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| Brezhnev/Honecker kiss mural - Berlin Wall |
Let me see if I remember most of what happened last June. Packed
luggage, exchanged dollars to euros, picked up by Shuttle2LAX, dropped at LAX,
flew to Charles De Gaulle Airport, connected to Bremen, Germany, picked up by
Emy at the airport, took the train to Bremen Central Train Station where Emy
told me that if I had to remember anything, remember the Hauptbahnhof because
the practically all look alike everywhere, then took another train to
Bremerhaven. So far, so good.
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| Hannover Hauptbahnhof |
Wait, I left something out. While at CDG, in order for me not to miss
my daily workout, I walked for 30 minutes in a crowded terminal while pulling
my carry on luggage. So how did I manage to do my requisite at least 30 minutes
of exercise a day while I was on my German vacation? Actually it doesn’t take
much provided you are able to make some adjustments like for example the
aforementioned walk through the airport terminal.
Germany Workouts
June 22: 30 minute walk in Charles De Gaulle domestic terminal – Well this
one didn’t elevate my heart rate much or at all because it was like an obstacle
course in a terminal where people didn’t keep right in the hallway.
June 23: 30 minute jog in a farm town in the outskirts of Bremen –
upon being woken up by horses neighing and cows mooing, I ventured out in a
slight drizzle in my Northface jacket, found a loop and the main street and ran
beside farm houses. It was a struggle finishing the 30 minutes probably due to
jet lag. This was my only run in Germany. The moving van arrived, belongings
were loaded, and my friend Emy moved to her new apartment in Hannover.
June 24: 30 minute walk from Emy's new apartment – Amid all the boxes
in the living room, I woke up early and got ready to venture out for a walk in
a strange neighborhood. Did I tell you that in the summer, it gets bright early
at 4 p.m. then doesn’t get dark until past 10 p.m.? I walked several laps
around a block until I finished 30 minutes.
June 25: 50 minute walk from Emy’s apartment. Instead of the loops, I
found an out and back street course which took me over a bridge with a river
which name I don’t know ran under.
June 26: 45 minute walk in Hannover from Michael’s (Emy’s son)
apartment. After having dinner the previous night with family and friends of
Emy, we stayed with Michael. This course involved a loop and going up and down
side streets. Later in the day, Emy and I left for Berlin via train.
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| Berlin City Tour bus |
June 27: 40 minute walk from B&B Tiergarten. This is a hotel right
beside a lesser known gate in Berlin called the Charlottenburg Gate. I walked
out and back on the main street for 20 minutes starting from the gate.
June 28: 30 minute walk in B&B Tiergarten river path. I found a paved
and unpaved river path near the Charlottenburg Gate and walked out and back for
15 minutes, and saw a few runners and walkers. We left Berlin for Hamburg in
the mid afternoon.
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| Right side of Charlottensburg Gate |
June 29: 32 minute walk in Hamburg. We checked in at Hotel Condor yesterday
which was very near the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and I walked from there. I chose
an out and back course along what looked like a main street, and on the way I
found myself among shops and a business area. I saw some polizei removing some
sheets from a naked statue. I guess someone dressed the statue during the night.
I also walked by a huge building old building and on the way back, I asked some
polizei who were standing nearby what building it was and they said it was the
Town Hall. We went back to visit it later during our tour of the city. We left
Hamburg and returned to Hannover later that day.
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| Hamburg Town Hall |
June 30: 45 minute walk in Hannover from Emy’s apartment. This day, I
found another out and back course on another street. So far I haven’t found any
hills in this area and the terrain is very flat other than the bridge I
mentioned earlier.
July 1: 60 minute walk in Hannover from Emy’s apartment. I walked
towards the other side of yesterday’s street and found the end of the train line
which traverses the area. I made a right turn and continued on until I reached
30 minutes, then turned back. Good thing I was able to do an hour this day
because we had a heavy dinner and beers later at the Hannover location of Hofbrau Munchen.
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| Michael & I at Hannover Hofbrau Munchen |
July 2: 30 minute walk in Hannover from Michael’s apartment. We stayed
here overnight and I managed a 30 minute walk at 4 a.m. before we went back to
Emy’s place. Later, Emy and her friend took me to the Hannover Hauptbahnhof for
my trip to Kassel where I visited her sister Bernie and her husband. I was able
to do an additional walk that afternoon when Bernie and her husband took me to
a lake with some hilly trails. I didn’t even time that walk anymore, but it
lasted more than an hour.
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| Lake near Kassel |
July 3: 1 hour walk in Baunatal/Kassel from Bernie’s house. Bernie
showed me a walking path near her house which had a fork in the end. I took the
right side and walked by some wheat fields until I reached a street. I turned
around and went back home. Another hour walk that helped because I went to
lunch & dinner at Lisa (another of Emy’s sisters) and her husband’s house
in Kassel, where I met up with their mother Becca and another sister, Irene and
her husband. Later in the evening we went to another beer garden where I had a beer
tasting consisting of 4 kinds of beer in 11 ounce glasses. Yikes!
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| The fork in the road |
July 4: 1 hour walk in Baunatal from Bernie’s house. Today I took the
left turn at the fork in the road and saw some small parks and dirt trails that
veered off from the main path, but which I didn’t dare explore for fear of
getting lost. At noontime, a cab took me to Kassel Bahnhof where I took the
train to Bremen where I was going to fly from the next day, to go back home.
And then this adventure happened: Last
2 days Germany adventure - part 1
July 5: 40 minute walk from and around Bremen Airport Holiday Inn
Express. I found a park right across the airport, walked around it and along
some adjoining streets. A couple of hours later, I walked from the hotel to the
airport for my trip back home, and then this next adventure happened: Last
2 days in Germany - part 2 and Last
2 days in Germany - part 3.
So that one run and all the walking workouts I managed to do satisfied
my need or maybe compulsion to exercise every day despite being in far flung
places, and I’ve been doing a daily exercise for more than 30 years without
skipping one.
