First impressions- Elbe River pathway & Meissen (Meiben)

The weather forecasts indicated 35C plus for the next few days which is unusually high for Germany in terms of consistent dry sunny days. Yes - I'm 'going to go there' - even the locals concede climate change is real - Good for me being a warm weather person but now Germany has to consider its water use. For daily hydration I load up with 3 litres in my trusty seven-year-old and well made seven-years-old Camelback 'Mule'.

I've never been one for brand promotion 😉 (people know I love my Subarus) but I have to say this is the best hydration backpack I've ever owned - no tears, zips still working perfectly and very robust 🐘. This quality is unusual for anything these days while the world transitions from 'Made in China' labels on your clothes to 'Made in Mexico' or 'Made in Vietnam'. China's companies are continually chasing cheaper labour countries including Africa because the burgeoning middle-class of China now demands higher wages (no surprise 👀) just like developed western nations and you can’t blame the workers.

Beautiful heady smells of old Summer roses along the paths

I also load up with a full thermos of boiled water for tea because I may not be anywhere near a village when I feel like a cuppa and only occasionally have a cafe coffee. Most villages are only 10-15km intervals and have an ALDI, LIDL, Netto or other supermarkets which allows me to travel 'light' in terms of supplies and water unlike the tyranny of distance I have to accomodate in Australia and NZ. Food is very cheap - I can buy 4.5 litres of water, fresh salad for lunch, fruit, items for preparing breakfast and the evening meal to last for a couple of days for around 6 Euros 👀 in Germany!!

Mmmm time for a cuppa

Many villages and towns in Germany's rural areas are surrounded by wooded enclaves so I could approach the outskirts without any clues of a settlement other than the occasional glance down of my bicycle computer. However the one consistent visual clue I look for is the church steeple standing high above the tree line. The city of Meissen in Saxony is home to the oldest porcelain factory in Europe and Albrechtsburg the oldest castle in Germany which dominates the landscape. It's very old and massive structure built around the 15th century and an example of late Gothic architectural style.

I stayed close by just south of the town on the Elbe river at a local 'campingplatz' for two nights - 7 Euro a night including wonderful hot showers and a quiet piece of grassy area next to the stream. The caretaker had spent a few years living and working in Western Australia as a chef so we had plenty to chat about.

Tonight's menu - mmm Green Chicken Curry - yes I have all the ingredients thanks to the local organic delicatessen which stocks fresh coriander and small travel-sized jars of Thai curry paste which pretty much self-preserves because of the chilli - yessss!! 😊

Tonight's movie - The Accidental Tourist - 1988 - Geena Davis, William Hurt and many others you will know and one of my favourite 'indi' style people stories.

Dresden the Baroque capital

Some may be quite daunted when arriving in a non-English speaking nation. Germany for the most part will drop back to broken English if I tell them my German is quite limited. Some travellers will be happy to ‘window shop’ their way through unfamiliar places and cultures which is understandable. And others like me get amongst the folk and experience their daily lives so at least trying to communicate in their native tongue is pragmatic but also a sign of respect.

My first stage takes me north along the Elbe River all he way to Hamburg so I will use the Elbe cycle way through the pre 1989 GDR states (communist East Germany). This territorial legacy means finding English speaking citizens will be a challenge but I managed quite well in Japan and Korea by falling back on natural instincts for survival - you’ll surprise yourself when put to the test and most people will work hard to help you. Just human nature.

Dresden was a wonderful place to start on the Elbe River and I gave myself three days in this classical city. Most of the city's classic buildings were built in the Baroque era and like Prague it has a strong reputation as a centre for early European cultural significance. Chopin fled there after Poland's internal uprising - yes many people think he is French not Polish. There's also a famous painting of Napoleon crossing the Elbe River bridge in Dresden after winning one of his battles.

The allies conducted a massive aircraft bombing campaigns for two nights in Feb 1945 to help the Russian forces approaching from the east only 70 km away. An estimated 35,000 Dresden citizens died from the bombing - before this Hitler was considering this as an alternative capital if Berlin fell. This city is the capital of the German state of Saxony with Elbe running through it and flanked by some stunning architecture from centuries past. My favourite district where I stayed was the 'progressive' ethnically rich district of Neustadt. My morning's wander took in some quirky cafes where I could see how well I could clumsily negotiate my way to a good flat-white mit apfel tarte.

Globetrotter outdoor camping store with it's own first floor kayak testing pool for customers

From Melbourne to Dresden

My life compass has just moved to the northwest again so now it's Euros to load on my travel cards, new bits for 'Ava' the bicycle (Avanti) and I must include head-to-toe thermals for those potentially cool but long Scandinavian days. I want to journey through those spaces I missed last time - most of Germany, Denmark - Scandinavia, Poland, Southwest UK, Wales, western France and possibly Spain/Portugal. I only have 90 days to travel under the EU Shengen agreement but that works out nicely for the European summer.

The magnificent Airbus A380 carrying me and 543 others

As I glanced through the dirty windows at Melbourne's international terminal I felt intimidated but impressed by the size of the winged structure that would take me on the first long leg to Hong Kong. I thought to myself “my goodness she's a big girl!” but totally confident that the famous red kangaroo would get me there safely. Glad it wasn't another Boeing 737-800 Max which I discovered took me to Singapore last Dec which a dear friend told me “you just escaped a bullet!”. For the curious just do some Youtube viewing on the recent two multiple fatality crash stories on the poor safety of the flawed 737-800 Max aircraft Flawed MCAS and new engine location Boeing 737-800 Max.

This is what happens when greedy corporations put profit before people aided by a negligent US Government Aviation regulator who relinquish signoffs and approvals to the aircraft manufacturer. Like putting the bank robber in charge of the bank. Expect to see a number of class actions soon. My SwissAir flight to Zurich was the previous relatively safe 737-800 model. The SwissAir flight was quite a comfortable one because despite the full aircraft by some luck the two seats between me and the other passenger were vacated - some folk unfortunately missed their flight. Because I can fit into small spaces quite happily I worked out a system allowing me to sleep across the two seats but keeping the flight attendants happy with seatbelts fastened keeping me secure for those moments of turbulence. This made the 12 hour journey bearable only to be occasionally interrupted by happy feeding sessions.

It might appear that I'm labouring the point of flight experience but my first four and a bit career years was in the Avionics industry so forgive my interest but some of you may remember a number of Malaysian Air crashes or in one case a complete disappearance. One particular flight MH-17 bound for Kuala Lamper from Amsterdam was apparently shot down by a missile over eastern Ukraine with wreckage spread over 50 square kms. The flight manifest indicated that over 2/3rds of the passengers were Dutch nationals many of them children on their summer holidays. At the time of the disaster on 7 July 2014 the Ukranian military forces were fighting the separatist Ukrainian militia backed by the Russian government and mainly concentrated in eastern Ukraine.

There were many daily domestic flights above this area in the so called 'safe' zone above 32,000 feet or roughly 10kms. The tragedy for those people above the skies unfolded when a missile exploded just above the left side of the cockpit instantly killing the three cabin crew as they were showered with schrapnel. The first class section then broke away end eventually the rest of the aircraft separated into large sections with nothing but gravity to determine the fate of all those souls on board. Even to this day both sides of the conflict blame each other but there appears to be growing evidence that Russian forces had made their way across the border into eastern Ukraine with equipment capable of firing that particular type of missile.

Our SwissAir flight avoiding Ukraine airspace - Kiev is the capital

Knowing the flight path for my Zurich destination could take me in this area I took particular interest in the direction the plane flew. A direct flight from Hong Kong would southwest China, across Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, The Russian Federation and most likely Ukraine air space. I actually monitored the flight path on the media/movies screen between viewings of  'The Mule' and 'The Wife' (thanks Sis) - both very good movies by the way. The flight actually took us outside Ukraine's northern border then back south to continue on to Zurich. I'm aware that a number of airlines now avoid Ukraine airspace, especially eastern Ukraine.

Ava’s solo side trip to Munich in Bavaria

After arriving in early morning Zurich there was a short rest before connecting with the SwissAir flight to Dresden on a much smaller domestic plane. Unfortunately Ava decided she wanted to visit Munich instead Fortunately when I arrived in Dresden the airport staff sorted out the lost bike with box and eventually it arrived at my Dresden hotel that evening.

Even my own balcony 👀