In Cologne we need to do two things
1)we need to buy a small tent and/or sleeping bag - are there an abundance of places selling this stuff? do supermarkets sell stuff like this?

2)We need to ditch our bikes - I dont want to spend the $100 to ship it back on the plane, the bike itself is ahrdly worth that - what would one suggest if I wanted to sell it - train station?

thanks for your help
-Bill

1) Supermarkets rarely/ hardly ever sell that stuff unless it's part of their weekly changing thematic non-food specials. You will find camping gear and tents either in regular department stores, at some army surplus stores, or at specialized outfitters like "Globetrotter". The latter is a chain in Germany with the Cologne outlet in the city center, at the Olivandenhof mall. It will have a much wider choice than the department stores and is easy to locate.
Address for e maps: Richmodstr. 10, 50667 Köln (or Koeln, or Cologne - depending on what languages your route finder website accepts).


2) I got no clue at all. I cannot remember seeing anyone selling his used bike at a train station. Most people would assume that you just stole it from one of the bike parking lots.

Cowboy thanks so much for your help! Do you have any idea of the cost of a cheap tent in globe trotter? or Karstadt (department store right near there?) We are going on a bike trip starting a week before hand and want as less to carry as possible before heading to belgium for a music festival. However if it's too much (we're converting american currency)it might be better to bring one. thanks!
-bill

Hi Bill,

here´s the website of the online-shop of Globetrotter. The cheapest tents seem to be "Kuppelzelte" (I didn´t look through all offers) and start around 65 Euro.

http://www.globetrotter.de/de/shop/r...e0171633356a33

As for selling bikes: yep, people would probably be slightly puzzled if you tried to sell bikes at the train station. Most people in Germany would probably sell bikes by putting an add into one of the papers which offer that service for free but that´s probably way too complicated if you´re in Cologne just for a short time.

You could try to contact a biking club in Cologne http://www.adfc-koeln.de which might be able to give you an address.

Maybe this shop buys bikes but I´m not sure (and don´t know how the prices would be). Maybe you can send them a mail and ask: http://www.frank2rad.de/

Did you ever look whether it´s possible to rent a bike for your tour?

Cheers, Hans

<<Did you ever look whether it´s possible to rent a bike for your tour?>>

That's been the main problem with planning this trip - it's not possible (at least to my knowledge)to rent a bike in one place and drop it off at another (we're cycling starting in stuttgart, ending in Koblenz where we're taking a train to cologne)I don't want to double back on train cause time is an issue too. I'd rather try and sell it or give it away - or leave it with a note in hopes that someone will somehow reimburse us!it will somehow restore my faith in humanity.

thanks for the advice, i'll look into those links

thanks
-Bill

I would just suggest giving the bike away. It seems to be a hassle to try to sell it with what you are doing.

Hmh, a bike tour with a bad bike can be less than pure fun, if you ask me.

Did you look into organized bike tours where they also transport your luggage? In that case renting a bike and handing it back to the organizer might be simpler. The prize might be the same as buying a bad, used bike.

<<Hmh, a bike tour with a bad bike can be less than pure fun, if you ask me.

Did you look into organized bike tours where they also transport your luggage? In that case renting a bike and handing it back to the organizer might be simpler. The prize might be the same as buying a bad, used bike.>>


Yeah, those tours seem attractive but they're really expensive, something like 1900 bucks - I'm not spending nearly that much even with all accomodation, train travel, a new bike/shipping, etc...
plus I'd feel like I would be cheating if I didn't rough it, at least a little - I bought a cheaper but decent new bike and I'm going to ship it and probably ditch it when i'm done, I just consider it an essential part of the trip - I'll hopefully make some German happy with a free bike