Bielefeld

Bielefeld is a city in the German federal state North Rhine-Westphalia.

Despite a well-known running gag, Bielefeld obviously exists. At least some people say so...

Towards Gütersloh, A33 (towards Paderborn), A2 North or South (Dortmund, Hannover)
You have the option of starting right in the center of the city on the Stadtautobahn (city highway), near the train station. This highway turns into the A33 towards Paderborn and has a crossing with the A2 at Kreuz Bielefeld. Some of the central on-ramps look daunting because they lack stopping space... but people are friendly and Zenit has never had to wait longer than 5-10 minutes for a ride. You'll likely need 2-3 lifts jumping from exit to exit to get to a service area (or, if going towards Paderborn, a parking area -- works); if you're trying to get onto the A2, the last exit before Kreuz Bielefeld is a safe bet.

North-East, South-West towards A2 (Dortmund, Hannover)
You have several options to go onto the A2.
 * Start on the Stadtautobahn: See above
 * Take a tram towards Sieker and get off at the last stop. There is some space to stop cars right behind the traffic lights in direction of A2 (on-ramp BI-Zentrum). You can hitch a ride here all the way along Detmolder Strasse until that point where a road leading to A2 begins. Get out here and walk behind the traffic lights some 50m over the grass until you can stand on the hard shoulder. Wave you thumb and hitch a ride to the motorway. See map for further clarification.
 * Take a bus (350 or 351 towards Bad Salzuflen) and get off at Runkelkrug, right after passing under the motorway. If you turn right and walk on the grass next to the motorway for about five minutes, you end up at the new service station which is called something along the lines of "Lippländer Land". This is a great spot for finding rides up towards Hannover and further up (Hamburg, Berlin). Note: This is a north-bound only service station; across the road there is a parking only!
 * The following are old directions that used to lead you to a highway service station that now has been converted to a parking. It can still be used, but getting here from Bielefeld is rather inconvenient comparing to the option right above. Take a train or a bus to Herford from where you can take a bus to Alten Markt (many bus lines); from there you can take the line #S5 to the bus-stop Tierpark. When at Tierpark, keep on walking to the motorway. When you are in front of a bridge walk right for the service station (now parking) towards Dortmund, and further behind the bridge if heading to Hannover.

North towards Osnabrück, Halle (Westfalen), A33
If going north, this might be the best option: Take a tram towards Brackwede Bahnhof. Get off at that stop, walk across to Brackwede station and the tunnel that underpasses the rails. On the other side of the tunnel, there is a meadow and you can see the road leading out of Bielefeld. There is space for cars to pull over some 100m further on. Additionally, you could ask drivers at the supermarket just next to you, but traffic might be quite local in there.

Sleeping
There is a castle called Sparrenburg on a hill near the center. When you come through the main gate, there is a cozy dark hole/room in the ramparts on your left... probably it gets checked routinely when they close the gate in the evening, but the gate itself is a very simple climbing job and failing that, there is lots of cozy bushes around up there.

Food
In the center, there is a Vapiano branch. Table diving can be done but involves a fair amount of waiting. Good dumpsterdiving has been confirmed in the supermarkets around the S-Bahn stop of Babenhausen-Süd.

Public Transport
Getting onto busses for free is hard, the drivers check for tickets. If many people get on, an old ticket might do the trick. The trams and S-Bahn are easy to blackride, inspections are reasonably rare. Inspectors are known to wear both plain clothes and uniform.

Bielefeld