Tag 17 (Tuesday 99.04.29) -- The day's not over yet, but I've got some time
to kill, so I'll go ahead and get a start on the day's record. I got up
early and spent some time reorganizing stuff. I had some time before my
8:00 AM-included breakfast. I was quite worried about waking up feeling
crappy. I guess that some item of (many!) food I ate yesterday wasn't
sitting well. Since I needed to keep myself fueled and it was included, I
had my breakfast rolls -- with butter (I miss butter -- can't carry it).
Then I finally paid my bill. I thought it was odd that I'd been there the
whole time without a typical passport check or pre-payment. Then I rode to
the port. I was about 1 hour early, but that was fine -- at least I didn't
miss it! I handed my unloaded bike over the sea to a deck guy who (after
some instructions from me) lashed it with my clip straps to the bow
railing. This area was inaccessible without some dangerous climbing. Once
under way, I realized why. Waves were crashing over the bow onto my bike.
It was as if I'd lashed it to a support on the propeller. Wow! That's a
test of water resistance -- salt H2O, too! Inside was a torturous exercise
of limited respiration. I thought it was odd that there were 100 or so
Germans on board. The fact that they chain smoked seems par for this
course. I also thought 7 DM for me (5 DM) and my bike (2 DM) was pretty
cheap. Two-plus hours of cruising for less than $4. Not bad -- if you
smoke. I realized that this was a loss leader. This ship had a bar in full
swing (yes, in the "Vormittag" or "pre-noon"). These people were drinking
like crazy. Maybe that's why they were mostly fat. Germans are the fattest
people I've encountered besides Americans. In the corner of Germany,
they're pretty competitive with America. So finally, the trip was over, and
I was across the bay. After some irritating unloading confusion, I was on
my loaded bike again with zero clue. I had thought I'd seen some big
passenger-looking ships on the way in. Guessing where they were, I headed
that direction. Almost right away, I came to another ferry with a bike
lane! I was still "using the force," but I got on board like a lemming. I
talked to a Polish cyclist in English. It's hard now to not speak German
when I hear very bad English. He was nice and made me feel like I was on
the right track. I found a big building labeled "Ferry Terminal." I went
in, figured out the schedule and then hustled to buy a ticket. My boat was
leaving in 30 minutes! Outside in the rain again, I rode through Swedish
customs and up a very tall metal grate ramp into the ship. I hung my bike
with my straps and went upstairs. I put on some normal clothes, put my gear
in the locker room (where I can't get at it) and changed some money. I
wandered around the ship until I found some nice seats in a smoke-free room
(it is encouraging that they have "no smoking" areas -- and that I'm not
alone!!). Then a guy came up and told me I'd need a ticket. OK. So I bought
a $2 US ticket for the movie they were about to show, "The Siege" (not a
horrible movie), which no one but me can pronounce. Everything's in
Swedish, Polish and English (just for me?). I find mistakes all over the
place -- that's a tough problem. The worst is their ship's map labels port
and starboard and fore and aft incorrectly. So this run lasts from 13:00 to
19:30. I've got Swedish $. I just hope I can get settled for the night when
we land (should have some extra daylight!). The ship got in and I rode
around a bit until I found a campground ???? Without difficult, I found it,
but since it was 20:00, no one was at the reception. Oh well ... I set up
and when I went to use the bathroom, I noticed other bike tourers! It was
Peter and Aleen from Australia traveling with their 2 young boys, Alex and
Sam. They had been living in Copenhagen and were just starting out on a
practice tour. They plan to tour for 6 months. Very cool. We talked for a
while (past my early bedtime), then I went to hit the sack.
![[Bike]](./only2500b.gif)
