Today Haley and I participated in Sternfahrt, billed as the world's largest bicycle demonstration. Last year there were 200,000 riders! The map below shows the complexity of the planning - riders started as early as 8:00 in the morning in outlying areas and more riders joined in at the appointed times and locations along the way. In this way riders worked their way into the center of Berlin from all directions. We joined at noon at the location highlighted in green in the southwest corner. We rode about 13-16 km in the direction of the orange star, but turned around somewhere along the 115 Autobahn. Yes, you read right - the bikers took over the Autobahn today! Those who rode to the end would all join together and finish up at the Brandenburger Tor where the Environment Festival was going on. It was an interesting way to spend the day!
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Bikers gather at S-bahn Zehlendorf near our house where
people from our part of town would join the ride |
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| Biking down the main street in Zehlendorf |
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Haley with neighbors, Mia (pink helmet) and Anne-Marie
(black shirt, smiling). Haley would never had ridden so far unless
a friend did the ride with her. And they both did great, no
complaining! |
There was a huge traffic jam at the entrance to the Autobahn, where 3 cycling routes came together. This was the scene as we waited quite a while for our turn. Everyone in Germany has a bell on their bike, super necessary to alert pedestrians to get out of the way, and also very musical when thousands of people ring them together!
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| Waiting at the autobahn entrance |
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Approaching an exit. For the most part, the crowds thinned
out and there was plenty of room to ride on the Autobahn.
We did see a few accidents though.
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High-speed video of cyclists on the autobahn
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