding a very nice sign. |
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| The city hall in Helmstedt |
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| The marketplace |
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| A typical old German building that shows the exposed beams. |
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| Kreis- und Universitätsmuseum Helmstedt |
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| Such a fancy door frame. LOL! |
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| The detail is impressive! |
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| The old university campus. The slanted windows are so unique. |
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| The site where Lorenz will build his next house. |
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| Just doing some thinking of my own. |
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| Some buildings have plaques that indicated professors have lived here. |
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| Beatrix and Lorenz |
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