Azin (my wife) and I celebrating my arrival in Frankfurt in front of the European Central Bank (ECB).

10th and final day of Tour de Satoshi: arrival at the ECB in Frankfurt!

4 min readJan 13, 2019

It’s been 10 days since I left Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence to make my way through to the ECB in Frankfurt. Upon arrival, I was truly delighted to see my wife, best friend and bitcoin enthusiasts who had followed my tour, welcoming me with open arms and hot tea.

Arriving video: https://youtu.be/Mx6OIrnNuSs

Here, in the background, I could already see the financial district of Frankfurt distinguishable by its well-known high-rises.

Cycling on day 10 was a pure formality after the days I had put behind me: 90 km on flat terrain without — wait for it — ANY SNOW!

I think I spent more time, however, stopping and waiting behind red lights than I did pedaling and moving. I probably stood behind more red lights in this one day than all the other 9 days of cycling combined. The street from Heidelberg to Frankfurt (called B3) must win the contest for the street with the most useless traffic lights ever. I had a lot of time to think while I was waiting behind these lights but mostly searching for a logical reason for all these unnecessary traffic lights and the only conclusion that I could come to is that there must be a large regional traffic lights producer nearby because otherwise it just wouldn’t make any sense. Anyways…

After my arrival, we commemorated the occasion with dinner and drinks at the Oosten with interesting conversations that carried on through the night. The evening ended around 11pm but only so that we (my wife, best friend and I) could check in to the place we were renting for the night.

So after more than 1000 km and 10,000 meters of altitude in icy cold winter weather through 5 countries over the Alps (complete fact sheet below), I am truly thankful for this unforgettable experience. Throughout this journey, I was surprised that almost everybody with whom I spoke to had heard of bitcoin and many people also acknowledged that it is the next step in the evolution of sound money. Looking back a few years ago, this wasn’t the case and now the younger generation especially believe of bitcoin’s positive impact for the future of humanity.

While the cycling was challenging enough, finding hotels to host me for bitcoin was another but necessary layer of complexity and I loved how well people received me and my challenge with friendly and supportive vibes.

This journey has strengthened my belief in an open, neutral, censorship-resistant, decentralized and borderless form of money for humanity which I believe, will probably end up being bitcoin.

If you want to support me continuing what I am doing to create awareness for bitcoin with team satoshi, here’s my btc (segwit) wallet address:

bc1q87jy2c28snel5tj3c5q94fdfuy9xwhl0ljlysn

Or my btc (legacy) wallet address:

1P3UwoDLhqJZbkYiZuKQZrmZvbB2GssLB

Thank you all for tuning in and reading my stories. I feel thankful, honored and humbled by all the positive energy and love that I have received from you guys.

With gratitude. Peace.

Vitus

Tour de Satoshi fun facts:

10 days and about 50 hours of cycling

1000 kilometers

10,000 meters of altitude

Florence, Vergato, Cremona, Lecco, St. Moritz, Chur, Bregenz, Riedlingen, Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Frankfurt

18 bitcoin donations received

50+ hotels scouted from which 7 accepted to host me for bitcoin

Highest mountain pass 2284 meters

Coldest temperature -10 degrees Celcius

5 days of snow, 4 snow storms, 1 day of rain