Goodbye Berlin

I guess all of us have singular moments in our lives which take on a greater significance in our minds. Turning points. Milestones. My life changed at 71°10′21″.

For some unexplainable reason I had been fascinated for a number of years with the idea of cycling from Berlin to the northern most point of Europe, just a mass of rocks overlooking the Barents Sea, really. I’d never been on a bike ride this far. Previously, I’d done maybe 300 kilometers over a long weekend trip. To go to Nordkapp would stretch me well over 2000 km. It was a physical challenge, which I’ve always loved. It was also a kind of saying goodbye.

Early one Berlin morning, in June 2013, I rode away. I didn’t think I’d ever see Berlin again and wasn’t sure I even wanted to. I had first moved to Berlin in the summer of 1999. During a 14 years span, I earned 2 additional degrees, drank rivers of Berliner beer, danced in abandoned basements, worked in the German Bundestag, saw old buildings restored and experienced the evolution of the city.