Fri. 6-29 Regensburg, to Bogen

After nine days of riding, we decided the night before to take  a day off Thursday at Regensburg. It is an interesting city and we were due for a break. Good choice: it rained all day; the first bad weather we'd seen. We took a tram tour of the old city (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), visited Kepler's birthplace, strolled around the city in rain jackets, saw the cathedral and its treasury (including a vestment robe made in 1050) and generally took it easy. Germany is in mourning: their soccer team, ranked #1 in the world, was eliminated in the first round of the World Cup tournament.

Today, Friday, one last shower came in while we were at breakfast, but the rest of the day was fine. Our route was nearly all on paved paths and roads, with no hills to climb, so we made good time and enjoyed the ride. By lunchtime we had reached our daily goal of the city of Straubing, so we rode a bit further to the quiet town of Bogen. Above the town is a church where pilgrims come every Pentecost Sunday and carry a 110 pound candle up the hill to the church. If they drop the candle it portends war, pestilence and deprivation. The last two times the candle was dropped were 1913 and 1937. Hmm.

We're settling into the touring routine and enjoying it. Good weather, good route to ride, interesting towns and people, who wouldn't enjoy it?

The picture of Regensburg is from a stone bridge built in the 1200's.

Wed. 6-27 to Regensburg

Another fine weather day.

The route was right along the river, except for a little winding through the town, and it made for enjoyable riding. We saw the first large vessel in the river, a powered barge heading downstream faster than we were riding.

The riding event of the day was following a cycling sign to Regensburg which led us astray from the river route. It was a shortcut across a loop of the river, but it took us over some very steep hills. With the help of Garmin and local advice, we swooped back down to the river and on to Regensburg the right way. A few drops of rain as we approached the city.

We made our way to the center of the old city, found the "i", and booked a hotel room for the night.  Too early to check in, but it was just the right time for their semi-weekly walking tour in English. No one else signed up, so we had a personally guided tour.

Regensburg has one of the best preserved medeival old cities in Germany, thanks to the fact that the Messerschmidt factory was a few km out of town. It was an independent city-state, subject only to the Holy Roman Emperor, until Napoleon came. It is the starting point for large vessel river navigaiton, so it has always been an important commercial center, and it was the largest Roman fort, protecting against the Germanic tribes in the forest across the river.

In 1519 the Jews here were blamed for plague and an economic slump, so they were expelled from the city on three days notice. The town fathers not only desecrated the Jewish cemetery, they even took the Jewish gravestones and embedded them like trophies in the exterior walls of the merchant palaces. We saw two of them. Jews eventually came back, but the synagogue was destroyed by the Nazis in Kristallnacht, and of course nearly all the Jews were later transported to their deaths. Amazingly, there is a Jewish community here now, and they are about to build a new synagogue. Let's hope the lessons of the past have sunk in.

Local notable: Johannes Kepler's home town. Joseph Ratzinger (Pope-emeritus Benedict) taught at the university here. Oskar Schindler lived here at the end of WW2.

In the evening we went to an organ concert at the cathedral. Overwhelming cascade of sound; not our cup of tea but something different to see and do.

Tuesday, 6-26 to Kelheim

Perfect weather.

After stopping outside the setting of the original Frankenstein novel, we made our way out of Ingolstadt easily.  The first half of the day's route on a good gravel road atop the flood control dike alongside the Danube, then stopped at a riverside cafe for an early lunch of coffee and a large piece of cake. Apiece. We were well loaded with energy from sugar and caffeine when we got back on the bike, which turned out to be needed. We soon ran into a detour from the regular Danube Cycleway. There were no further bike route signs, so we were on our own. I used Google to get a route to our next waypoint, Waldenburg. The road was the worst we have ever had to ride: a narrow track of loose gravel the size of golf balls. We were able to proceed only at a walking pace, in our lowest gear. Not fun at all. It seemed to go on forever, but we finally emerged onto a paved track and decended the last few km to Waldenburg Abbey, which has been brewing beer since 1050. The river gorge there is too narrow for any riverside road or track, so we rode a ferry on the river for the last 5 km to Kelheim, or stop for the day.

Our hardest and worst day of the trip so far, but it will probably be the one we remember and talk about. It was also a day when things went from good to bad to good in short order.

Like all towns we have visited, Kelheim has a rich history going back to the 10th century, and many of the buildings within the old city walls where we are staying are many buildings dating from 1500-1600, in contrasting pastel colors. I'll try to get a picture in the morning.

We snagged the trailer on a trailside stanchion this morning and the trailer now tracks off center. I'll try to straighten it. The trailer tires show a lot of wear already: I hope they last. Otherwise, the bike is in good shape for having been put through some rough riding.

Frankenstein's Home

Now a medical history museum- fitting.

Who's on First?

The background: One feature of German hotels unfamiliar to us is bedding. Instead of a top sheet the beds have a duvet: a quilt inside a sheet envelope. Too warm, but I can adapt to that by pulling out the quilt. But they also provide extra large extra soft pillows. We can't adapt to smothering. So when we found one hotel which also provided very small firm pillows, I suggested to Sandy I go try to buy two of them from the hotel.

The setup: You need too understand that the German word for pillow is kissen. The word for kissing is Kussen.

The gag: I went to the hotel's front desk and asked the freulein on duty "How much for two little cushions?"  She looked stunned and said, "Kussen???"   "Yes, two little pillows".  She was puzzled and looked up "pillow" online. "Ah, kissen!"  "No, no, not kissing, cushions!" And it went on and on. Abbot and Costello would have been proud.

In the end i did get the pillows. But no kisses.

Monday, 6-25 to Ingolstadt

A cool, cloudy day with still no rain.

Mid-ride today we stopped at the small city of Neuberg, seat of a tiny 15th century German state. We took time to visit the impressive palace the ruler had built, though the only thing open to see was the palace chapel with a huge ceiling fresco. After lunch there was a detour in the bike path which left us guessing where to go. We took one path which shortly petered out in a farmer's field. Back on the route we rode for a while with a gutsy young English girl who started riding in Paris and is heading for Istanbul. At a rest point we ran into another Englishman we'd met on the trail yesterday. When we moved on, for some reason the girl stayed back with the young man rather than ride with the old coots.

Lots of unpaved path today, some of it rough. We've become accustomed to riding on gravel paths, something we have not done much before. No big deal, but slow.

The route so far has been mostly flat, with elevation dropping imperceptibly as we move down the river valley, but today the route moved away from the river in places and was quite hilly.

Finally reached the city of Ingolstadt, found a hotel room in the old city, and settled down to watch World Cup soccer and also the end of a stage of the Vuelta de Espana bike race.

Mary Shelley used the old anatomy school in Ingolstadt as the setting for her novel Frankenstein.

Sunday, 6-24 to Donauworth

Went to church near our hotel this morning. Glad we knew the routine because we sure didn't understand the German. Didn't get on the road until 11, but the logical stage for the day was short anyway. We stopped at Hochstadt at a Renaissance palace turned into a museum. The permanent collection is about German ceramics. Some beautiful pieces, but truthfully they told me more about ceramics than I wanted to know. But there is also a section about the Battle of Blenheim which took place nearby. I'd studied it, but didn't really know much. It was in 1704 in the War of Spanish Succession (seemed important at the time). The English army under Marlboro and its allies routed the French and their allies. 20,000 killed in one day, and farmers are still finding human remains. Started the major powers thinking about diplomacy.

We stopped for a late lunch at a huge beer garden and split a wurst plate. We've begun sharing dishes because though the food is delicious the portions they serve  are huge and we don't want to be huge ourselves.

Arrived late in the day at the large town of Donauworth and found a good hotel in the center of the historic district. As we have all week, we watched 2 World Cup soccer games, along with everyone else.

We have found prices for food and hotels to be a bit lower than at home.  Except in Zurich.

Fewer touring cyclists out today than previous days. Still have not met any American cyclists. Many Germans, 3 Swiss, and several English.

The Germans are friendly when we talk with them, but they customarily do not acknowledge other cyclists when they pass. We do- we try to get them to smile. They also do not announce themselves when overtaking. We do; we ring a bell. That's a safety thing.

Today's riding was enjoyable and same as last couple of days: rural roads and trails, no climbing, and occasional small towns. Didn't get lost today. We're getting into the routine of several hours of riding each day, and are getting stronger.

Cloudy today, but still no rain. 40% tomorrow.

Saturday 6-23 to Lauingen

The route out of Ulm was complicated but we made our way without incendent. We stopped by the Danube and walked into the old city to see the Ulm Cathedral (pic in separate post). There was a youth choir festival in town starting this morning, so we stopped for a while and listened to middle-school-age girls singing German songs very well. As we resumed riding along beside the old city walls, quite a few rowing shells were out on the river for a Saturday workout.

Our route diverted away from the Danube yesterday up to Blaubeuren. When we rejoined it this morning, the river had grown up. It is now navigable by small boats and about 100 meters wide.

There have been many swans in the river all along; today we came on a pair with chicks nearly obstructing the bike path and hissing at us. Besides an assortment of ducks we also see many great blue herons, those here are a little lighter color than the ones at home.

This was another cold day. 40's in the morning, 60's in the afternoon. OK when the sun out, but kept arm and leg warmers on all day.

The route today was another mostly flat stage, through woods and fen land with occasional small towns.

The Danube Cycle Path is actually pretty hard to follow. The signage is fairly good but leaves many opportunities to go off course, which we did twice today. The first time was a 3 km excursion on gravel roads beside the Danube.  Much of the official path is gravel, by the way. Later in the day we reached a point where our guidebook called for a turn onto a path which absolutely was not there. After a lot of searching and head scratching we set off on our own with Google Maps following roads and whatever paths we found along them. Got to our objective town, Lauingen, without fuss.

Sandy has been fighting a stiff back this week, but felt much better today.

We are now in Bavaria; previously we were in the state of Baden-Wurtemburg. All towns in this area are named ...ingen. This one, Lauingen dates from medieval times but has unsentimentally updated many of the old buildings. Our hotel is thoroughly modern, but its building is 400 years old.

After dinner tonight we stopped for ice cream at a spot with a large screen TV and a dozen or so fans watching Germany vs. Sweden's World Cup game. Germany scored the winning goal at the last minute, and although we didn't care who won it was fun to share their celebration.

The pride of Ulm

World's highest church steeple.

Fri. 6-22 to Ulm

The town of Blaubeuren has a museum with artifacts from a nearby archaeological site, Fels Cave. We spent most of the morning at the museum, located in a building which housed a hospital when built about 1500. The structural beams show throughout the inside, and the walls have many surviving frescoes. An excellent small museum. The site has yielded some items as much as 40,000 years old, including figurines and a bone flute. That was the period when modern humans had entered Europe and Neanderthals were still around; the time when we homo sapiens picked up our 2-4% Neanderthal DNA. We moved on to an abbey dating from the 10th century, which has been a protestant school since the Reformation. Lots of interesting architecture, artwork, and artifacts from the abbey's history. By the time we got on the road it was 1 p.m. We rode for an hour, ate a leisurely cafe lunch, and rode another hour to the city of Ulm: ancient by history, modern by appearance. I think they started from scratch after WW2. Checked into a nondescript hotel right on the route and, besides an excursion for a sandwich, took it easy and watched World Cup soccer.

A surprisingly cold day. 40's early, never up to 60. Comfortable riding, especially during periods when the sun was out. Forecast for tomorrow starts colder, but a bit warmer in the afternoon. No rain on us yet, knock wood, and none forecast for the next few days.

Pic

Venus statue 40,000 yts old- local cave.

Thur. 6-21 to Blaubeuren

Clear and warm weather, Farmland terrain, with many small villages.

The cycle path took us up a short 20% leg-breaker but the town had put a dedicated rest stop at the top, with cushioned benches, water, and a guestbook. At a later rest stop we met a young Brit living in Switzerland who is aiming to ride all the way to the Black Sea in Romania in his 3 weeks of vacation time. Would be over 100 miles a day. Wow. Also met there a French-Swiss couple heading for Vienna and maybe Budapest. Met them again later at Ehingen and had lunch with them. Rode a couple more hours after lunch to Blauburen where there is a beautiful spring with a bright blue color from minerals in the water. But it isn't the Blue Danube at all but the source of the Blau (blue) River. Good hotel, good dinner, neither very expensive.

Wed. 6-20 to Riedlingen text

Made a mistake today. Decided not to take the time to tour the palace of the Hohenzollern/Sigmaringen princes. Got our head straight later- We have loads of time; who cares where we get each day?

Clear land warm. Many stretches of the Danube Cycleway are unpaved gravel, not what we were used to, but mostly hard packed and easy to ride. Slow going, though, between the path's many turns and stops, opportunities to go off track if not alert, and the load we are carrying, and the mileage on our bodies. So we go slow. We need to adjust our thinking: riding at home for fitness or training is a matter of going as fast as we can for an hour or two over routes we have ridden thousands of times. Forget that. We are here to see what there is to see and get where we get. Stopped at a modest gasthof in the historic district of Riedlingen, a medieval town with many old old buildings surviving.

Tues 6-19 to Gutenstein

Bike path wound through farm fields and into a narrow gorge with white cliffs on both sides.  The Danube is just a small clear stream, not even passable by canoes. The weather was clear and cool and calm-great riding weather. Visited a still-active Benedictine abbey dating from the 12th century. Followed a wrong bike direction sign which took us up a 3 km climb at a steady 7% grade. Only realized our mistake at the top, so back down to the valley and back on track. Met an English couple riding from Budapest all the way back to England, via the Loire Valley in France. We intended to get to Sigmaringen, the end of a stage in our guidebook, but stopped several km short at a  likely looking B&B ("zimmer frei"} right on the river.  Good German dinner at the only restaurant in the tiny village, and early to bed.

Pics 6-21 - ?

A rest stop provided by the town at the top of a short 20% "leg breaker": water, cushioned seat, and a guestbook.

Blog note

Having trouble w blog app-
Sometimes locks up when attaching photos. May post pics and text separately, and posts may be out of order. I'll try to date them. Using the app I can not see any comments posted. If you do want to leave feedback  text us at (1) 727-465-8025.

Wed. June 20 to Riedlingen

Xxx

Monday June 18 to Mohringen

First day on the road. In middle of Donaueschingen is a spring which claims to be the source of the Danube. We visitied and photographed that, then made our way out of town on the Danube Cycleway. Today's stretch was some roads but mostly paved paths heading down the Danube River valley. Many fields of corn and wheat and other crops, very green and fertile, passing through a number of small towns. Weather started in the 50's, quickly up to 70's, and mostly sunny. Made a couple of handlebar adjustments, but the bike has no significant problems. Quite a few other cyclists out (incl a group of 19 old Swiss men in matching jerseys), 90% of riders going east as we are. Just a short ride; stopped in Mohringen because I had made advance reservations for a room here- arrived too early. Tomorrow will be a bit longer   and we'll look for accomodations when we  are ready to stop. Good to be back on the road, taking it easy and seeing the sights. Good weather forecast for the next several days. More fresh asparagus today, but this is the last week of the season before the farmers turn the fields over to prep for next year. Very few locals speak English in this area. We're managing OK with rudimentary German.

Monday, June 18 to Mohringen-pics

Sunday, 6-17 Donaueschingen, Germany

At Zurich we walked a few blocks to church, then checked out of our hotel room and took the nearby tram to the central railroad station, where we had stopped in last evening after our excursion to Jungfraujoch to buy train tickets for Donaueschingen, a small town which claims to be the source of the Donau/Danube River and the jumping-off point for our bike tour.

At the midpoint of our two-hour train trip we needed to change trains. A local woman noticed our uncertainty about the connection and took us under her wing. She went way out of her way to get us pointed in the right direction; very kind.

Our hotel here is two steps better than our Zurich digs, at half the price.

We spent a good while assembling the bike, but no known problems with it. Shifter cables will need adjusting, but that's normal.

Walked to a nearby German restaurant where no one in the place spoke English- sink or swim- and enjoyed a good dinner including fresh white asparagus with hollandaise, a local specialty.  I had a local Furstenburg beer and Sandy had a good German red wine. Who knew?

This area gets rain 14 days in June, on average.  There was a bit of light rain today.

Three notes about Zurich: 1. Crazy expensive, and 2. not as many bicycles as Amsterdam, but close, and 3. Switzerland has an electric plug different from any other country's.

No passport check crossing into Germany from Switzerland.

Our planned first leg of the tour tomorrow is not long; should give us time for needed bike adjustments. We are looking forward to getting on the road.

Sat. 6-16 Jungfraujoch (text)

We took an all-day excursion today to a high mountain pass in the middle of Switzerland called Jungfraujoch. They took us by bus to Interlaken with a stop midway at Luzern/Lucerne to pick up more passengers. Interlaken is an attractive town, a center for skiers, hikers, mountain bikers and bus potatoes like us. We went on to Grindelwald (think Heidi) by bus where we got on the first of two cog railways which took us up from about 3000 feet elevation to above 11,000 feet at a saddle between Jungfrau peak and the Eiger (remember the James Bond movie with the skiing-and-shooting scene?) There is snow there year-round, and the mountain scenery is just unbelievable, with a view over several glaciers and even higher mountains all around. Luckily, the weather was clear (and cold!) so we had postcard-quality viewing. I took several pictures and am separately posting them all. I'll try to be more selective with photo attachments in the future.

We flew in to Zurich only because it is the closest city to our cycling start, but we are really glad we did, and that we stayed a couple of days before heading to Germany. A good brief taste of Switzerland.

Sat. 6-16 Jungfraujoch (photos)

Friday 6-15 From Home to Zurich

A ride to the airport from son Peter, Susan, Alison and Aileen. We weren't able to confirm and pick seats online because our passports wouldn't scan, so we had separate middle seats for the first flight, to D.C. There was a 3 hr layover until our Zurich flight time, and then one of the plane's engines wouldn't start. Another 3 1/2 hrs while they moved us and the luggage to a new plane and we were finally underway. Dennis slept soundly on the flight, Sandy not at all.

Our little Hotel Neufeld in the Wiedekon district of Zurich is old but in good repair, and the room is clean and spacious. No complaints at all. After lunch (our first wurst) at a nearby cafe, we took a brief nap and then set out on a quick exploration of the city. Zurich is the largest Swiss city, but only 400m population. They have a good tram system so it is easy to get around. There are no highrises, and most of the buildings look like they are 1900-vintage except for some conspicuously older buildings in the old town area.We walked along the river which flows from the Zurichsee lake, and took a tram up to the top of a small mountain, Uetliberg. We hiked a mile or so from the train station to a retaurant with a great view of the city, the lake, and surrounding countryside. After a good dinner there we caught the tram back to town, and we both slept past our stop.

A day trip to the Alps is tomorrow's plan.