Yesterday, I bid farewell to Beatrix and started my ride toward Magdeburg. But first, I went to the Marienborn Memorial to Divided Germany, in German it’s called Gedenkstätte Deutsche Teilung Marienborn. It was only about 5 miles away from Beatrix’s house, but in one section of the route I had to walk my bike through a hiking trail.
The memorial was a checkpoint between east and west Germany after World War II. US, France, and UK controlled West Germany and Russia controlled East Germany. There were a lot of restrictions as to what you could or could not bring to East Germany, such as magazines, newspapers, and basically anything from the West. People tried to smuggle out of East Germany and if they were caught then it could be an 8 year jail sentence.
I walked around the whole place for about an hour, then I had lunch at the cafe next to the memorial before heading out.
The temperature was hot and I cycled straight to Magdeburg, passing by more wind turbines and farmlands. I arrived in downtown around 3 PM.
Magdeburg is a small city. I saw the Grüne Zitadelle, or the Green Citadel in English. It’s an apartment building designed by an Austrian architect named Friedensreich Hundertwasser. It has no right angles and it’s a bit crazy looking. It reminded me of the Gaudi buildings in Barcelona.
Near the Grüne Zitadelle is the gigantic Magdeburg Cathedral. Part of it is under renovation so I didn’t go in.
I spent over two hours on the phone catching up with a friend while chilling on a park bench. Then around 6 PM, I cycled a bit more and reached my Warmshowers host Karolin’s apartment. I rode 35.6 miles for the day.
Karolin and her boyfriend Sebastian are trying to become influencers. Karolin just gave her resignation notice to her boss a couple of days ago. Sebastian and Karolin want to travel and document their trips in the near future. We chatted about personal finance and traveling. Karolin gave me the idea to take a train from Berlin to Poland if I want to stay in Berlin longer than two nights. I will look into buying a train ticket when I get there.
For dinner, Sebastian made vegetarian pasta. I ended up going to sleep at 10:20 PM. This morning, I woke up around 7:30.
It might rain today and I have about 50 miles to ride to Bad Belzig. I’ll be camping in the yard because my Warmshowers host will not be home, but allowed me to camp.
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| Marienborn Memorial to Divided Germany |
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| A history of the memorial |
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| Map of a divided Germany |
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| This is where they would check the vehicles. |
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| A wide view of the checkpoint |
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| Riding next to the Autobahn |
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| What happened to the road, Google Maps? |
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| More wind turbines |
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| Rear view of the Grüne Zitadelle |
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| Another angle |
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| Grüne Zitadelle from the front |
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| Magdeburg Cathedral |
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| Side view of the Magdeburg Cathedral |
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| Karolin and Sebastian |
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