geeteetravels

As usual we can’t believe how quickly time flies by when on a cycling holiday in Europe. This last day was planned to be short as we are taking the train to Paris early in the morning and we have to disassemble the bike and sort out the rest of the luggage. Fortunately it is not the end of the vacation as we are spending a long weekend visiting with much of our Danish family before flying home.

The theme of the ride was vineyards, and déviation. It was beautiful wine country to ride through, as we skirted the large hills to the west, and rolled along more gentle slopes. We could see châteaux high on the tops of many, even most, of the hills at times.

Then we got messed up by a couple of detours (déviation) due to construction. Part of the numerous little fix ups to the roads seem to be for the sake of the Tour de France route, but others are more major. So we tried to get around the construction but messed up a bit and did a bit of backtracking. No problem. All that GPS tech helps but sometimes the right map would work even better.

Bike disassembly went smoothly, we did a bit more wandering and eating, and said goodbye to our friends who are going home directly tomorrow. Adieu and auf wiedersehen to all the swans, zeppelins, storks, and châteaux.

Return to Strasbourg part 1

Return to Strasbourg part 2

Not only grapes but lilies too

Storks still looking for a warm meal

Pro help really helps

We’re not big on “the church” but we do like churches. Au revoir Strasbourg.

Today’s ride took us along the Alsatian wine route and into several very beautiful towns with colourful and decorative buildings and homes along cobblestone streets. Unfortunately we can’t be sampling wine while riding, we wait until the evening. Also today (and tomorrow) we were mostly on one leg of the Tour de France which comes here next week. Spray painted yellow, green and polka-dot bikes line the route. It’s a very big deal here.

We had one small bicycle breakdown today. Our chain broke while we were were climbing a steep hill with all the gear so we almost fell over and started rolling back down, it was quite a surprising thing to happen just when we were cresting the hill. However George (with Tara’s help) was able to insert a new link and off we went again.

Here are some photos of the day.

Vineyards and a chateau

Cyclist in the vineyard

Kilometer 100 for that day of the Tour de France

Bikes and jerseys

This bike isn’t likely to be an advantage for hills or speed

Creative door signs

Part of the ancient wall of this town

One of the many town gates we passed through.

Most of the towns have pedestrian areas for easy strolling

Creative decor

Cyclists strolling also

Detailed carvings

Lovely timbered homes in many colors

Window boxes everywhere

This was another extra ride we had to do because we clearly had not done enough climbing on this trip. So…up we go into the Alsacien hills (Vosges) and vineyards on another sunny hot day. The climb was steady over 800m of elevation gain but doable without all our luggage.

We encountered many cyclists today and enjoyed the interactions, getting passed by the e-bikes going up but passing them on the way down.

A significant stop was at a memorial to a dreadful first world war battle between French and German troops at Linge. They were at it in the trenches for 4 months in 1915 and 17,000 soldiers lost their lives. It reminded us of the Vimy Ridge memorial, with much pause for thought.

Cycling down we got terrific views (“no view without the climb”) of the valley which comes out back at Colmar. We rested at a café in Munster (home of the “Maison du Fromage”) and I noticed two storks with their nest on a nearby roof. I thought this was cool as I hadn’t seen nesting storks on the trip. I got up to get closer for a picture and looking around I began seeing that storks were nesting on the rooves of all the buildings around us. It reminded me of that quiet scene from “The Birds” just before they attacked. Crazy.

Storks with their huge nests

A place marker where a body was recently exhumed from the Linge battlefield

The tallest hill is called le petit ballon. Le grand ballon is somewhere in the hazy background. They are so named because of their smooth rounded shape. Munster is below.

Another reminder of the ‘circus’ imminent approach. We rode today over part of the route.

German trenches at Linge

At the top of the climb with many cyclists and hikers

A relatively recent collaboration between France and Germany created a single home for multiple anonymous german military gravesites. A lot of effort went to identifying the fallen and putting names on the crosses

One of the beautiful buildings in Colmar from the middle ages

More storks…

Today was a solidly downhill ride on a lot of canalways and smooth lightly trafficked roads. It also saw the break of the heat wave with a very loud and wet thunderstorm and a few minutes of marble sized hail thrown in.

We had thought this was going to be a hard day of over 80km and more sizzling heat but the plan changed. We short cutted off some of the smooth dirt track canalside pathway in favour of asphalt and a trip to the grocery store as we hadn’t any food for lunch. The pathways are usually peaceful.. but we also like to see life in the villages and café stops.

The heat did start to build but then as we were enjoying a café stop the thunderstorm began. Right, we’ll just ride through this as we took off after a Dutch couple on e-bikes. When the hail started we headed for safety under a forest canopy and watched as finally about 10 days of plus 30 was halted for an hour or so.

We are staying on the ground floor of a house in Colmar for two nights, which totally suits our needs. In the brief view we have had prior to finding supper Colmar appears to be charming.

Swans can get really pi**ed off when cornered with 9 cygnets

That umbrella was somewhat helpful as we escaped to the forest out of the hail and rain

Swans on the pathway edge

Un selfie pour quatre près de nos souper

C’est la même chose partout où vous allez

One week and two days before the circus arrives; we’ll be long gone

Some very nice smooth and peaceful pathways

These flowers on a large tree looked like hand-painted miniature orchids

In the Petite Venice area of Colmar

More freakin’ Swans…

We learned today that the Germans call the city Basel but the French say Bâle (baahl).

The city is typically Swiss, very clean and orderly but also very expensive so it’s a good thing we aren’t here long.

The weather continues to be unusually hot so we were thankful to not be riding today. The high today was 38 celsius.

We started the day with a self guided walking tour of the old city, it was only 30 degrees then. We visited the Rathaus or town hall and the Minster Cathedral and square. We also followed the tour along various streets and saw buildings and homes of interest. The Swiss keep their historic areas in excellent condition, I feel that it’s much better than in Italy.

Once we were starting to get baked we headed for the Kunstmuseum. This is a notable European art gallery with a vast and important art collection. They also had a special exhibit on cubism focusing mainly on Picasso and Braque. It was a very good day to be in an air conditioned building, that alone was worth the price of admission.

Here are some photos from the day.

As we’ve seen before in Europe the trams are right on the roads with the people and bikes, you have to pay attention. I wonder if they have more or less pedestrian collisions than we do at home?

Called “Window to the Heavens”, this is an opening in the roof of the convention centre creating a huge open skylight.

Rathaus

Inner courtyard of Rathaus

Frescoes in the inner courtyard

This fresco was depicting the story of Susanna and the Elders

Another shot of the Rathaus

Minsterplatz, the large square around the cathedral

Minster Cathedral

Another view of the square

And another…

Beautiful streets in the historic centre

Next to the art gallery where it was refreshingly cool.

A Rodin sculpture called the Bourgeois of Calais.

Renoir

A huge painting called A View to Infinity, even bigger than Riisa’s paintings, by Ferdinand Hodler

A must have for the next trip.

Today’s ride was dominated by the persistent heat wave coming from Africa no doubt, and too many gravel pathways.

It’s still crazy hot in this part of the world, somewhere around 36° while we were meandering downhill along with the mighty Rhine. Perhaps Tara struggles with the heat more than GG but she seems to recover nicely with an afternoon mango ice-cream so not that serious an issue.

A lovely town gate at Waldshut

We passed by a nuclear power station just after Waldshut, not something we see at home. This one is on the Swiss side of the Rhine, is quite new and supplies 14% of Switzerland’s entire power need.

Swiss power

About halfway through the ride we crossed the river into Switzerland for the next two days by riding across a long covered bridge, one of several covered bridges which are kept in top shape.

About to go Swiss again

Now just a few words about pathways. This year our nicely planned (by me) route has unintentionally taken us onto a number of gravel pathways that we don’t appreciate. With our skinny tired road machine this makes for some nervous and slow riding so note to self, get it figured out. We did a few on the fly reroutes with our fancy GPS tech to avoid some of it.

What we did like was the route into Basel avoided the usual high traffic roadways which come into all major cities, pretty peaceful today. With all this heat we discovered the Baselians were jumping into the river by the hundreds and merrily and coolly floating downstream. Weird but true.

You just need to get yourself a Wickelfish, stuff your clothes into it, and jump in the river

The river is the place to be at (in)

A few of the hordes floating downstream

Today’s ride started out with a bike lane closure that meant we had to find a new route and climb a steep few hundred metres extra to get around the falls. We weren’t alone though as we met several other cyclists trying to find new routes also and they had much less navigating technology than us. Once again we were mostly following the Rhine on the established Rhine cycle route which is also part of one of the Eurovelo routes. Most of the day was in rural areas and smaller towns. As is usual here we are rarely on the actual roads but on cycle lanes or paths beside the highway. We think some of our Calgary councilors should spend a bit of time here seeing how this can work.

Our destination today wasn’t really a notable location, we just needed a place to stay the night as it was too far to go all the way to Basel where we are heading tomorrow. We thought we were staying in a place called Waldshut Tiengen but in fact the hotel is north of the town by a few kms. in village called Gurtweil. There’s little here but there is a hotel with a restaurant. It is a nice place with very reasonable prices and decent food. Also it is back in Germany. The prices in Switzerland are noticeably steep, probably 50% more for some things. A coffee is about $7.50. However in Switzerland everything is extremely tidy and well organized and there are clean public washrooms and drinking water fountains everywhere, something you appreciate as a touring cyclist. So maybe it’s worth it.

Here are some photos of the day.

We wash where we can, and dry in what ever way works.

GG went for a post dinner walk to Tiengen. There were A LOT of power lines and towers.. due to the nearby nuclear generation station as seen the next day.

Downstream from the falls. This is a BIG river with a lot of power.

Geez Tara, I’ll be needing to oil the chain again soon.

We got an early start today as we were worried about the forecasted high of 34 (was actually 37!) but it didn’t really help as it was already 28 at 9am. At least the ride was short, less than 60 kms and little climbing.

We took plenty of shade/cold drink breaks and Tara even dunked her head in the Rhine to cool off. At the end of the day we found a swimming pool to get completely cooled.

The route took us out of Konstanz along the “untersee”, part of Lake Konstanz that eventually becomes the Rhine again, which we basically followed the rest of the day. We crossed back and forth between Germany and Switzerland a few times today, finishing in Switzerland at Neuhausen am Rheinfall. The city is called this as there is a beautiful water fall in the river here. The city developed because of the falls. Goods being transported along the river needed to be off loaded and moved on land around the falls.

We stopped in one Swiss town called Stein am Rhein which has particularly beautiful and well preserved medieval buildings. It is situated partly on the north side of the Rhine which is officially the German side except for this one exception. During WWII it was bombed accidentally because it was presumed to be German, but sustained minimal damage thankfully.

Here’s some photos of the day.

Beautiful timbered homes and buildings common here.

Scenic cycling.

Leaving Konstanz, bridge over the Untersee.

Polka-dot man.

Stein am Rhein buildings

Can you believe this place? Seems like a fairy tale scene.

Town clock and gate.

Covered bridge. Germany on the north, Switzerland on the south.

Rhein falls

We’re staying two nights in Dettingen so today was optional for the bike. We had a bit of difficulty finding a place to stay in Konstanz so we are here. Had we known it would be 35° we would have tried harder for a place by the lake. We wanted to explore Konstanz about 10km away and with a direct bus for free we kept the bike parked in the garage.

The tourist office was first to find out about self-guided tour options. There wasn’t an audio guide as in Strasbourg but they had an english language written guide with map we followed. Of course Konstanz has a long history but there was a large focus on the “Council of Konstanz” occurring from 1414 to 1418 and recently celebrated with a 600th anniversary. I will summarize it to say that the catholic church came to agreement on the next pope after a schism which had each of three ‘applicants’ for the job busily trying to excommunicate the other two. One other thing they agreed on was execution of a couple of brothers who were attempting to reform the church. Wrong place, wrong time guys. There are many houses, buildings and statues which are all related to this event which were part of our tour.

Of particular interest is the statue of “Imperia”, based on a story of a courtesan (courtly prostitute) of popes, clergy, and kings. She stands and slowly rotates at the entrance to Konstanz harbour while holding caricatures of the new pope and local king in the palms of her hands. It was created by Peter Lenk again (see Überlingen) and controversially erected in 1993. It’s a beauty.

And was it hot out, and did we see more Zeppelins? Ja und ja.

Cooling off by Konstanz harbour

Tara, with parasol /umbrella and Imperia

Another freakin’ Zeppelin

The smirking Imperia in all her glory

’nuff said

Many of the old houses had the old name or dedication beautifully presented

Lots of satirical street art

“Wahrheit” means “Truth”. The letters only show when the sun shines through the blocks. This was dedicated to the executed church reformers Jan Hus and his brother.

Today’s ride took us from Austria into Switzerland and back into Germany, a 3 country route. Again most of the way was along bike lanes and beside Lake Konstanz.

It was a very hot day today, the hottest we have had, 32 celsius, so hard for us Calgarians used to much cooler weather. Tomorrow is supposed to be 34!

Here are some photos from the ride.

It is very tempting to jump into the lake.

We are feeling a bit intimidated…

Polka dots and chevrons

Here’s something unusual, a vending machine with meat varieties.

The Swiss border, but we weren’t stopped.

Lunch time in Arbon Switzerland.

A break for the buttocks

Constance harbour entrance. The statue on the left is another work by Peter Lenk depicting the courtesan Imperia.