Berlin to Potsdam

It has been about 2 weeks since my send off party at Nano Brew. It smells like fall in Deutschland, and the early leaves are falling and blowing around. Trees are giving up the green already.

This week, I need to start moving and need to make like a leaf and verschwinde already from northern Germany. I'd really like to be to Dresden by Thursday.

Potsdam was a real surprise. I've never been anywhere quite like this. I know Walt Disney must have came through here if he was visiting places like Tivoli in Copenhagen. 

I didn't taken enough pictures. I rode to a hostel that was closed, and then I had to ride to campground a ways away. I had a nice tour of the area by looking for a place. This evening, I had a chance to retrace my path.

They even had an obelisk.

I feel like I'm finding a groove a little bit. Everyday here feels a little bit more comfortable. I had more success with communicating today, which is comforting. I could do the following in German: ask for a postage stamp, ask if they sell stamps, ask for a campsite for a tent, and say have a good day. I'm understanding more conversational speak and I am starting to get numbers when people tell me the price. People don't switch over to English unless they work in the hospitality business.

I still don't know where I'm staying from night to night. My internet connection has been unreliable. I am learning to be at peace with almost anything. 

I'm starting to have my first pangs of homesickness.

Other notable things today included:

An Aldi with a boat dock where a man asked me to watch his boat while I was eating a croissant on the water.

Also, I was able to ride through the Berlin-Temphof Airfield that has been converted to public space for runners and bicyclists mostly. It's huge and people don't take up much space on it. Like most things in Berlin, that space is imbued with some heavy recent history. It kind of gets to me if I think too much about what's happened there.

This is the widest bike path ever.

Writing here has gotten easier too, but maybe the quality is decreasing. I know my English feels kaputt after swinging an ax at the German language all day.

Gute nacht, freunds. I head toward Dresden tomorrow morgen.