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DATE: JULY 18 -THURSDAY Flew from MSP to Zurich, Switzerland.
The day of the flight I slept as long as I could in my own bed to be
as rested as possible. The flight to Atlanta was scheduled to leave
Minneapolis at 1:05PM. Dave and I were out there at about 10:45AM and
the Lewlica's had already checked in. Not a problem, but McDonough was
last in his typical airport timing fashion. He is proud to say he has
never missed a flight.
At the changeover in Atlanta, I left one of my panniers in the plane.
The attendant came out to our gate with it in hand and gave it to me.
Dave covered for me by saying he personally had packed it in the luggage
rack and that is why I forgot it. I admitted to the group that I must
have had a senior moment.
The flight to Zurich was OK for me, but I didn't sleep at all. Restless
leg syndrome was perfect in it's torture. Just as I went into an early
sleep trance, my legs began craving movement. Away they went and I was
suddenly wide-awake. Oh, well nobody else got more than a couple hours
of sleep anyway so we all started out about even. Pete read a whole book
on the flight.
DATE: JULY 19 -FRIDAY Biked 16 Miles from Zurich Airport to Winterthur,
Switzerland. Perfect weather, sunny and cool.
The plane arrived in Zurich in the late morning and we found a staging
area outside the main airport building and put our bikes together. D'andrea,
came in one hour after we did on a Northwest flight. Mark and Pete own
reusable bike boxes and after unpacking them, brought them to the storage
area in Terminal A. After we had established that Delta would have replacement
boxes for us when we returned, we scrapped our cardboard boxes. Since
my recumbent bike is longer, I contacted the stretch wrap guy and he assured
me that I could transport it wrapped in poly, without using a box.
Our first day we planned to take it easy to help overcome jet lag.
After a successful assembly of the bikes we gingerly exited the airport.
There was much new construction. We began to see very soon how well Jim
could navigate. That day we rode to Winterthur, Switzerland without the
aid of a good map. There was a very long descent and an equally long
ascent on the way. Upon our arrival in Winterthur, we waited while Jim
confirmed the exact hotel location. We were all hungry and had some great
beer and a pretty good diner at an outdoor restaurant. I didn't order
well and ended up with three pieces of pork and French fries. The locals
were very friendly at the nearby tables and wanted to talk to us. They
seemingly haven't had much exposure to tourists, especially Americans.
After dinner we went to our little hotel. The hotel owner was beside
herself with excitement when she saw us. Jim had been talking to her
over the last couple of months and raised her anticipation to fever pitch.
Checking in we noticed they had a nice outdoor/indoor bar. We went to
the rooms to freshen up and then back to the outdoor tables and had a
few more beers. Everyone was very excited at this point and some younger
types in our group stayed up to the wee hours. The 20 or so locals again
seemed to be very friendly and tolerant of our slightly loud behavior.
I had a great night of sleep.
DATE: JULY 20 SATURDAY
Biked 54 miles from Winterthur, Switzerland to the countryside near
Buechen, Austria (on the southeast edge of Lake Constance). Perfect weather,
sunny and cool.
The next morning we took a bunch of pictures with the hotel landlady.
We paid the hotel room off with Visa, which was about $50.00 each. This
fee included a nice breakfast in a glass-enclosed room. The coffee was
very strong. She only prepared 1/3 of a cup at a time.
We launched our group and soon stopped downtown at the bike shop to confirm
our directions toward Lake Constance, (Der Bodensee). Dave noticed
a bulge in his tire and Mark changed it in front of the bike shop. Pete
and I picked up throwaway cameras at the local COOP. The drive through
Winterthur that early morning was very pleasant, not much traffic. We
sailed down to Frauenfeld along the secondary roads. Dave got a flat
that set he and Mark well back. We waited up just across a bridge and
they caught up with us after about an hour. They had had a couple of
flats to deal with, but now were OK. The Walkie-Talkies we brought along
were great and used often; unfortunately in this case they were a little
out of the 2-mile range.
We restarted our bike caravan. The countryside consisted of big hills,
and we snuck through the valleys and were able to avoid going up any hills.
And then we hit the detour. At the detour Jim took us up, up, up to the
town of Berg. I ran out of gas (O2) at the edge of Berg but
Dave and others including Mark had gone on ahead. Jim was re-navigating
our position at the edge of Berg and determined we had better veer back
away from the present heading. Dave got another flat at the top of the
hill and had to try 2 more inner tubes until he got a good one. Mark is
extremely proficient at mechanical activities including changing tires.
After a bit of time all 16 tires were rolling again. For the next 2 hours
we sailed on down to the lake to Romanshorn with the help of a tail wind.
The south edge of the lake was teeming with people. A heavy set woman
scolded some in our group for not having bike bells to warn the pedestrians
that were sharing the trail. The trail along the lake was gravel much
of the way. The 10 or so miles we went along the lake was full of friendly
Germans. We saw two very large dirigibles across the lake. They were
probably flying over Friederichshafen, the town where they were invented.
We didn’t stop for lunch. I ran out of food. To keep me going, D’Andrea
and Dave gave me energy bars. Jim focused in on a campground and after
a long uphill ride we found it. There were no advertisements or markings
so we were lucky again.
We pitched our tents at the edge of an above ground pool. To our north
lay a panoramic view of Lake Constance. We went over to the Gasthause
next door and you guessed it, had a few beers. They didn’t have a full
menu but we had plenty of salad and soup and other appetizers. The owners
were very friendly and spent time talking to us. They said they would
prepare a breakfast for us the next day even though he would only be able
to sleep a couple of hours that night. We all went back to the campground
fairly early that night, but we found out they were selling beer at the
campground, a few of which we drank.
DATE: JULY 21 SUNDAY
Biked 42 miles from Lauterach Austria to Oberstaufen, Germany - Overcast
and rainy weather until 2:00am, then it got warmer with lighter skies
and very light occasional rain.
The breakfast that morning was excellent, with fancy rolls and a perfect
layout of meats and breads. The view of the lake through the large glass
windows was very nice. Ted and Pete had located a Catholic church in
a small nearby town and we attended the 10:00 AM service. There were
3 priests and only about 35 attendees. We sang 6 songs in German without
musical accompanists.
Today was the most challenging day and some thought the best day of biking.
We went fine for an hour or so and then we had to go up a gravel trail
that was very narrow. Only Mark was able to climb it without getting
off the bike. This brought us to very deep woods with huge coniferous
trees that made the road dark. We got up on top and proceeded through
large organized fields, woods and hills. The homes were all beautifully
blended with the countryside. The large tile roofs and tan stucco homes
were perfectly suited to the vistas. It was as though Disney had engineered
a fantasyland, except that is was real.
Climbing hill after hill, and then exciting descents, made a great day
of biking. I was the caboose most of that day. I would get in a little
slower rhythm of my own at the back of the pack. On steep hills I would
get off and walk as briskly as possible. When I came to the top, they
would all offer me encouragement and say that they were glad to have the
breaks to rest up. Ted, who is 67, was able to keep me ahead of me all
day long. He is really tough on the long hills. Pete is totally amazing
since his bike didn’t have low gears and he had to leg power it at low
RPMs. I asked him why he looked so much younger than me while being
about my age, and he replied in his normal humility, that I looked young
too. I noticed he didn’t shave for the rest of the trip so he would look
older, ..like me.
By the time we got to Oberstafen, my legs were burned out. It was an
exhilarating ride but we were all glad it was time to rest. We picked
out a very nice hotel (Kroner-Hof ) using an open-air electronic
kiosk in the center of town and settled in, 2 in a room. After cleaning
up, we biked into the very nice little town and found outdoor seating
at a great restaurant. The beer was outstanding and the Germans around
us were very friendly.
DATE: JULY 22 MONDAY
Biked 45 miles from Oberstaufen to Schwangau. Perfect weather, sunny
and cool.
We had a great breakfast in the hotel served by Helga. “Helga” was a
name we used to refer to a character of a stout smiling German woman.
For some reason it took us a long time to get organized this morning.
The bikes were locked in the garage and we had to wait about a half hour
to get it open.
We finally pulled out and had a very nice ride with not too many hills.
We stopped at a grocery store and picked up bread, sausages and other
health food. The big (man-sized) bottles of Salvator were only
$.59 Euros, which was almost the same as US dollars.
As we approached Fuessen from several miles out, we traversed along a
lake. At one point McDonough and I got a little lost as we got off a
very busy road onto a bike path. Steve took the safer bike path with
me because he is the kind of guy who looks out for everybody. Fortunately
for the Walkie-Talkies, we soon were back in the bunch.
Our great bike trip today took us through Fuessen and out along a bike
path to the parking lot below King Ludwig's Neu Schwanstein castle
(Schloss). We were a little late in the day to do a tour. Jim,
got directions there and we went on a few miles to the campgrounds at
Schwangau.
The campground was packed but they found a place for our 5 tents. We
lined up in a row with a large lake on 2 sides and the castle in view
about 4 miles up the hill. The campground was clean, with plenty of hot
shower water and nice toilet facilities. A young man began speaking to
me in German and he said after a few minutes of not understanding me too
well that he was sorry but he didn't speak platt-duetsch.
When I related that story to Jim, he complimented me with a wry smile,
“Your English is good”.
That evening we biked about 1/2 mile and found a neat restaurant with
an incredible array of flowers in the planters. There we had another
few rounds of beer and a wonderful meal.
At night the campgrounds on our trip were amazingly quiet, nothing like
USA campgrounds.
DATE: JULY 23 TUESDAY
Biked 38 miles from Schwangau to Garmish. Perfect weather, sunny
and cool.
Early in the morning as I sat by the lake it was very still and cool
enough for me to wear my jacket. The sun was shining through a few clouds.
Mark and Pete ran up the mountain to the castle and Dave, D’Andrea and
Ted took their bikes to the same destination. McDonough and I hung around
the campgrounds. It was to be an easy day, our trek to Garmish. I think
we all had the feeling we had met the challenge so far and there was a
more relaxed feeling among the guys.
We sailed along in a draft pattern and really piled up the miles. The
country was beautiful with the rugged Alps at our side. The bike trail
brought us up for a long ways and then through a large dense forest.
We went through Oberamergau and did the grocery store stop for lunch
again. We dined on the sidewalk outside the store.
It was not long till we came to the ride of our lives. The road took
on a winding descent for 3 dangerous miles, where we were going about
30-35 MPH right along with the cars. When we got to the bottom we regrouped.
We were all excited and invigorated to have had so much fun. The next
phase was along a stream next to a shear wall of mountains. There was
a local gentleman dressed in lederhosen and we took some pictures with
him. The trail went through an 8" deep stream that most of us except
McDonough were able to navigate. He ended up with a wet foot.
In Garmish we found a very nice old hotel. The hotel was embellished
with the style of paintings that are known in this area. It was a four-story
building and Dave, D’Andrea, and I got the room at the peak on the 4th
floor. Out our window in the distance we could see the tram going up
the famous Zugspitz. Parts of the mountain had snow patches, which
was the only snow we saw on any mountains on our trip.
We had a great dinner that evening at an outdoor restaurant. They had
a musician inside taking requests, but we conversed so hard we hardly
knew it was going on inside. Ted and I ordered Jagerschnitzel,
and it turned out to be my favorite meal of the trip. Three times that
evening they brought out free of charge, long trays with the shot glasses
of a clear liquid that tasted like a mixture of apples and kerosene.
Our group bravado encouraged us all to call a toast and throw them down,
bottoms up. This style of drinking has the effect of causing one to lose
track of the level of intoxication caused by drinking beer only and hastening
the drunkenness. (Personal Note: never do that again).
To get to our hotel rooms later that evening we had to go through a partition
door on the second floor, but unfortunately were provided only a single
key. When Dave and Steve D’Andrea came home late, they were locked out
and had to wake the hotel manager to gain entrance. This made her a little
unhappy, but we rationalized, the next morning, that she should have given
our large group more than one key. D’Andrea, smitten by drink, laboriously
ate an orange when he got back to the room.
DATE: JULY 24 WEDNESDAY
Train from Garmish to Munich. Perfect weather, sunny and cool to
start, but rain started in Munich at 4:00PM.
Steve D’Andrea, a cool guy who is very meticulous and thorough in his
packing and appearance; strained slightly when getting ready in the morning.
He was not feeling his chipper self, but it was barely noticeable.
We had our usual great breakfast in our picturesque hotel. The bikes
were locked and enclosed in a small adjacent ally. We loaded up our panniers
and had a short ride to the train station.
Our bikes were jammed into one train car for the ride to Munich. Ted
and I managed to find a seat next to an older woman and her grandchildren.
(Our synthetic bike shirts are great for riding, but have a tendency to
hold odor even when washed in the hotel sink with a bar of soap.) The
older lady next to me held her nose. I explained to her daughter sitting
next to her, in my best German that we don't normally smell. (I later
put on my cotton shirt.) She was very nice and we had friendly conversation.
Suddenly her 6-year-old son, who was sitting next to her, exclaimed loudly
in German while pointing to me, "Mother is talking to a man who can't
speak German". (Der Man kann nicht Duetsch Sprecken ). We
laughed (at his naiveté ).
When we arrived we stored our bikes at the very large train station in
Munich. Our most expensive meal of the trip was lunch at an outside cafe.
Ted and I had the Leberkase, which is a fine ground meat/cheese
mixture that looks like Spam. It was great. Our waitress was
very wrinkled, unattractive, grouchy, brusque, bossy and clumsy, but we
liked her anyway. She had a nice smile and pretended to like us.
We walked around Munich and split up at Marionplatz. I found
a store where they had 100's of hand carved statuettes and bought Mona
a real neat "Smoker". There came a downpour at exactly 4:00PM.
We met at 4:30PM and waited for the 5:00PMGlochenspiel to perform.
It lasted about 10 minutes.
Our next stop was the Hoffbrauhaus, the world’s most famous beer
hall. As soon as we sat down, what a coincidence, Michelle and Jill,
2 of Steve McDonough's old girl friends from back home, appeared on the
scene. Steve, who has a very white complexion, turned multiple shades
of pink. He groaned to himself and began drinking from his mug in a nervous
manner. He did finally move between them so they could lavish their
attention on him. Later, Jill selected me as a polka partner. I told
her I didn't know how, but she insisted. We went out in front of several
hundred people and I rhythmically jumped up and down occasionally stepped
on her feet. We finished 2 tunes and sat down and she didn't speak to
me any more that evening.
Our hotel in Munich was not extravagant, but more than adequate. I had
the single room, with only a sink and no toilet. The toilet was down
the hall and the shower was downstairs. Even cheap hotels are clean and
neat in this part of the world.
DATE: JULY 25 THURSDAY
Train from Munich to Ulm. Biked 42 miles from Ulm to Biberach and
then to Schweinhaus - Slight overcast, cool and a little rain.
After eating the same breakfast we have had for each day of the trip,
we were off to the Banhof (depot) to pick up our bikes and get
on the train. This time in preparation for boarding, we spread out, 2
bikes per car so as not to be too clumped together. Ted and I were at
the back end of the train and had a little difficulty explaining to the
conductor that our group Fuerher Jim, who was in another car, had
the tickets. The ticket takers take their jobs seriously. He finally
said "kein probleme and went on his way.
Not being in direct communications with the rest of the group, we made
a good guess on where to exit for our connection, at Augsburg. I had
to find a toilette pronto and when I got back to the platform,
everyone and my bike was gone. I panicked for about a minute and then
caught a glimpse of Dave. I ran to the tunnel under the tracks and caught
up to them and we boarded the next train to Ulm.
We had a little snack in the train station when we arrived in Ulm.
We then peddled down main street to the square by a church, whose
161meter steeple is the tallest of any in Europe. Everybody except Ted
and I decided to take the hour-long climb to the top of the steeple.
The church was very large and beautiful and we enjoyed a short walk around
its statutes and alters. [There is a town called Neu Ulm near Ulm. Mona,
my wife is from New Ulm, MN, but her ancestors there were not actually
from Ulm, or Neu Ulm Germany.]
Because of the lack of information on Jim's bike maps on road construction,
the ride out of Ulm was circuitous. Eventually a local biker who had
first scolded us for blocking the path offered to help. After (rapid)
talking to Jim, he sold himself on personally leading us out of the city
on a route that took us along the Danube River.
We had a fast ride with hardly any hills all the way to Biberach.
Biberach is the beautiful little town where Jim had worked 9 years
ago just after he got out of college. Jim’s friend and ex-co-worker,
Wolfgang Bruenig, lived 6 miles out. We rode through a cool rain and
I stopped to put my raincoat on and as usual got way behind. We got to
Wolf’s large house in Schweinhaus (pig-house), and pulled into
the tuck under garage.
That evening we were entertained in high style. Wolf spoke English quit
well, with a slight English accent and explained that we were in Ober
Schwabia. The people here are known to be not too friendly, quiet,
and a little snobbish. He brought out a variety of beers in a wicker
basket and emphasized that he had Dunkle Wiese, a favorite of this area,
-which Dave and I drank. After diner Jim and Wolf went back to Biberach
and checked the train connections. Their preliminary report was that
we couldn't put our bikes on any trains in Biberach.
That evening we sat around and talked to Wolf, his wife and his very
lovely daughter. They were the best hosts imaginable. They allowed us
to use the showers and at bedtime spread all us over the house with our
sleeping bags. That night after a few hours of sleep, I woke in a panic
"What if we have to bike to Lake Constance! We won't make the plane
scheduled out of Zurich"? Our Price-line tickets gave us
no flexibility to re-schedule. I laid awake in a cold sweat the rest
of the night.
DATE: JULY 26 FRIDAY
Bike 6 miles from Schweinhaus to Biberach, train to Friedrichschafen
and then bike 36 miles to
Frauenfeld, Switzerland- Overcast, cool and a little rain.
First thing in the morning when I got my bags together, I pulled Jim
aside and expressed my concerns. He went downstairs, talked to Wolf and
they made another communication to the Biberach Bahnhof. Fortunately
they figured out a train that we could take to Friedrichshafen. What
a relief!!! We'll make it home after all.
Our train left at 10:30 AM so we had a leisurely bike ride into town.
The train ride was over in a flash and we had snacks at the depot in Friedrichschafen.
Friedrichschafen is on the north shore of Lake Constance. It was raining
lightly but we had a great ride along the lake with lots of vineyards.
D’Andrea triggered at stop along the bike trail to eat the wild, delicious,
black berries.
After a couple of hours of biking we were in Meersburg. We found a grocery
store and had our normal health food lunch of cheese sausages and bread.
In Meersberg we visited the oldest castle in Europe, which is about 1000
years old. It was on a hill surrounded on 3 sides by the lake. We bought
a coded self-guided tour sheet (printed in English) of the castle, and
visited all the rooms. It was a very interesting visit.
After the castle we biked onto the ferry for the 30-minute traverse across
Lake Constance to the city of Konstanz. Dave opened a bottle of local
wine he had just bought and we drank it as we sailed. Immediately as
we came off the boat, we climbed a long arduous hill. The wine took its
toll on our legs. A few miles out of Konstanz after more long hills,
we re-entered Switzerland. Since it was a little later in the day than
normal we sailed hard for the last part of our journey through Frauenfeld
and on to the campsite.
The campsite was small and quiet. The Swiss campers were very friendly
and immediately wanted to take pictures with us. Coincidently there was
an excellent local beer available in the usual 1-liter man's sizes, which
we drank. Dave arranged to get some brats and sausages for cooking on
the open wood fired grill. I took a great shower in a stall where you
had to put in Swiss Francs for hot water.
That evening we met the president of the local camping league and his
very garrulous wife. They helped us enjoy a bonfire cookout of brats
and beer. Even I noticed that their German sounded quit different from
the Bavarians with whom we have been conversing of late.
DATE: JULY 27 SATURDAY
Bike 41 miles from Frauenfeld, to Zurich, Switzerland- Partly cloudy
and cool.
Our last day of biking was entirely on secondary roads with designated
bike areas on the shoulders. We were moving a little faster than normal.
The ride took us up a long hill coming out of Winterthur. When we arrived
at the airport it seemed infinitely more familiar than when we first arrived
10 days ago. Except for Pete and Mark we all picked up our new large
corrugated bike boxes from the Delta counter. Pete and Mark had stored
their reusable plastic boxes at the airport. We took our bikes apart
and packed them loosely in the boxes and then brought them over to the
airport storage area in Terminal A.
We then took the shuttle to the Formula 4 hotel. The hotel was
only $15.00 per person and was very utilitarian. The showers or toilet
were conveniently located across the hall. Ted and Pete stayed at the
up-scale hotel next door where they had showers in the rooms.
We lazed around in our rooms and had a couple of beers from the vending
machine. Later we had a pretty good buffet dinner at the hotel. It included
chocolate dessert and coffee, which I ate and drank.
DATE: JULY 28 SUNDAY
Fly from Zurich, Switzerland to Minneapolis, MN
Picked up the shuttle at 7:15 AM to the Terminal A storage area. We
loaded up all the bike boxes on a flat cart and hauled them off to the
ticket line. Delta nicked us $75.00 to transport the bikes on the plane,
something we had avoided on our way over. Our flight lifted off at 12:45
PM, 2.5 hours late. This caused us to worry about making the connection
in Atlanta.
Pete read a 400+ page novel on the flight back, he’s the high IQ type,
but modest as the dickens about it. It took us a long time to get the
boxes in Atlanta and they were beat up. It looked like somebody had torn
them apart to search for the loose items floating around inside. We all
got through customs without anyone having to open up. They booked us
on the next flight home since we missed the one we were scheduled. We
got home at about 9:00PM, three hours late and very tired.
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