Day 31: Bruce's Birthday!!! July 31

It's Bruce's birthday!!! So we are taking a rest day at Marcus and Yolanda's! Yay!!! We Slept in and woke up in the beautiful room they put us in in their B&B, Alegria. They made us breakfast and gave Bruce a birthday bread with candles to blow out for breakfast!! We had a great rest day at Alegria of blogging, napping, lunching, and playing ukulele. In the evening, we went to an early August 1st celebration at Yolanda's sister's farm with the whole village of Holziken. They had a big grill, politician speeches to the town people, a huge bonfire and fireworks. Yolanda showed us around the farm while Marcus practiced with the band.

Marcus expertly played the bass drum in the traditional Swiss band. All the little kids had lanterns and sang. We even sang the Swiss national anthem. It's pretty good. The mayor of the town and one of the politicians we heard speak is is Yolanda's brother in law, so that was cool. Both Bruce and I think that Swiss German is to German as Scottish is to English. They sound so similar in pace and intonation it is crazy!!! What a great day to have with a big bonfire for Bruce's and Switzerland's birthday.

The World is Ours!!

Day 30: To Marcus and Yolanda's July 30

Bad Zurzach to Marcus and Yolanda's house in Lostorf 38 Miles

Started today off with coffee in the morning from the gas station down stairs from our hotel. We cycled off but quickly found that Bruce's brakes were rubbing. When we fixed the brake problem we found a chain problem on Bruce's bike. The connector link in Bruce's bike chain was loose and the pin holding it in was crooked. So we used our tools to fix it. Straightening the pin and clamping the chain link. We continued along bike route 2 to Koblenz. No real issue with the brakes or the chain. But when we saw a bike shop, we pulled over to get the chain checked out by a professional. After some, English/German/Bike Lingo conversation we had the nice bike guy tighten the chain and fix the pin. We also found CO2 cartridges for our inflator. We paid the man and thanked him for his help and headed off. Cycled off and over the bridge for the last time in Germany. We were heading for a little gas station shop when Bruce's chain totally snapped ( right after he said how great it felt). So we spent a few Euros on a coke and candy bar and walked back over the bridge and back to the bike shop in Switzerland. Turns out that after removing the now very bent link on the original chain, the chain was too short no matter how he adjusted it, so he had to put a new chain on. He didn't charge us much more for the new chain since I think he felt bad that it broke right out the door (even though it wasn't his fault) so we thanked him again and off we went. Without issue this time. After jumping off the Rhine, we started up the Aare River. It is turquoise green. Really cool. Over the hills, we saw a huge long conveyor belt going up into the hills from the river, turns out it is a rock conveyor. We also saw a molecular research facility that we think had a collider since that had s funny looking round building. So we stopped in the edge of the Aare for lunch and cooked scrambled eggs with pancetta and cheese with sliced tomato... Beautiful scenery and good food on a lovely day, what could be better? After washing our dishes in the Aare (and feeding the little fishes at the edge with our scraps), we continued on. Passed some military barracks and basic training (we saw guns and gas masks and we were in fluorescent yellow)... We looked like target practice for the new recruits... Ya know... Just outside of Aarau, we met a nice helpful man who asked if we needed help and so we asked him if he knew a nice cafe or place to get coffee. He led us to an outdoor cafe for an afternoon coffee and ice cream break, which was so nice of him!!! There were tons of wasps at the cafe but the coffee and ice cream were good, so we paid and headed off. Then we met the nice man again and he directed us on a route through the woods to Lostdorf that he said would be better. We got to chatting and turns out that he lived in Lynn!!! He worked for General Electric and lived in the town right next door to Salem for a couple of years... Many years ago. But how cool is that? Such a small world!!!

An aside: Andrea loves swans. They are so regal and majestic slowly floating in the water usually in pairs or with their baby cygnets. So we had some bread left over from lunch. Andrea used it to feed a couple of swans so she could take pictures. So we took pictures of swans. For your information, swans are only majestic and regal from a very great distance! They are mean and ugly beasts that hiss and gurgle when you run out of bread rolls to feed them!!! They are huge and damn intimidating! I think that the makers of Jurassic Park used swan aggressive sounds for some of their dinosaur sounds. Not doing that again... Soon... Well maybe just once more....

Got to Marcus and Yolanda's after a climb through the woods. They had just gotten home as well from a 2 week cycling tour with their nieces. They are very cool. Turns out they have a lovely B&B! So they showed us around, gave us a lovely room, and made us a fabulous dinner. We had wine from Marcus' uncle's vineyard and Rivella (think Swiss IRNBRU but slightly less orange). They are such a lovely couple and so generous!!!   We are staying with them tomorrow for a rest day and a Swiss National Day celebration in their home town tomorrow. It is Bruce's birthday tomorrow too!!! Good day to take a rest day.

The World is Our!!

Day 29: Rainy Day in Switzerland July 29

Steckborn to Bad Zurzach Switzerland - 52 mile

It rained overnight, so the tent was a bit wet when we woke up. Andrea decided to try drying the tent with the hand dryer in the ladies bathroom. It worked! Yay! We got out on the road by 8am. Leaving that early meant we needed to find some breakfast and coffee. We found a perfect little cafe right over the tracks about 4 miles down the road. We had cappuccino and Swiss pastries with walnut and almond fillings. They even had complimentary croissants on the table. So we took advantage of that! Yum! We found our first Ovamatine drink! This is a chocolate milk kind of like Nesquick over here but get also make cookies and a crunchy chocolate spread that we fell in love with the last time. Yay!!! The path we were following today ( the Swiss route number 2) was supposed to be an easy route. There were lots of people on this bike path including lots of families with little kids and bike trailers. What was weird though was that this route wasn't so easy. We got really frustrated with the ups and downs, busy roads, bad surfaces, circular intersections that this path is taking us on. We even got a bit nervous for some of the families on the busy twisty downhills. But then at other times the path was a beautiful wide paved cycle way, nicely graded, and totally lovely. WTF? All in all, it turned out to be really pretty and nice but the variation from town to town wasn't expected. We saw lots if grape vineyards. Some that went straight up (and down ) some VERY steep hillsides. We wonder how they harvest the grapes at such a grade. It was really overcast and rainy today. So we kept taking shelter when the rain got heavier. Once in a barn, once under a bridge in Schaffhausen. Under the bridge we met a nice cycle tourist who had just started his tour today! We chatted until the rain slowed and then headed off to do some grocery shopping. In the city of Schaffhausen, we found a Swiss adapter plug at a Spar grocery store! We forgot that the Swiss have different plugs than the rest of Europe. Now we have a 2 tiered adapter: American to European, and European to Swiss... Only a little dangerous but we will keep an eye on it. On our way to the Rhinefalls, we found another diversion on the bike path... We got half way up the diversion and realized we were climbing something steeper than the Harz mountains, so we said" hell no !", turned around and broke through another diversion zone... This one was due to erosion but it wasn't so bad. Just a bit muddy. After diversion hopping we were back up to the higher elevations. From our view the hills looked like the misty mountains in the Rhine valley with wisps of clouds dipping down between the green hills. We crossed an International Covered bridge over the Rhine with customs offices at either side back into Germany and out again... Because Bruce really wanted to. We actually went in and out of Germany and Switzerland several times including the exclave of Germany called Busingen. That was cool. We pedaled until Bad Zurzach and found a guest house. We had wanted to camp but with it having rained all day, we knew the ground would be wet and we didn't want to deal with that. Not the nicest place we have stayed but it would have been a lot better if they didn't encourage swallows to nest in their court yard. Swallows are very dirty birds and they spray their bird poop all over the walls and floors of wherever they are, so this courtyard was totally smeared with bird shit over every surface. So we decided to carry our bikes up into the room with us, even though the room was on the 2nd floor. We didn't want to take any chances. We had dinner and will hopefully get a good nights rest while all our stuff dries out over night.

The World is Ours.

Day 28: From Salem to Switzerland July 28

Salem- into Switzerland - Steckborn - 32 miles

Spent the morning getting some home business done like banking and emails on the camping wifi. We are taking a half day so it was okay to wait until 10am to leave. Set off with a head wind again... Grrr... But today is a half day so it is okay. Pedaled into Meersberg and took the big ferry over into Konstanz on the Bodensee (Lake Constance). Fun being on the water. Bruce's dad, John, called us while we were in the middle of the lake! He is awesome! We love that our family can follow us on our trip. After the ferry, we hopped on the bike path into Konstanz. Poor surface on a very busy bike path... Meh... But it's a half day so it's okay! Bruce navigated us through the streets of Konstanz back the the same border station that we crossed before on the last trip to Istanbul. We saw the doner kebab place we ate last time we crossed at the same border station. How cool! At the border, we got our passports stamped into Switzerland even though you don't have to do that anymore. The border guard/customs office guy was very nice. And then off into Kreuzlingen to hunt for a Swiss SIM card to make our phones work in a new country. Bruce was very successful in a mall we found and got us up and going in about an hour. But it is okay... Because this is a half day... Finally we set off pedaling into Switzerland. There are all new crops of veggies to pilfer in Switzerland; fennel, zucchini, kale, and the usual corn and wheat. Can't wait for my first pilfered fennel salad. I have red wine vinegar in the kitchen bag ready to go!(Joany will understand). We pedaled some more until we found a Campingplatz on the River Rhine. When checking in to the camp ground, Andrea used her passport and got called Fräulein Aeschlimann, since the lady recognized her name as a Swiss name. Yay! After setting up the tent, we went swimming in the Rhine. The camping place had some swimming and diving platforms set up and even had a huge blow up climbing wall the shape of an iceberg in the water. So of course we tried to climb the inflatable iceberg and failed... What do you want? We are cyclists and dancers... We have no upper body strength to speak of... We swam ashore and made dinner. Had a beer/glass of local wine at the restaurant cafe. When we went to take showers we realized that Swiss electrical outlets are different than the rest of Europe...damn... Now we need to find an another adaptor... Drizzling now... Time for bed... Good job today. Even though it was a half day.

The World is Ours!

Day 27: To Salem Two July 27

Buxheim to Salem 51 miles

We broke 1000 miles today!Started the day by wheeling the bikes across a train bridge with two flights of stairs up and two down to enter Baden Wurtenburg. Cycled for a while until we were in the trees. It smelled like pine trees and strawberries. This is a scent that would never work in an air freshener but is amazing fresh in the cool air. We had a head wind ALL DAY!!! About 10 to 35 mph all day. The whole day was really slow and hard. Glad we pushed it yesterday but glad we went no further since we saw very few opportunities for guest houses by the way nor any grocery stores until exactly 5 miles before the campsite. A high point of today was Bruce romantically pilfering an apple for me at the top of the steepest hill. We also pilfered blackberries. Finally, we made it to Salem number 2 on the trip!!! We are camping at a very nice campsite in Salem. Then the usual; we made dinner, set up the tent, washed and hung clothes, played the uke... What a life.

They had ponies (very small dwarf horses) at the campground in like a petting zoo area. At sunset, I saw ponies playing on the hillside, tails and manes unfurling behind them, under a lilac an pink sky. What a way to end the day.

The World is Ours!

Day 26: Longest day so far! July 26

Augsburg to Buxheim 59 miles

We knew we were going to have a head wind tomorrow so we are going to push it today. We want to get to Salem tomorrow which is about 110 miles away so the further we cycle today, the less we will have to cycle in a head wind and possible rain tomorrow. We crested several river valleys today. But each valley, while really flat, kept increasing in elevation. So we would climb and climb the long shallow side and then come back down into the valley, cross that valley (relatively flat) and the up and over the next side of hills or mountains, always higher than the one before. We had our first sighting of the Alps combining into our 3rd river valley, up on the ridge we see these blue spires jutting up into the sky, piercing the clouds. They humble you after climbing only 100 meters in elevation. When these mountains look like thousands of meters high. This is really beautiful country. We also had some good purple plum pilfering. Love having a tall husband who can jump up and get the stuff no one else can!!! There was a Campingplatz right next to the guesthouse we booked earlier in the day but overnight forecast is for rain and we hate losing morning hours ( before the wind picks up) drying a wet tent. So we went for the guest house. As we walked in the door, we were greeted by an English man as our host. Andrea almost didn't understand him at first since he didn't have a German accent! His name is Kevin. Weird hearing an English a vest and Dr Who references as we walk up to our room. We went to dinner next door at a big open air restaurant. We had dinner on the Terrace with the biggest great Dane we have ever seen!!! Random, I know but this thing was bigger than many of the ponies we have seen on our trip so far! Andrea got schweinbroten for dinner which is a Bavarian specialty and since we are leaving Bavaria tomorrow... We finished today at 59 miles! That we a long day but good for us. It was good weather, good terrain, and good work to try to avoid harder work tomorrow. We are starting to get the hang of this.

The World is Ours!

Day 25: Off from Pfaffenhofen! July 25

Pfaffenhofen to Augsburg 43 miles

Started off the day with a great breakfast with Friedrich after over sleeping... You know... Walking around Munich and finishing up with grapa... We needed the rest. Then we went down to the bike shop to pick up Tonka and Tractor. We got a ride from their neighbor Michael in his cool orange diesel BMW. We rode the bikes back and started packing up ready for another day. After a few photos, taken by another neighbor, all three of us headed off with Friedrich in the lead. We took photos and saw hops growing. Friedrich planned a good morning route with only one hill into Schrobenhausen. We stopped there, had a cappuccino, went to the grocery store and said good bye to our friend as he pedaled off with a tail wind. We, on the other hand, had a headwind for the next 30 miles. It was cool and lovely but the 20-30mph head wind slowed us down a lot. No Warm Showers people got back to us or the ones who did were not available or in France, so Bruce did a great job navigating us to the campsite we found while sipping cappuccinos earlier. We walked to the lidl for dinner supplies and Sunday supplies because everything will be closed tomorrow. The walk took a really long time as it was 2.5km and not close by as campingplatz guy said, but hey exercise is good for you right? We made a great dinner back at the campsite and are now frantically trying to catch up on blogging after our adventurous rest day yesterday. Hope the group of 50 teenagers in our campsite doesn't keep us up tonight.

The World is Ours!

Day 24: Gemütlichkeit and Munich July 24

Rest day today! A day off the bikes touring around Munich with Friedrich as tour guide ( he worked in Munich for many years and would cycle to and from the train station on his folding bike through the English gardens every day...) So he was pretty qualified to show us around the city. Over the course of the day we saw four grand catholic churches; ate weisswurst with sweet mustard; drank beer; watched the Glockenspiel dance; listened to an Oompa band in the Hofbräuhaus; went shopping; saw the King's gardens; toured an open air fruit and veggies ( obst und gemüse) market in the middle of the city; had Indian food for lunch; toured a new museum about Munich's relationship to National Socialism in Germany between the end of WWI and the end of WWII; chilled at a cafe; got various proteins to cook for dinner; and took the train twice (once into and once out of the city). All while Friedrich explained the historical context of each building, food, music, and cobble stone! Wow! I have to say that Carola met us for lunch and we had a lovely time walking with her through the old botanic gardens and planning our shared apartment in the penthouse floor of a fantastic building overlooking them. When we got home, Bruce and I pulled out our camp chairs and stove to help cook and demonstrate the use of our very cool bike/camp equipment since Friedrich and Carola had asked before about them. We all made a delicious dinner of lamb, beef, calamari, sausage, and veggies from Carola's garden. We played some ukulele and sang together. Later they invited their neighbors, Michael and Gabby, over for some more interesting conversation and fun. We didn't get to bed before 11pm or before the whisky and grappa came out. We learned the word gemütlichkeit in German which had no direct translation except for when you are at a party with friends and everyone is happy and chill. When all of your friends are comfortable, well fed and watered, and having a good time... That is gemütlichkeit. (Pronounced: Ge-mood-lick-ite)Good word! We learned so much in one day and walked all over an historic city neither of us had been to. Great time! Thank you Friedrich and Carola!

The World is... awesome!

Day 23: Holy Hops July 23

Abensberg to Pfaffenhofen 36 miles

You know how we said it was hot yesterday? Well it was so hot in the hotel room that we woke up dehydrated in the middle if the night and then again in the morning. Hate that!

Feels like you already cycled 50 miles and you haven't even had breakfast yet. Thankfully it was an overcast day and much cooler, great cycling weather! We had some interesting road construction in a town called Bad Gogging. We had to ride through a large unregulated construction zone... Yay! It got a little hilly again when we came inland off the Danube. As we came down a small hill into a little town thus incredibly loud noise came up behind us, it was almost decennial as it got closer and then it flew right over us. A fighter jet had flown right overhead and as Andrea tried to figure out what was making the extreme noise behind us an equity big and loud truck turned the corner right in front of us! Eek!!! A bit of a scare on all fronts. Bruce, on the other hand, knows the sound of fighter planes and was more excited to figure out what type it was and where it came from... He however also did not see the huge truck... After a few deep breaths and some quiet swearing, we were off again... Although we kept checking the sky. In our vigilance, we started seeing these two story tall vines that just had to be HOPS!!! Little did we know we were cycling into the hops capital of Germany. They are huge climbing vines in their hops gardens, lush dark green with tiny light green hops flowers. Totally cool. As we were pedaling along we were greeted by a big group of adorable young deer in a fences in area, lounging in the sun and munching the grass. It must have been a breeder because all of the deer were young and many still had their spots like Bambi! One came right up to the fence to demand treats for being gawked at, so we took pictures but didn't feed the domesticated wildlife. The deer was incredibly cute and had massively long eyelashes! Who knew? We finally made it to Pfaffenhofen to Friedrich's house after faffing around in the city center finding out way through the winding streets. The bike path was closed as part of a garden festival construction. We met his lovely wife Carola. Friedrich and Bruce took the bikes down to the local bike shop for a tune up. Tonka is getting a mani-pedi for the second half of the trip. While the boys were out, Andrea and Carola did laundry. Thank you Carola!!! Then we all headed out in the car ( totally weird to be moving without pedaling) to a town a few miles away called Schrobenhausen. While they went for a quick meeting, Bruce and I got a chance to walk around this beautiful old town with much of its original wall still intact and called mum and Aunty Judy before they left on their own adventure, cruise time! Then we all went out for a relaxed dinner at a beer garden. Have we said how much we love schnitzel? Rest day tomorrow at Carola and Friedrich's and they are taking us into Munich! Sightseeing by foot and train!

The World is Ours!

Day 22: Super Scortcher! July 22

Pielenshofen to Abensberg 43 miles

First off, we got Andrea's passport back... Phew!!! Paid for camping, had to dry the tent from the dew, returned beer bottles and got pastries in return, and finally set off at 9am. We had our first successful plum pilfering of purple plums this morning. A landmark if any European trip. Still waiting on the apples though... Went into Regensberg, which is a historic old city partially built by the Romans. We saw the grand gothic church and had s pizza at 10:30 in the morning. The old Roman stone bridge under scaffolding, but we wound our way down narrow alley ways and one way streets, seeing little hidden gems in our hour or two in the city. But cities are very crowded and loud, so we set off again after not too long and found our way back to the Donau Radweg along the Danube River. It was like an old friend. Flat, wide, easy to ride and fun! There are so many other touring cyclists loaded just as much it more than we are, it makes you feel less like a weirdo on a monster truck of a bike. This part of the Radweg was a bit dusty and we were sweating immensely from the scorching heat. Let's say we got a bit road dirty today. Along the river there are limestone cliffs. Today, there were fossils just sticking out of the limestone cliffs. Andrea's urge to pilfer was strong but was overcome when Bruce reminded Andrea that whatever she pilfers she carries... Grrr... It was a Super Scorcher today with temps in the high 90s Fahrenheit. The water bottles were hot enough to make tea, ala Uzbekistan 2011. After going a bit too far and missing our initial bridge over the river, we lucked out and found a grocery store just off the path. We got a 4 pack of Magnum icecream bars that were delicious but 4 rich icecream bars covered in chocolate is way too much icecream any day, but especially when you are over heated, profusely sweating, and exercising for 6-8 hours. Little tummy ache for both of us on that one. We ended up in Abensberg which turns out to be a fancy little town, we would even call it swanky with a repainted/new interiored historic down town with restaurants and shops and pricey hotels. There was even a lederhosen and dirndl shop in the square. After asking some locals, we found Hotel Garni down by the train station. The hotel had and Indian restaurant on the first floor and loud decor. It was the least expensive of the hotels, so we got a room. The room turned out to be incredibly hot with little air movement, so we went down stairs for dinner which was very good. Not to mention they finished off dinner with a shot of mango schnapps! Yum. Then out for a walk around town to get some fresh air as the temperature finally began to lower, just a little, as the sun set. There was an incredibly weird tower in town at the brewery, designed by a very famous artist and architect that we had never heard of. Then back to our room to try and get some sleep in the stifling heat. Tomorrow we are off to see our friend Friedrich in Pfaffenhofen.

The World is Ours!