Day #: 119-125

Date(s): 22AUG – 29AUG2025

Location(s) Visited: Düsseldorf, Münster, Nordkirchen, Friesoythe & Bremen, Germany

Overall Impression of Location(s): Düsseldorf = 3, Münster = 4, Nordkirchen = 2, Friesoythe = 3 and Bremen = 2.5

4 -added to our favorite list and we would return again
3 – a great place to visit
2 – OK for one visit, but we would not return again
1 – we wish we hadn’t wasted our time here  

Distance Driven on Leg/Trip (km): 484

Weather/Temperature (°F): Overall, we continue to have very mild summer weather with daytime temperatures in the low 70s and overnight temperatures in the high 50’s. We had 2 days of higher daytime temperatures in the 80’s, but they were not consecutive. We call this weather “hot-cold” as in the sun what we wear is makes us too hot, in the shade what we wear makes us too cold. We are constantly adding and subtracting layers and are using all our clothing from shorts to puffy coats depending on the time of day. We have even used our electric heat in the campervan several times to take off the morning chill. This weather is our ideal temperature so we are relishing it.

Road Conditions: The German roads are well maintained and well signed. We have driven a lot on the Autobahn when needing to go further distances but have been on our share of smaller roads through villages, too. It is quite easy to drive in Germany, not much different than the US. The only significant difference is in the cities where there is well developed bicycle infrastructure and so many more bikes on the road. We must be much more vigilant by making sure we don’t run somebody over when making right hand turns since we can’t look over our shoulder to check due to lack of windows in the van.

Chickpea Mechanical Status: Chickpea had its full 2-year check-up at the Mercedes Benz dealership in Freisoythe, Germany. Luckily, the dealership personnel spoke great English and they checked out all our concerns, including the battery we were quite concerned about due to several low voltage readings. They have assured us everything was fine and within normal range and our next service is not needed for 2 more years or 80,000 km. Tony was pre-warned that service is expensive for Sprinters and Tracey estimated correctly with €500 for oil change and 2-year check-up and €120 for diagnostic including tax. We would return to this dealership again as we got good and prompt service. Our Hymer Warranty appointment is still “pending approval” per our recent request for an update from our Hymer dealer in NW Germany we have been working with on minor warranty issues. Hopefully, it will get approval before we need to leave in October 🤞.

Health Updates: Tony continues with his home (i.e. van) PT for his fractured shoulder and is now doing some strength exercises, too. He is making gains everyday in range of motion but regaining strength has been very slow. He is back to riding his Brompton e-bike as much as he wants although not authorized to do so by the Orthopedic Doctor. He rides without any electric boost at all to get in a good cardio work-out. He took his newly repaired road bike out for a quick spin on a definitely unauthorized ride and he stated he felt “good” although he plans to wait a bit longer before getting back on it for a proper ride. Our travel insurance has reimbursed us for all the costs  (€735) that the NHS has billed us for. Although our travel insurance, AXA, was slow they came through in the end and we are pleased with our experience overall.

Tracey’s leg is much the same and she is without pain when walking and biking. Her hornet/wasp stings are still an issue and Tony has now dug 3 pieces of stinger out of her ribcage/side over the last 8 days, and this is in addition to the 2 pieces of stinger found in her shirt and purse strap. How big was this hornet/wasp?

Highlights:

• We celebrated our 30^th wedding anniversary this past week while in Münster, Germany. We were introduced to each other by friends in 1992 at 25¢ beer night at a bar while attending The Ohio State University. We were married 3 years later and now fast forward 30 more years and we are both retired and traveling together in Europe for 5 ½ months. There was no fancy celebration or elaborate gift giving for this anniversary as we both feel lucky to have this opportunity to travel for extended periods of time in our very own European campervan, Chickpea. We can hardly believe we are nearing the end of our 2^nd year using this vehicle already.
• Rick Steves again let us down on his recommendation (or even mention in some cases) of going to Düsseldorf or Münster, Germany. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting both cities and we would certainly visit again. His criteria for city recommendations seem to be heavily weighted towards historical sights, but to us that is not what necessarily makes a city worth visiting, as a city is much more than an old Cathedral or an ornate Rathaus. We continue to be one of the few non-German plated vehicles on the road. While there are a lot of tourists, it seems most are German tourists, not foreigners.
• Düsseldorf, Germany was another lovely surprise in how much we enjoyed our time there. We camped at a riverfront Aire/Stellplatz right in the city. This place was chaotic with only 40 designated motorhome “pitches” but several days there were 150+ motorhomes trying to use this busy and usually full lot used by locals to access the park, festivals and bar scene. We were able to get one of the official motorhome pitches with views of the river and barges. Despite everything while we were there, we were able to get decent nights’ sleep with the help of ear plugs.
• We logged a lot of foot and bicycle miles while in Düsseldorf, Germany. We explored the Old Town on a VoiceMaps GPS audio tour. We visited the Japanese Gardens (not as nice as the one in Bonn) and did yoga in the park. We cycled both north and south along the Rhine River path and explored Little Tokyo (home to 8,000 people of Japanese descent living in the area). We took late evening strolls to see the 1^st Annual 10k Night Run around the city. We watched the constant stream of barges and riverboats going up and down the river. We found some type of event from punk rock festivals to gourmet food festivals, small groups of people creating their own “beats” and DJs hosting block parties going on around almost every corner. This city is very lively and seems to be not only the tourists, but the locals getting in on the action. This is a party city and might be Germany’s city that never sleeps. 😊
• Münster, Germany has won our hearts! We had read that it has been named the most “Livable City in the World” in 2004 and we concur. The city seems alive and vibrant, is a university town, has amazing parks, botanical gardens and well-used promenades, there is the Aasee Lake State Park located within the city limits, bicycle infrastructure is well designed, the streets are very clean, city bus and trains were efficient, and a quaint Old Town and pedestrian only shopping area was fun to stroll through. The city had a very “chill” vibe to it and we found the locals to be very friendly and welcoming. This city easily makes its way to the list of cities we would consider living in.
• We camped at the Eymann-Sauna AG spa on the outskirts of town as they maintain a lovely 11-spot Aire/Stellplatz with all the amenities including lovely spa-like showers, not typical of a motorhome parking area. From our campsite, we biked both north and south along the Dortmund-Ems canal cycle path. The pavement was smooth and followed right next to the canal with its massive barges moving all types of goods. It was a delightful way to spend the day.
• We made a detour to see Schloss Nordkirchen which is south of Münster which added a bit of driving to our day, but it was worth it. This Schloss (i.e. castle) is massive and is called the Versailles of Westphalia. The building is now used by a university and is undergoing exterior renovations, but the gardens were sprawling and meticulously maintained. This was one of the days it was a bit warm outside so we did not explore as thoroughly as we probably should have. Overall, it was very uncrowded (maybe 30 people seen on the entire massive property) and worth the visit if in the area.
• Bremen was a city we had mixed opinions of but it did start to grow on us after staying there for a few days. The city is about the same size as Düsseldorf with ~700,000 people but has a completely different vibe to it. Bremen has a lot of graffiti, lots of litter on the street like Düsseldorf but felt dirtier, had many more homeless people, more vagrants sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk or in doorways, a heavier police presence, the feeling that there is more petty crime here (and numerous people warning us about pick pockets of tourists) and overall a much more gritty and edgy vibe. We did enjoy visiting as there was a nice Old Town and Schnoor district, great cycling infrastructure and very friendly people. We loved Pressgut, an all-vegan restaurant, we had lunch twice and chatted with the owner and several of the patrons, who were lovely to us.
  
  Lowlights:
  
• While in Düsseldorf and out for a walk, a humongous expedition vehicle parked illegally across 9 parking spaces and completely blocked our view of the river. We think these vehicles are super cool and this one was brand spanking new, but seriously? Taking up 9 spaces in a parking lot that fills to the max every night and blocking the view of the motorhomes (us!) that are legally parked is just plain rude. We are not sure whether these people were just clueless or felt entitled, probably the later, but they annoyed us.
• Düsseldorf and Bremen were by far the dirtiest German city we have been to yet. The amount of garbage and litter on the streets and in the parks, was on par as to what we have in the US. We have not had this experience in other German cities, to this extent, so it seems to be specific to Düsseldorf and Bremen.
• Smokers! We thought it was only France that had a lot of smokers, but nope, Germany seems to have a lot of them, too. While we realize it is an addiction, we still find it quite off-putting that people will light up a cigarette (usually hand rolled!) standing 5 feet from us or even at an adjacent and tightly packed table at an outside café. The worst is when fellow campers light up in the early morning hours and stand feet from our campervan window smoking and chatting with the other fellow camper-smokers. Neither of us have ever been smokers and we don’t appreciate the smell of cigarettes or cigars or like to breathe in that nasty 2^nd-hand smoke. This has really surprised us about Germany.
• Our mapping programs (we were using both Google and Waze simultaneously) led us to the wrong part of Bremen when trying to drive to the campsite. We may be getting tickets in the  mail for going in an ultra-environmental city pedestrian zone and for driving down a street that was tram only. Both sets of directions were crazy and had us and our campervan in places we should never be with this type of vehicle. We finally bailed on the directions when it told us to take a bike path in our campervan!

Up Next: Lüneburg, Hamburg & Lübeck, Germany before taking a short ferry to Denmark.

Onwards! Vorwärts immer, rückwärts nimmer! Allez on y va!