Freiburg!

Finally arrived in Freiburg. But I am dead. I have no idea how I managed 2 years ago to go up to 130 km a day on the bike, in the mountains. Today I made 95 km and am sure that I will never be able anymore to sit or even to move.
But I arrived in Freiburg and am sitting in the beautiful room from a friend of a friend of a friend :-)

After a night in the really nice YMCA-Hostel Basel (except of a snoring woman..), I started at 9 this morning.

Bye bye, Basel!

The weather forecast had announced only rain, but I was incredibly lucky and only got some very short showers.
The viola on the back is much less annoying than I had thought, and by the way, you always get into conversations with people :-) Nevertheless the extra-weight is more tiring, and the gravel path doesn't make it better...

Beautiful Rhine

 Anyway, the trail along the river is really beautiful. The only thing is, I forgot to check about the water level (who would have thought about that...). The result was that I once had to carry the bike and all the luggage through a river, that was crossing my path - it is usually probably just a rill...

No chance... Carry!

 Conclusion of the day: Don't plan too long stages. I changed the plan for the next days and will start in Freiburg one day earlier than I actually wanted, so already tomorrrow, in order to distribute the distance of 2 days  on 3. Otherwise I probably wouldn't survive, and the people who have to listen to my playing neither ;-)

Let's get started!!

After weeks of preparation and work, finally I start to ride my bike :-) So happy and exited!!

Sorry, no time right now anymore, have to catch the train to Basel, from where I will start tomorrow morning!

Hey there!

Finally, I managed to create an English version of the Blog about my project!

I can't translate everything that I wrote already on the German one, but from now, I try to write on both of them every day :-)

So, first of all...

What am I doing here?!

I am a 23-year-old music student with a passion for Jesus, my Viola, for people around me and for travelling - especially on my bicycle! 

So, what else should I spend my holiday with then to take my bike, go along the Rhine and make Music in favour of people who are less lucky than me in their life.
Middle of may (so only 5 weeks ago!), I got this idea and started to write to people in cities like Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Mainz, Cologne, Dusseldorf... Most of these people I didn't know, but I encountered a lot of open and interested people, who trusted in an obviously totally crazy girl that comes there on a bike and wants to play a concert.

Finally, I managed to get SEVEN Concerts, which is amazing. I will play:

2nd of July in Karlsruhe
3rd of July in Baden-Baden
5th of July in Speyer
11th of July in Mainz
12th of July in Cologne
13th of July in Bonn
and 14th of July in Dusseldorf.

If you want to know the exact places and times, just check on the German Version of the Blog, on the right side!

Besides of the concert occasions, I got E-Mails from people offering me a place to stay, from people who wanted (and did) create flyers and posters, from people who just wanted to tell me that they are impressed from the project and wish me a good tour.


And tonight, it's FINALLY the moment to start!!! :-)
Of course, there are still so many things that need to be organized, the advertising material still didn't reach the concert places... But I am very confident that at the end it will be a very cool time with great encounters and a lot of good impressions and memories. And maybe it won't stay the last action like this ;-)

Just, short, what I am actually playing for: The proceeds of the concerts will go to "Gemeinsam gegen Menschenhandel e.V." (translated: "Together against Human Trafficking"), which is an alliance of different organisations and persons in Germany that are working against Human Trafficking - directly with the victims, or on the political level, or how and where ever.
The topic of Human Trafficking is so important for me, because it's a crime and a shame, that is not only taking place in developing countries, that are fare and we actually don't really know. It's something that is happening here, just in front of our doors. Western Europe and the USA are the most important target countries for Human Trafficking, especially for sex work. The fact and the way how young women, especially from Eastern Europe and Asia, are attracted by a Job in Western Europe such as a Nanny or in the gastronomy, and then kidnapped and forced to horrible sex work, is not acceptable and I want to do my part against it. 

So, I am very happy if you follow in the next weeks, what I am doing and how everything is going. Positive feedback is the greatest and most important motivation for my crazy idea, so just write me, I will write back :-)
And, of course, prayers are never for nothing! :-)