Mane

 Pidin luennon Helsingin työväenopistossa.  Kalvoni.

Taina Liekari päätti juhlistaa puolivuosisataista elämäänsä pyöräilemällä ystävänsä Laura Toukolan kanssa Espanjan ympäri. Pyöräilyn jälkeen Liekari kirjoitti matkastaan perusteellisen selostuksen.  Matkakirjojen kirjoittaminen on näennäisen helppoa: sen kun kirjoittaa aikajärjestyksessä mitä matkalla tapahtui, millaiset maisemat olivat missäkin ja millaisia ajatuksia päivien aikana päähän pälkähti. Jotta kirja tai kertomus kiinnostaisi lukijaa aivan loppuun asti, tämä ilmeinen tapa kirjoittaa vaatii kirjoittajalta todella paljon. Matkailu yleisesti ja pyörämatkailu erityisesti on näet kovin toisteista ja arkista puuhaa.  Liekari on kirjoittanut kirjan kronologisesti paikkoja kuvaillen. Kuvaukset ovat seikkaperäisiä, tarkasti mieleenjääneitä yksityiskohtia kuvailevia. Paikoitellen lukija pääsee matkalle mukaan, lähes aistii Espanjan kuumat iltapäivät, maantien hehkuvan kuumuuden. Lukija myös tuntee myötätuntoa seikkailuparimme eksyessä ja joutuessa pehmeille hiekkateille ja su...

My  virtual bicycle tour to Girona  continues. Today's main sights were the famous Philosophenweg in Heidelber and the river Rhine. Since the weather was fine, and my legs felt strong, today was a day of joy and pleasure.  We visited Heidelberg during our car trip around Germany and the Benelux back in May, 1999. Then we were in a hurry as we had to return to Berlin next morning. We did not have time to walk the Philosophenweg , which for us as philosophy majors was a bit disappointing. Today, I took the time to walk the Weg. As the name suggest, the philosophy way has been frequented by famous philosophers from the Heidelberg University. The name does, although, come from students who used to walk along the way and discuss conceptual issue. It is a quiet place, with nice views over the river Neckar to the Heidelberg old town. And a privilege to trace steps of, among others,    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ,   Karl Jaspers ,   Hans-Georg Gadamer , ...

My  virtual bicycle tour to Girona  continues. Today, a very short ride, only 31 kilometers from Darmstadt to Heppenheim. I did not feel that great, frankly I was quite bored with cycling, so I took a look at the map and Google and chose to ride to the most charming little town within 40 kilometers. Heppenheim was the undisputed winner, such a splendid town next to a small mountain range, and with no climbing required.  Heppenheim is  s the seat of  Bergstraße district  in  Hesse , Germany, lying on the  Bergstraße  on the edge of the  Odenwald . Lovely, with yet another splendid collection of Fachwerkhäuser.  I followed more or less closely the Bergstrasse . From Wikipedia I read in the morning that  Hoppenheim from Bergstrasse The Bergstraße passes through three   rural districts   and two   urban districts :   Darmstadt ,   Landkreis Darmstadt-Dieburg ,   Kreis Bergstraße ,   Hei...

My  virtual bicycle tour to Girona  continues. I got tired, the weather was rainy, and there was lots to see and experience in Darmstadt. So, I decided to stay put, have a rest day, and went to see old locomo tives in the  Bahnwelt Darmstadt-Kranichstein .  Old locomotives are interesting for many reasons. First of all, steam locomotives are great examples of engineering ingenuity. Steam engine is not very efficient, especially it was not at all efficient in the beginning. James Watt's great invention was to make steam engine more efficient, and thus enable the industrial revolution. The, during the next century or so, engineers tinkered with the design and came close to the theoretical maximum efficiency. But then diesel and electric locomotives replaced steam ones, for the simple reason of being simpler to operate and maintain, and also being more powerfull - as there is a real limit for making ever stronger steam locomotives.  But then, besides locomotiv...

My  virtual bicycle tour to Girona  continues. Yesterday, I found out that one beer might just be too much. I had quite a few on Friday in Staufenberg and then I just could not cycle far on Saturday.  I did cycle 30km on Saturday, after all. I set out from Staufenberg towards south with the intention to cycle as far I could. In Münzenberg I had enough. Luckily I found a room in Burghotel Münzenberg, a lovely hotel with an outdoor terrace. Yes, I decided a pint of local pils would not hurt too much.  Burghotel Burghotel commands a nice view over the valley to the Burg itself.  The Burg Today, I felt OK after a decent hotel breakfast. I decided I do not need to visit Frankfurt am Main. I have been to Frankfurt twice, once in 1992 and the other time in 2016. In 1992, a strange thing happened. We visited the tourist info at the main station one day asking for a city map. After a few days, the map got lost and I visited the tourist info again. The la...

My  virtual bicycle tour to Girona  continues. Today was almost a rest day, for I was really tired. It is also Friday, and I wanted to take time for drinking beer and enjoying life. As they say, there is more to life than cycling, but not much more.  So, how was my ride from Burgwald to Staufenberg. Easy, no major hills, no head wind. But with my tired legs, no too easy either. I had to take a longer break, and one pint of beer with some curry wurst in Marburg.  Marburg , the town famous for its university, and the infamous Marburg virus, an extremely dangerous virus causing    viral hemorrhagic fever . Not that virus would be endemic in Marburg, it happend to be classified there in 1967.  Marburg My own memories of Marburg have to do with health care as well. Back in 1999 were on car trip from Berlin to Brussels. Before Marburg, we stopped to fill up the gas tank, and I bought a can of Rotem Geschict, 1999! energy drink Hemp Exctrac...

My  virtual bicycle tour to Girona  continues. My plan to was to ride 6 times 70 kilometers (on avarage) every week. I managed 450 kilometers during the first week, so I am happy. Good progress, almost one fourth of the whole tour.  Today's ride was harder that its length belies. The first 15 kilometers were uphill, not steep but still. The remaining 45 kilometers did not have many flat sections either. Great fun riding up and down, but with my poor fitness and acquired fatigue it was hard.  The route took me through countryside, fields everywhere, no forests. Interesting to see how far spring and farming is already in early May in northern Germany. The fields are green, some farmers are already harvesting early produce. I did not spot any farmers' market, though. Not even in the  Hanseatic City of Korbach where I had light lunch.  Korbach Rathausplatz Korbach has interesting history as a member of the Heaseatic league, like Lübeck and Tallinn, ...

My  virtual bicycle tour to Girona  continues. Today I cycled from Augustdorf to Marsberg, again in lovely summer weather, some clouds and light wind, sometimes not even headwind.  Monastery in Marsberg After Augustdorf, I rode along an army training area, the Truppenübungsplatz Senne . I saw some tanks roaming about. I did not dare to take pictures, as taking pictures of military installations is generally not a good idea.  Once, when I was cycling from Gdansk to Istanbul in the summer of 1990 with my friend Kyösti, we saw some army areas with strict signs prohibiting photography. Given that it was in Bulgaria, we obeyed.  I also remember walking past the presidential palace of Mozambique in Maputo in 1997, on the opposite site of the street, not stopping nor looking too intently at the palace. The guide has told me that the guards had instructions to shoot anyone stopping for too long with live rounds. Quite scary, but of course I had to check ...