Date: 9th of July 2015
Route: Bremen – Berlin
Vehicles hitchhiked: 5
In the morning we decided to sightsee Bremen, despite the drizzly weather and Maia's complaints that we wouldn’t manage to arrive in Berlin to meet with our host on time. We walked around for an hour only, but we felt the atmosphere of the town at least, and Maia had a funny photo with the statue of Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten.
In the morning we decided to sightsee Bremen, despite the drizzly weather and Maia's complaints that we wouldn’t manage to arrive in Berlin to meet with our host on time. We walked around for an hour only, but we felt the atmosphere of the town at least, and Maia had a funny photo with the statue of Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten.
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| The Five Bremer Stadtmusikanten |
Then we used public transportation in order to get to an express road towards Berlin. We couldn’t stop anyone for about an hour, despite the fact that we were standing in several different places. One guy laughed at us when he saw us walking towards a motorway (German: “Autobahn”), and asked if we wanted to go for a walk there.
While we were coming back from the motorway, along a slip road, we finally managed to stop a car. The woman told us that she was heading towards Hamburg; we had planned to go to Berlin through Hannover and Magdeburg, but since we didn’t have any better options to choose from, we decided to change our plans, and got into her car.
She had hitchhiked to Greece when she had been a teenager, and that's why she understood our situation, and wanted to help us. She left us on a petrol station next to a motorway towards Hamburg.
Asking for a lift there took us quite a long time. We started being worried that we wouldn’t be able to arrive in Berlin before dark. Suddenly we saw a friendly woman waving to us; she invited us to her car, which was a van used to transport horses (though, at that moment there weren't any of them inside).
While we were coming back from the motorway, along a slip road, we finally managed to stop a car. The woman told us that she was heading towards Hamburg; we had planned to go to Berlin through Hannover and Magdeburg, but since we didn’t have any better options to choose from, we decided to change our plans, and got into her car.
She had hitchhiked to Greece when she had been a teenager, and that's why she understood our situation, and wanted to help us. She left us on a petrol station next to a motorway towards Hamburg.
Asking for a lift there took us quite a long time. We started being worried that we wouldn’t be able to arrive in Berlin before dark. Suddenly we saw a friendly woman waving to us; she invited us to her car, which was a van used to transport horses (though, at that moment there weren't any of them inside).
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| Do we look like horses? :-) |
Firstly, we had to run between cars across the motorway, in order to be able to ask for a lift on a parking lot which was on the other side of the road. We stood near its exit for several minutes, and a van stopped next to us then. While we were discussing with the driver where he could possibly leave us, drivers standing behind him were tooting their horns impatiently – we had blocked the whole exit of the lot, accidentally.
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| Coming back to the motorway leading to Berlin |
The driver took us only to the next petrol station; we were next to the motorway towards Berlin again, at least. Unfortunately, we had troubles with catching a lift there (again). Hitchhiking was becoming more and more nettlesome that day...
Finally, a truck stopped in front of us when we were standing with a card next to the exit of the station. The trucker turned out to be a Lithuanian, who had served in the army in Kaliningrad. We had a funny conversation with him in Russian-Polish language mix. Nevertheless, we were tired after the ride, because he was driving pretty slowly (trucks have some speed limits) and, to cap it all, there was a long tailback on the motorway.
It was already quite late, and we still had around 200 km to cover, so we started being a little bit worried. Fortunately, it didn't take us long to find a driver willing to give us a lift; he only asked us to wait for him half an hour, because he wanted to relax a little before continuing to drive. However, another man approached us in the meantime, and offered to take us directly to Berlin. We went with him to his car, and thanked the previous guy for his willingness to help us.
It was an exhausting day, so no wonder that I fell asleep while sitting in the car. Maia was listening to the radio in German, and trying to talk in this language with the driver. I was woken up when we were already in the city.
When we got out of the car, we went by U-Bahn to Kreuzberg, where our host lived. We came to his flat while he was uploading his documentary film about Fukushima and wind energy to a competition website. When we arrived at his door, he greeted us with cheerful “Hello! You've made it!”. Yeah, we did, fortunately!
Philipp was very hospitable, he even gave us keys to his flat so that we could be independent. Moreover, when we remarked that we would spend in Berlin only one day, and that again we wouldn't have time to sightsee the city, he let us stay in his flat one more night.
Finally, a truck stopped in front of us when we were standing with a card next to the exit of the station. The trucker turned out to be a Lithuanian, who had served in the army in Kaliningrad. We had a funny conversation with him in Russian-Polish language mix. Nevertheless, we were tired after the ride, because he was driving pretty slowly (trucks have some speed limits) and, to cap it all, there was a long tailback on the motorway.
It was already quite late, and we still had around 200 km to cover, so we started being a little bit worried. Fortunately, it didn't take us long to find a driver willing to give us a lift; he only asked us to wait for him half an hour, because he wanted to relax a little before continuing to drive. However, another man approached us in the meantime, and offered to take us directly to Berlin. We went with him to his car, and thanked the previous guy for his willingness to help us.
It was an exhausting day, so no wonder that I fell asleep while sitting in the car. Maia was listening to the radio in German, and trying to talk in this language with the driver. I was woken up when we were already in the city.
When we got out of the car, we went by U-Bahn to Kreuzberg, where our host lived. We came to his flat while he was uploading his documentary film about Fukushima and wind energy to a competition website. When we arrived at his door, he greeted us with cheerful “Hello! You've made it!”. Yeah, we did, fortunately!
Philipp was very hospitable, he even gave us keys to his flat so that we could be independent. Moreover, when we remarked that we would spend in Berlin only one day, and that again we wouldn't have time to sightsee the city, he let us stay in his flat one more night.
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| My silliness: I'm pretending that I am traffic lights |
In the evening Maia and I agreed to go for a short walk around Kreuzberg. It was a multicultural district, and lots of crazy and peculiar people lived there. The Berlin Wall was the main destination of this short trip. However, we only saw a piece of wall from the distance in the end, so we didn't even know if it was the one that we had wanted to visit, or not.
While coming back to the flat, we agreed to check out a big park on the way. To our surprise, it was surrounded by dozens of black people. A few of them approached us, and whispered something to Maia; I found out later that they had been trying to sell us drugs. Fortunately, nothing bad happened to us, and we managed to come back home safe and sound.
While coming back to the flat, we agreed to check out a big park on the way. To our surprise, it was surrounded by dozens of black people. A few of them approached us, and whispered something to Maia; I found out later that they had been trying to sell us drugs. Fortunately, nothing bad happened to us, and we managed to come back home safe and sound.
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