Light wings back to Australia..

We are now sitting in the foyer of the hotel waiting for a Maxi Taxi to begin our journey home. It will be sad leaving Germany but great to be home again in Australia. We will be leaving behind many memories & experiences, only a small number of which actually made it to this blog. New friends made and again separated, the good times highlighted, by the tough times, which were few. Both our bikes, which were long in the tooth before we left, are now ready for complete rebuilds, brakes, cassette, chains, chain rings & bottom brackets, all worn and needing replacement. I thought that a trip like this may have knocked a bit of weight off, but with all those lovely German bakeries, I think the opposite will be true. We spent yesterday cleaning & re packing the bikes & after lunch took the bus into the city & the old town. A relaxing afternoon was had by all, followed by the final dinner with all the group together, which we enjoyed at the Chicago Meatpackers on the banks of the river. Today Yvonne & I took a final walk along the river bank & completed our final packing.
Stewart & Allison left for the airport about 1 hour ago, we will be leaving with Greg & Wendy in a couple of hours & Mike & Kate will be leaving tomorrow.
Endings are always such an anti climax.

 

Dis assembling & packing the bikes in the underground car park.

 

A mall in a more modern part of the city.

 

A very massive, modern shopping centre with a very unusual roof of glass in a vortex shape.

 

Kind of a sad sight of an elderly gentleman selling balloons, I never saw anyone buy any .

 

From the inside, someone needs to clean the roof.

 

 

Another inside view .

 

The building is unusual inside also, all curves & angles & this escalator maze.

 

 

This ultra long escalator stretches through the guts climbing a full 5 floors.

 

 

The glass roof vortex comes down & drains through the floor in the middle of the building.

 

The round green glass building in the centre of the picture is actually a round glass tube around a square building. A computer opens the triangular pieces of glass on whatever side the wind is coming from, pulling airflow in around the building.

 

Most people live in units, these over a marina, parallel to the river.