Due to a bout of bad luck with the van (the driver-side window was smashed in not once, but twice in a 12 hour period in the hotel’s parking lot) we learned that Mercedes dealerships in Germany offer their customers free drinks and food. (Perhaps they do this outside of Germany too, but I’m not sure as I have never visited a Mercedes dealership before.) This is a nice perk which almost offsets the inconvenience of hanging around waiting to get your car fixed.

Overall, Germany is the largest exporter in the world and boasts the largest economy in Europe (while ranking third on a global scale). Its largest industry is car making, which comprises about 20 percent of total German exports. Given the speed at which people drive on the autobahn (which in many sections allows for speed as you like), it’s a good thing they have high quality vehicles. Nonetheless, we try to remind our 19 year-old British driver Kayleigh (who has quickly mastered right-side-of-the-road driving having previously never driven outside the UK) that when in Germany, it is not necessary to always do as Germans do.

Bremen, where we stayed in a poorly ventilated Mercure hotel, is the termination point of Germany’s Fairy-tale Road, which stretches 600km to the south from Hanau (near Frankfurt). In the early 19th century, the Grimm Brothers traveled through this region collecting and compiling stories as told by the local people. Fairy tales like Snow White, Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Rumplestilzchen, and Hansel and Gretel trace their origins to this region. A statue in Bremen’s center square pays tribute to the story of the Bremen Town Musicians, based on a donkey, hound, cat and rooster who befriend each other and prove that their collective power far exceeds their individual strengths.

As Blue Planet Run unfolds across Europe (and soon Asia), we pay tribute to the many minds and hands that conspired to make this event possible. Like the Bremen Town Musicians, our ability to combat the overwhelming safe drinking water crisis depends not on how fast each of us runs or how many miles we cover, but rather depends on how well we pool our ideas, our commitment and our resources. As we recite at each exchange point every 90 minutes:
“…We run to tell a story that begins with suffering but that ends with hope. We run to include you in this story. You are the solution. Commitment is our only obstacle. We run to tell a story that ends like this: 20 years from now we will have joined together to bring water—to bring life—to 200 million people in the world...”

Certainly, the task at hand is gargantuan. But given the support and energy thus far, from DOW and DOW employees, from Ignition, from the journalists and press agencies, from the friends and families and thousands of others across the globe who have and continue to voice their support, I have no doubt that we will meet this vision.