Dear L and P,
From Philippsthal I set out for Fulda, then along the Kinzig river and toward Frankfurt, all bikepathed and bike-routed, even well marked (Bike markers are green-on-white in Germany, sometimes very well and sometimes rather shoddily placed). Before Fulda, you bike along the Ulster, a small river, then on a lovely route called the Kegelspiel, mostly on a former railway track. A fairly new installation, it seems, with rest areas almost like in an American park. Benches, tables and all.
Part of the route before Fulda goes through Naturpark Hessische Rhön. Not entirely flat, but the hills of a human dimension and the downhills exhilarating, like skiing. Rhön is another of these “Mittelgebirge” ranges, famous for Otto Lilienthal who – sorry for the Wright brothers – was the first man to fly on a self-made gliding contraption. After Fulda, you approach the Spessart natural reserve. Again, very pretty, very forested, very fairy-tale. Steinau “an der Strasse” boasts being the birthplace of the Grimm brothers who in the 18th century collected those great tales which are now being sanitized genderized, de-demonized by the woke elements.
After my 100 kilometers, I crashed at Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Marborn, of course again on top of a hill. That evening, people watched the Oscars in the middle of the night. I slept through it but on the next morning some newscasts mentioned Jimmy Kimmel. He referred to the Oscar-nominated German actress Sandra Hüller who played in a movie about the wife of Auschwitz-commander Höss and another one about a wife accused of killing her husband. Serious topics in America, Kimmel said, “In Sandra’s homeland, these are romantic comedies”. I winced.