We finished!

We finally finished our 2.5 month trip around Europe. We rode just over 2700 kilometers that you can see on the map below. We took trains in several instances to get over the more boring cycling parts but still finished with many more kilometers on bicycle. We will be looking back through our journals and updating the final blog posts in the coming weeks. Thanks to all of the wonderful people we met along the way who were kind enough to share their homes, meals, advice and experiences with us.

Day 52: Melk to Linz - 115 km

Ever go toe-to-hoof with a wild boar? This was the unwelcome situation that presented itself outside our tent at 2am as we attempted to wild camp just outside Linz, Austria. After our recent encounter with an unidentified creature in Hungary, we were wary of wild camping again. Though after cycling over 100k, the campsite at we encountered was impossible. A dozen college kids had erected an enormous army-style tent in the middle of a tiny campground which was littered with remnants of liquor bottles, beer bongs, wizard sticks etc. The other campers, all of whom were cyclists, had set up along the fence and were packed in like sardines only 15 feet from the party tent, which was already going strong at 9pm. It was clear there was no sleep to be had here.

Only a few km from the party kids lay a series of bike trails and national park used by Linz city folk. It almost seemed too perfect as we stumbled on an isolated clearing, blocked on each side by felled trees. The bad omens soon began, as I was stung by nettles while setting up the tent and objects (acorns?) kept falling from the forest canopy above. The weirdness continued as we tucked in for the night, we saw what looked like a small light moving around not 20 meters from where we were. After some speculation, we sleepily agreed that it had to be a lightning bug.

Soon after we lay down, we noticed a moving overhead light that was so bright, it cast rays into the tent! Just as we decided it could only be the moon, we heard the boar call. It was a loud bark accompanied by sickly snort or growl. I pulled out the light and pocketknife and listened as the noise got closer, crashing through the brush maybe ten meters away. E and I looked at each other, scared as hell and I let out my most ferocious primal scream directed at the animal. The boar noise moved away. I blasted it a few more times from the top of my vocal chords and the noise continued to move away.

I looked at E and it was pretty apparent we could no longer sleep there. We hastily rolled everything up, strapped it to the bike and cycled over to squeeze into one of the camping spots, waking up some already disgruntled cyclists who had obviously lost sleep to the party kids. Moral of the story: you never know what's hiding out in the forest, even just a mile from a major city.

Day 51: Vienna to Melk 128 km

Hoping to do the over 200km from Vienna to Linz in only two days despite the sweltering heat extending late into the evenings, we were up at sunrise and on the road by 7am. This gave us the opportunity to observe the morning commute, a really fun way to get a feel for a city and its locals. And again, we were incredibly impressed by the bike paths, which we followed easily and at a very high average speed (usually the cities kill our stats with all the stopping for lights, traffic, pedestrians, etc.) for the entire 10km it took to get it of the city. This was our longest day yet both in distance covered and hours on the bike and we absolutely killed it, putting 70km behind us by noon! 

Days 49-50: Vienna

Our stay in Vienna was packed with museums. There were so many and they were all tempting, only the high ticket prices stopped us from packing more in. We chose wisely by starting with the Albertina - a museum housed in an old Hapsburg fortification in which we saw the well-known Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein, got our first taste of Egon Schiele, and explored Hapsburg estate rooms kept in their original style. That evening we attended a Mozart concert for which the entire orchestra and the concert was held in singers were dressed in period costumes. It sounds very cheesy but the effect was great when combined with the beautiful concerts hall we were in. I, however, was not a fan of the way in which the orchestra kept up historical appearances by dressing the women musicians as men!

We headed to the Schöll Schönbrun Palace early in order to avoid the crowds but weren't entirely successful. Just battling lines of tourists to get our tickets was an adventure in itself and then we had an hour to kill before our timed entry. The wait was well worth it though because despite the relatively uninspiring exterior of this home to the Hapsburg royal family, the interior rooms were absolutely lush and several were downright extravagant. The well-done audio guide even made the portraits interesting (something I usually yawn over) and we are gradually getting a better gasp on the history of the Hapsburg empire and its key figures. 

We fit in a quick trip to Stephankirche and our aching quads were pleasantly surprised by elevator access up the tower from where we took in a great 360 view of the city. Then we chose one more museum to finish the trip, the Leopold Museum, which housed an extensive collection of Schiele who we enjoyed very much, as well as an exhibit of Klimt and his contemporaries some of whom we recognized from the Blue Rider exhibit in Munich.

Day 48: Bratislava to Vienna: 80k

"I thought you said it was around 70km?" I asked Miles while looking at a sign listing Vienna at a distance of 38km. We had reached the outskirts of the Bratislava after a deliciously fancy breakfast at the hotel where we classily stuffed our pockets with Nutella and honey packets as well as the complimentary soaps and shampoos on our way out. Now it looked like our journey was being cut in half until a closer inspection of the sign showed an indignant cyclist's sarcastic comment and the accurate distance of 68km penned in with a sharpie.

Good that we learned early on the day to distrust the signs. We ended up ignoring most of them and sticking to the road once we realized the marked path was taking us on unnecessary side trips through "scenic" fields and villages. Then we hit what I fully believe to be the most boring and awful, terrible, no-good section of biking we have done this entire trip. The path went up on a berm with trees on either side, too low and a bit to far from the berm to provide any shade whatsoever, while also managing to block any sort of view that might have existed. Nothing but trees for miles and miles, with the path extending straight ahead into nothingness. It was mind numbingly boring and that's not the only thing that was going numb. The "paved" road, required for the Eurovelo status this awful path possesses, only barely qualified as such due to the fact that the rocky gravel was stuck down rather than loose. The effect was rather like riding a jackhammer for hours on end. 

All this probably influenced our excitement at arriving in Vienna, although the city doesn't need much help. As we neared the outskirts the area around the path opened up and it ran along the Danube again. The path itself filled with joggers, cyclists, and rollerbladers enjoying the evening sun, and the banks of the river filled with people sunning, swimming, and fishing. As we got closer to the city there were even waterski courses and lots of other water and land sports. The expansive access to and use of public riverside land and the energy that accompanied it warmed us to Vienna from the start. We were further impressed as we entered the heart of the city and joined commuting cyclists on the most amazing cosmopolitan bike infrastructure we have seen yet, superior even to Amsterdam. Major points earned on the bike-able city front and very inspiring to imagine the possibilities if other cities, ahem-New York, followed Vienna's example.

Day 48: Bratislava to Vienna: 80k

"I thought you said it was around 70km?" I asked Miles while looking at a sign listing Vienna at a distance of 38km. We had reached the outskirts of the Bratislava after a deliciously fancy breakfast at the hotel where we classily stuffed our pockets with Nutella and honey packets as well as the complimentary soaps and shampoos on our way out. Now it looked like our journey was being cut in half until a closer inspection of the sign showed an indignant cyclist's sarcastic comment and the accurate distance of 68km penned in with a sharpie.

Good that we learned early on the day to distrust the signs. We ended up ignoring most of them and sticking to the road once we realized the marked path was taking us on unnecessary side trips through "scenic" fields and villages. Then we hit what I fully believe to be the most boring and awful, terrible, no-good section of biking we have done this entire trip. The path went up on a berm with trees on either side, too low and a bit to far from the berm to provide any shade whatsoever, while also managing to block any sort of view that might have existed. Nothing but trees for miles and miles, with the path extending straight ahead into nothingness. It was mind numbingly boring and that's not the only thing that was going numb. The "paved" road, required for the Eurovelo status this awful path possesses, only barely qualified as such due to the fact that the rocky gravel was stuck down rather than loose. The effect was rather like riding a jackhammer for hours on end. 

All this probably influenced our excitement at arriving in Vienna, although the city doesn't need much help. As we neared the outskirts the area around the path opened up and it ran along the Danube again. The path itself filled with joggers, cyclists, and rollerbladers enjoying the evening sun, and the banks of the river filled with people sunning, swimming, and fishing. As we got closer to the city there were even waterski courses and lots of other water and land sports. The expansive access to and use of public riverside land and the energy that accompanied it warmed us to Vienna from the start. We were further impressed as we entered the heart of the city and joined commuting cyclists on the most amazing cosmopolitan bike infrastructure we have seen yet, superior even to Amsterdam. Major points earned on the bike-able city front and very inspiring to imagine the possibilities if other cities, ahem-New York, followed Vienna's example.

Day 47: Kliska Nema (Komarno) to Bratislava - 93km

We awoke to an annoying Pitbull song (the one with the whiny chorus) being blasted over a loudspeaker in the tiny village where we camped. We later noticed that every town we rode through possessed what had to be communist-era loudspeakers blaring dated Top 40 music between announcements on the hour something like: "ladies and gentlemen, the Koska bridge will be closed until 10am this morning, in the meantime, please enjoy some J.Lo from 2006."

Our late starting times have finally caught up to us. When we left it was already quite warm. After a couple hours, the bike path ran alongside a dam as the temperature soared to 38 Celsius (100F). I scanned in vain for a cafe or escape from the  brutal sun as  it cooked us up on the burm.  We covered ourselves with more clothing and hydrated profusely with sport mixes that we had purchased. I thought Betty was seeing a mirage when she started talking about an ice cream stand, which actually turned out to be a small cafe at a ferry station. We had a nice lunch with Radlers and plopped down to nap in the grass in an attempt to wait out the heat. 

At 5pm it was still scorching hot, but we opted to head towards Bratislava as I thought of the desert death march scences from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Bratislava retained the heat of the day and added an unwelcome portion of humidity as we sought out a place to stay. After looking at some overpriced hostels, we decided on a hotel room that was big enough to put our bikes into. We ate at Slovak Pub, where we had some traditional fare: Bryndzové halušky, sour cream and bacon dumplings and an excellent cabbage soup.

Day 46: Esztergom, Hungary to Kliska Nema, Slovakia - 84km

When cycle route signage is good, it's a lot of fun; kind of like a scavenger hunt. When it's bad, it's just painful. You end up on random roads or backtracking, which has often been our case in Hungary. We started off the morning cycling by Esztergom's enormous basilica, which is the largest building in Hungary. 

Poor signage of the Eurovelo 6 route soon put us on a corner, decidedly lost. Fortunately, Hungarian helpfulness came to our aid as three different people tried to put us back on track. One even regaled us with a Hungarian history lesson: "Hungary used to have an empire and access to two oceans, now we just have a third of that territory and Lake Balaton is our ocean!" Amusing but kind of depressing.

Turned out we had to ride on a fast road with no shoulder and bad pavement to get to the next section of the path. By the time we had the chance to cross into Slovakia we took it, we were fed up with Hungarian bike paths. Slovakia also lacked proper route signage but made up for it with big, freshly painted cycle paths on smooth asphalt. We ended up covering about twice as much distance per hour in Slovakia than in Hungary. Just as our bottoms were getting sore, we spotted a "Zimmer frei" sign in an elderly couples yard. They fixed us our first Slovak cuisine and even gave us a try of their homemade "schnapps" which burned  like firewater. 

Day 45: Szentendre (Saint Andrew) to Esztergom - 48km

At 3am I awoke with a start, kicking at an animal that had been nuzzling my foot through the tent. It emitted a blood curdling banshee scream and bounded off. What was it? I wondered. A large cat? A raccoon or possum? We're still not sure. All I saw was a large shadow and a bushy tail. What's worse is that it stuck around, stalking the area for the next hour and screeching once more just to let us know. We were in the most remote and uninhabited part of a large campsite so we picked up our tent and walked 150 yards to a more populated spot. We got a couple more hours of sleep but set off cursing the mythical beast that had terrorized us earlier that morning. So much for Europe having a docile wilderness!

We continued West along the until we came to a very nice river bank that many locals were sunning on. This was the first accessible part of the Danube we had seen, everything else had been covered in mud. Since wild camping is legal in Hungary, we pitched out tent down and had a lovely evening on the river sans animals and mosquitoes thanks to a strong wind!

Though no banshees visited us that night, we were surprised to see a robotic procession around 10pm. Nearly 200 people, adorned with flashing lights on their arms, legs and heads were jogging single file. We couldn't even tell if they were running or cycling until we crept closer, remaining hidden from view of the robo-joggers. We figured if these guys were out, they would probably scare away any potential banshees.

Day 44: Budapest to Szentendre (Saint Andrew) - 44km

It seemed improper to leave Budapest without visiting any of the city's famous thermal baths so we went to Szchenyi Baths in City Park. Built just at the beginning of the 20th century, it is the largest bathing complex in Eurpope. It lived up to the hype, with thermal pools of different temps and wet, dry and eucalyptus saunas tucked away in elegant, modern halls. We left feeling refreshed and relaxed. 

Leaving Budapest was probably our only pleasant riding experience within the city limits. My bell was at its highest point of utility as I used it to part the waves of wandering tourists and puttering cyclists out of our way on the path. Unlike the wandering Hungarians and tourists at Balaton, the people on Budapest bike paths were prompt to make way. Too bad there are only two functional paths like this in the whole city running alongside the river. 

Day 43: Budapest to Memento Park - 33km

We woke up at noon after a later-than-expected night out and grabbed a quick lunch before cycling to Memento Park. It was made after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 as a place for all the old communist statues from around Hungary. We weren't really sure what to expect: a park with a heap of decaying Stalins and Lenins or something more organized. It was the latter. The irony of the capitalization of communist trinkets, such as fridge magnets and passports was probably the park's most interesting feature. We paid 1500 forint ($6) to get in, but would have had to pay an extra 2500 for a guided tour had we not just missed it. There weren't any explanations for any of the statues, save for a few titles. We spent about 30 minutes at the park than rode back an hour and 30 minutes to Budapest.

On our way back, we saw our first cyclist injury of the trip. An ambulance and bus had pulled over on top of the bike path and there was a mangled bike lying in the street. My guess was that the bus had turned right into the cyclist as they were trying to cross the street. It was a grim reminder of how vulnerable you are on a bike when you're not separated from vehicular traffic (which countries like Austria, Holland and Belgium do really well!)

Rather than try and cram in a visit to the Thermal Baths, we took the advice of our hostel's manager and tried another one of his restaurant suggestions. The first two had been good but this one was incredible. Every single thing about the meal was fantastic. It didn't even cost much because it was in a local area. We finished it off with some fabulous Tokaj dessert wine and tasted some more great  Hungarian  wine straight from a cellar to finish the night. 

Day 40: Balatonkali to Budapest - 34km (plus trains)

The Lake Balaton bike path though is pretty bad overall. There are roots coming up through the path that shake your whole body with every bump. The result is that your muscles are constantly tense as you ride. Not fun. It is also surprisingly narrow so that two cyclists with panniers riding in opposite sides can barely pass one another. 

We ended up on the road a few times skipping some of the poorer sections of the path until we reached the next town. Hearing that the route between the lake and Budapest was lame resulted in us catching another train. We arrived at the station with under ten minutes to go. As Elizabeth rushed off to buy tickets I saw our train pull in on another platform on the other side of the station. As we rushed up and down the ramps, we got a double dose of Hungarian altruism as random locals helped us push our bikes up the steep slippery ramps. The conductor yelled to a kid who slid open the train car and we heaved the loaded bikes on board. Two and a half hours later we pulled into Budapest and as the sun set, we wound through foreign streets at high speeds until we were met with one of the most beautiful welcomes to a city I have ever experienced: the parliament building across the river in Pest which I have on my handheld camera and will upload later!

Day 36: Keszthely to Balatonkali - 61 km

We headed North on the bike path that runs along Lake Balaton, knowing already that it didn't actually run alongside the lake. It was good for the first 10km, but then got a little rough. There were a few nice views though, particularly as we rose to a hill where all the locals produce their own wine. Rather than develop their lots into condos or real estate, the option to keep them as mini-vinyards gave Szigliget almost Mediterranean feel as we wound through the streets catching glimpses of people sailing on the ocean... I mean, lake!

Day 35: Maribor, Slovenia to Keszthely, Hungary - 52 km (plus 2 trains and a bus)

Faced with the prospect of more hills through cornfields and at least two long days to get from Maribor to Lake Balaton, Hungary; we opted to cut a couple days out and travel by train again. A creative route that we had planned quickly became more so when we had to switch from train to bus part way through. With the route changed, we deboarded early and took a Croatian detour, thoroughly confusing the border agents of the newest member of the EU with our heavily stamped, non-EU passports. At the next boarder back into Slovenia, the officer jokingly asked if my extra passport photo was for him! Hard to believe that 35 days and six countries into the trip these are the first checkpoints we've been through.

Our afternoon involved two more trains following a stop over in the hungarian border town of Lenti where we got our first taste of both the delicious food and the complicated language. We followed the "helpful" picture of a train to the station, not realizing until we arrived at children's train museum that we were misled. And at the end of the day we arrived at Kesthely on the southern tip of Lake Balaton. Despite the lazy day for our legs (although we did get in some kilometers between stations), our arms were well worked by the lack of ramps or elevators and the unusually high train cars! 

Day 34: Selnica ob Dravi to Maribor 16km

We have decided Pensions are they way to go for when we are visiting cities. They are cheaper than hotels, nicer than hostels and are directly supporting small local businesses. Arriving in Maribor, we went straight to the tourist office, where they found and reserved us a pension within minutes. It was located above a Sarajevan restaurant so of course, we had to try the food; maybe my favorite meal thus far. 

Day 33: Volkemarkt, Austria to Selnica ob Dravi, Slovenia - 101 km

We finally made a "Euro-century" today as our odometer read 101.4 km as our aching bodies pulled into Selnica ob Dravi, just short of Maribor. Leaving Volkemarkt, we descended to the Austrian border and were treated to more glorious views of the bluish  green Drava. 

As soon as we entered Slovenia, it felt different. The hills rose higher and the woods became thick, almost like Northern California. The bike path disappeared and we were forced to ride most of the afternoon on a windy mountain road. As the sun began to set, we contemplated finding a place to wild camp as the road sans street lamps would not be a safe option after dark. As we climbed a hill, we spotted a sign showing a word we had learned hours earlier meaning pension. 

The owner let out a semi menacing guffaw when we told her where we were from; guess they don't get a lot of Yankees round here! In half German and English, we negotiated a price for the evening: 38€ with breakfast. Dinner consisted of some strange fare: cottage cheese rolled in dough, salad and fish, but was pretty good.

Day 32: Kopliener See day off

Waking to sunshine and dry ground this morning, the campsite didn't seem so bad as it did last night. The heat of the early sun and the idea of rewarding our Alpen climb resulted in the baring of our intense spandex tan lines and a day of 'zee'-side relaxation. If we spent all the days in such a state our blog would certainly be a quicker read!

Some little gooselets with their folks!

Day 31: Villach to Volkemarkt - 68 km

Campsites in this part of Austria have been exceedingly sparse so today we made for the only two campsites between Villach and Maribor, both on the Kopleiner Zee. A rainstorm closely preceded our arrival and made the small, camper can-filled site on the north side look exceedingly bedraggled. The only patch free for a tent was bare earth, now much, and next to the washing up stations. However, the bigger problem was our need for .50 Euro coins to operate the shower. This hurdle resulted in the unexpected highlight of the day when Miles secured the coins as change from a vending machine for the best Austrian beer we've had to date! 

Day 30 Bad Gastein to Villach - 93 km

Despite our aching quads and hammies, we were forced to start off on hills once again. After climbing a bit, we reached the plateau at Bockstein. This was the end of the road. Even cars have to be loaded on the train and schlepped through the mountain tunnel to Malnitz on the other side. So we lugged our steeds on board and sat though ten minutes of ear popping darkness as we penetrated the mountain. 

On the other side, it was a twenty minute downhill to Spittal. Topping around 65kph on the bikes, we almost had the contents of our handlebar bags bounce out as we neared the bottom. There were some slight inclines, but it was mostly flat or downhill as we transitioned to our new bike path: Drau Radweg. The path snakes along the Drau/Drava river, descending out of the Alps. Later in the day we looked back and saw how far we had descended!

Day 29 St. Veit to Bad Gastein - 42.3(uphill!)

When it's raining, we like to keep sleeping until the rain stops (an advantage of long summer days). However today, it just didn't want to stop. A local showed us a kids playroom that we hung out and lunched in while waiting out the rain. 

After suiting up in heavy rain gear, we proceeded to crawl 10-15k through the steepest terrain on our ride. We finally reached a plateau that saved us from more hills by putting us through two tunnels, including one that was almost 2km long.

As we rolled into Bad Gastein, it seemed we were doomed to repeat our previous day by facing big hills at the end as the only hotel on river level was 240€ a night. We climbed a few before finding Pension Laura, which was also a Pizza joint for 62€. The included breakfast was more than enough upon entering and seeing the layers of kitsch that covered every square inch of the place. We had a wonderful dinner and a very restful sleep!

Day 28: Salzburg to St. Veit - 97km

"Alps shmalps, we are really crushing it today!" I thought, before reaching the first of four mountain passes in crossing The Alps. The uphills with serious grades (10+%) didn't start until Bischofshofen, giving us speeds of 60 kph on the downhill as we passed a beautiful old castle. The route, Alpine Adria Radweg, was very well marked and put us on gravel or paved paths alongside the river. 

Reaching our initially planned campsite with fresh legs, we agreed to push on to the next campsite. This is where things started to get silly. Two of the next campsites (one advertised by sign just off the bike path), were nowhere to be found. We then faced the decision of going over another mountain pass or backtracking and looking for the last campsite. We ended up having walk our bikes  up our steepest grade of the day(25%?) and ride several more km. but our reward? A nice campsite with the best bathrooms we've seen.

Day 25: Munich to Simsee - 87km

"The route goes up and down a bit, but it's nice because you end up at a beautiful lake," our host Kirsten had told us. I kept this in my head as cars whizzed past; our first experience on the streets and I'm glad we had finally purchased helmets! Actually, German drivers were pretty good about giving us a wide berth to pass. It was just shocking to see the change from bike lanes everywhere alongside highways to just designated zones. 

Some rolling hills and 80 km later, we descended on the lake. Sweaty and tired, we started to set up our stuff when swarms of killer mosquitoes came after us. We rushed to shower and cover ourselves head to toe, but the mossies were resilient. We ended up cooking dinner in the rec room and watching German music videos instead of a glorious lakeside sunset.

Days 22-24: Munich

Ah Munich, the capital of Bavaria; our experience couldn't have been any more perfect as an Oom-pa-pa band belted out a tune as we strolled into the Biergarten on a sunny afternoon. Tasty cuts of fried pork, bratwurst, pretzels, potatoes and sauerkraut dominated our culinary experience along with "small" (half liter) beers. We also began the trend of a pastry a day in Munich's numerous bakeries. Our first night, we walked through driving rain to reach Tollman, an outdoor festival featuring regional food, arts and crafts. In spite of the good free music flowing out of the tents, we were content to dry ourselves over our new favorite German beer, Hubertus Mai Bock from Hacker-Pshorr.

While walking downtown the next day we happened upon a plaque marking the very building where Kristallnact(The Night of Broken Glass) began. As much fun as we had taking in the beautiful old buildings and people walking around in leiterhosen, there was the constant reminder that Munich was once the starting point for the Nazi Party. As suggested by our host, Kirsten, we went to visit the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial site. It was the first concentration camp in Germany, used mainly for political opponents of the Nazis in 1933 but then functioned as a work camp and transit station for other concentration and death camps. Most of the barracks had been demolished, but one was still standing along with a bunker, which had been used for interrogation and torture. Both areas were chock full of information and there was even a cinema showing a documentary on Dachau. As somber and unnerving an experience it was to be where so many have suffered and perished, we at least were able to gain a greater understanding as to what went on there.

Later we visited the  Lenbach museum of modern art, which had just reopened weeks before. Featured was an exhibit on Kandinsky and the Blue Riders, an art collective that led to the Bauhaus movement in Germany. We both enjoyed Kandinsky's earlier transcendental paintings although I was a bigger fan of Paul Klees. We closed our chapter on Munich attempting to take down a kaiserstrudel, an enormous apple pastry with Kirsten and her friend. 

Day 21: Mainz to Munich - via train

"Hey baby, I figured out a way to get to Munich that only takes two more hours" is a lot easier to hear when you're traveling by train instead of bicycle. Traveling by rail to Munich is our way of gaining the time that we will need to take on the Alps. Miles figured  out a genius way to save us 100 euros by taking only regional trains, four of them to be exact. It's basically took our entire day and we arrived in Munich late in the evening and got possibly the last room in a hostel near the station. Everything seems to have been booked due to the X-Games this weekend. The price, quality and anonymity of the hostel made us appreciate even more the wonderful Warm Showers hosts we have had as well as the unassuming and easygoing nights camping. However,the  Augustiner beer garden we were directed to for a late night meal was a perfect welcome to Munich.

-Elizabeth

Day 20: Neiderheimbach to Mainz - 50km

Today we celebrated our first flat tire . . . surely those were exclamations of joy coming from Miles! It happened in the morning before we even left the campsite and strangely enough was caused by the pump that came with the bicycle. Apparently it requires two people to function properly and without being braced it tore the inner tube. Miles gave me my first lesson in changing the tube and we headed off to Mainz.

We found to our disappointment that the scenic part of our Rhein ride was over. In fact we were no longer even riding along the river but rather inland through small fields and orchards. Not ugly, but not all that interesting either, so we took advantage of the protected and well-marked bike path to speed our way to Mainz. The main attraction in Mainz was the Gutenburg Museum dedicated to the man who invented the printing press, sharing the history of book writing and illustrating, and displaying three versions of the first bible ever printed. 

After this museum stop came our possibly game-changing decision. In Koblenz we met a Canadian couple in Koblenz who was at the beginning of a six-month bike tour during which they would cross the French Alps. This got Miles thinking and he suggested we perhaps add the Alps to our itinerary. We thought this plan over for a couple days and have decided to pursue it. The route is unclear yet but we do know that we will take a train to Munich tomorrow and head south from there into the Austrian Alps!

-Elizabeth

Day 19: Koblenz to Bacharach - 63 km

We finished today sitting on the banks of the Rhein in front of our campsite, sipping local wine and eating "homemade" chicken noodle soup. We couldn't have asked for a better view with the river turning a bend just up to our right, a castle sitting on the edge of the hillside, and vineyards running up the steep slopes of the bank opposite us. While we ate we watched slow freight boats that we had seen hours earlier now chugging past us. 

Our morning started in Koblenz with a gondola trip up from the river to a hilltop fort that has existed in some form since 1000BC when the Romans first built it. After a quick stop at the grocery store to grab the makings of a gourmet (naturally!) picnic, we set off on the path south with no particular destination in mind. The journey was peaceful and we encountered numerous quaint hamlets with steepled churches, clock towers, and houses with dark crisscrossed timber facades, all set against a background of steep forested hills dotted with castles. 

Day 18: Köln to Koblenz via Bonn - 64 km

How quickly our tune has changed . . . Today found us on another train! Two things led to this turn around decision. 1) the ride from Dusseldorf yesterday did not in fact produce the breathtaking Rhein River sites that we had been expecting. Stephanie, our host in Köln told us the next section was equally if not more industrial and she thought the real scenery started around Bonn. 2) a newly hatched plan to conquer the Hapsburg Empire, inspired by our fellow train traveller Paul's rave reviews of Bratislava and Budapest in addition to Vienna and Prague, has extended the distances we hope to cover in what time we have left. I.e. give us beauty and culture or give us the train!

Fortunately today's rail experience was relatively painless and as we emerged into the southern outskirts of Bonn, and the landscape transformed into forested hills and picturesque houses, we knew we had made the right decision. In fact, we jumped off the train a stop early and eagerly made our way to the bike path running along the banks of the Rhein. Nothing but smooth riding from there to Koblenz where we set up camp for the night. 

Day 17: Dusseldorf to Koln

Our first night of "stealth camping" resulted in our earliest start yet. After getting off the train last night, we directed our bikes toward our first views of the Rhein River and the greenest patches on the map. After a half hour or so of wending our way through the inner trails of a large woodland type park, we finally settled on a clearing that met our camping needs while still being almost entirely hidden from the trail. However, our fears of discovery prompted us to rise at first light and hit the road.

Closer than expected, we made it to Koln by noon although we had told our host that we wouldn't be arriving until about seven hours later. Our first method of passing the time was a picnic and much needed siesta in a nice park. After being rudely awoken by a very sudden rainstorm (thank goodness we were still in our rain gear!), we continued into the center of Koln and hit upon a once-a-month flea market extending a few kilometers along the river. And this was the site of our first German meal: bratwurst! 

Day 16: Amsterdam to Dusseldorf

 Today's experience absolutely confirmed our decision to travel Europe by bicycle. Our first attempt to take the train with bikes just well may be our last; it was an absolute fiasco! Out first mistake was to buy the tickets at the station where, it turns out, they only sell the most expensive options. The second mistake was not ours, however, but that of the *insert appropriate German expletive * at the ticket counter who sold us tickets for both ourselves and our bikes on a train that does not in fact take bicycles. Imagine our confusion when we arrive at the platform for our connecting train to Dusseldorf and ask in which car we can put our bikes! 

Miles masterfully kept his cool as he explained the situation to the highly dubious man at this station's ticket counter, who ultimately printed us tickets for the three more trains we would need to take and refunded us the difference. Fortuitously, Miles had picked up a few mini bottles of wine (complete with attached glasses, bless you Europe!) and we indulged ourselves on the second train of the day. Good thing, because the real excitement turned out to be on the fourth and final train from Venlo across the boarder and to Dusseldorf. 

We actually would have missed this train due to the late arrival of train number three, but apparently it never came. We waited out the time till the following train casually chatting it up with Paul, a Berliner with lots of good advice about Germany and European destinations in general. Just as our train was due to arrive, an announcement over the loudspeakers prompted a mad dash to another platform! There was enough time for anyone moving at a clip to get there before the train, but with our loaded bikes we were constrained by the need to take a single occupancy elevator down from the current platform and then a second elevator up to the new platform. 

It was close but we got the platform in time for the train, ready to settle in for an afternoon snooze, or so we thought . . . This train was at double capacity and full to the max! We ran our bikes down the platform past car after car already containing bikes and with people waving us on. We reached the last car as the train was about to leave and it was now or never. With a stream of apologies accompanied by an insistent parting of the crowd we barely wedged ourselves and bikes into the entryway, much to the very apparent, loudly vocalized chagrin of everyone around us. 

Day 12: Brielle to Zandvoort - 94 km

We arrived at our first ferry a bit early and had to psychically persuade the boatman on the other side to pick us up fifteen minutes before he usually started. On the ride to our second ferry, we raced ahead to get on it as the ferry seemed to be leaving. At my side, Elizabeth doubled over and was coughing; a bee had flown in her mouth and stung her in the throat. Luckily, she was able to push through it and we soon passed through Delft, which reminded me of Amsterdam but smaller and without the sketchy crowd. It had this old clock tower shamelessly leaning at an almost double digit angle.

Next up was The Hague, which was way larger than we expected. It had an interesting contrast of old and new buildings.

We rushed through The Hague on the way to the beach because it was the hottest day of the year so far and encountered our first "hills" which were some pretty steep sand dunes, no joke. After a nice rest and a second set of dunes, we arrived at Zanvoort.