Day 15 - 30 June 2018 - Osweicim, PL to Warsaw, PL

Today we started the 3rd week of this year's European journey. After our customary 8am breakfast, we packed up the bike and headed on a 350km route to Warsaw, Poland. The route, for the most part took us on the 7 road which was a divided 3-4 lane major highway. The maximum speed limit was 140kmh or 84mph, but for the most part I kept it to 100-110kmh. The wind was buffeting all day. Just after lunch we stopped for lunch at what we thought would be a quick McDonald's meal. But the lines for ordering were at least 50 people deep. So we elected to eat at a the local cafe in the fuel stop complex. There were a number of motorcycles parked there, and we were able to converse with their owners. Several other drivers noted our license plate and they too wanted to talk. One fellow was also a motorcyclist and just came back from riding in Romania. Due to the conversations and changing of food venues, this stop took a bit longer than I had planned. But soon we were back on the highway again getting buffeted all the way to Warsaw. The GPS took us right to our Hotel Boss, and it turned out to be a very cool choice for lodging. We have front door motorcycle parking, a spacious room, a restaurant, a 2 lane bowling alley, and a park like area surrounding the hotel. Score for about $45 per night. It's not quite the bargain as our first Czech Republic bargain, but this one is really nice.  

We figured out that for our touring day tomorrow, we would take an Uber into the train station where we would then catch the Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) bus to get a lay of the land. We also want to specifically visit the Old Town. As has been customary for this trip, we walked to the nearest LIDL (a discount grocery store found all over Europe) where we purchased some snacks for a quasi dinner and treats to watch the World Cup match between Portugal and Uruguay (Uruguay won 4-3). I also used the hotel's Win 7 PC & printer to print our HOHO tickets. They won't accept an electronic version for some strange reason. While watching the soccer game, I updated my blog,  

And so ended another nice day of riding in Poland. We're really in the heart of Eastern Europe.

Day 14 - 29 June 2018 - Osweicim, PL - Wieliczka Salt Mine

After another nice breakfast, we geared up and rode about an hour east to Krakow and a short distance further to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. We secured a paid parking spot and prepared to go underground for at least 3 hours. There was about a 40 minute wait in line for tickets for an English speaking tour, but we were able to get in an 11am tour. One dons a listening device and then the guide and group procede initially down some 400 stairs in a corkscrew sort of fashion where we reached level one. We wandered through tunnels labeled with the years they were active. One could rub one's fingers on the walls and it was definitely salty. The mine has been active since the 1300's although now it's not a commercial endeavor other than being the most popular tourist attraction in Poland receiving some 1,300,000 visitors per year. We proceeded further down into the mine using stairs and discovered several lakes, 3 very large and ornate functioning chapels and even two gift shops and a full service restaurant and a museum along with a large meeting hall. All of this is over 300 feet underground. After the tour was over we watched a movie about how salt was mined and then had a nice late lunch in the restaurant.

Fortunately one doesn't need to climb the over 800 stairs it would take to get back to the surface. There's a lift that takes a large group of people up to the surface in 42 seconds! Since we had time, we ended up riding into Krakow including by the site of the former concentration camp of KL Plaszow. None of the buildings remain, but there is a striking memorial. Traffic was extremely heavy going into the city of Krakow, but we were able to find a parking spot by St. Francis of Assisi church.  

Our goal was to visit the Old City as that's all the time we had allocated. We visited the local Tourist Information office and got a city tourist map and proceeded to walk around the Old City to some of the key historical points. It was extremely busy. In my advance research, I wanted specifically to see the Wawel Castle and the Barbakan gate, both of which we found. The central town square in Old Town was very busy on this Friday night, and I even snapped a photo of a bride leaving in a taxi. Talk about low budget! We even noted a number of carriage rides and several antique cars from Great Britain who were touring. Just outside the Barbakan gate we learned an important piece of Eastern European history by visiting the monument to the Battle of Grunwald which took place in 1410 where the combined forces of Poland and Lithuania defeated the Teutonic Knights of Germany and moved the economic power from Germany to the east. 

As sunset came, we rode the hour back to our Inn and prepared for what we would do next. We have around 500 or so miles to reach Vilnius, Lithuania on June 2. So we decided we would do 1/2 of it by riding to Warsaw and spending two nights which gives us a day in Warsaw to see some of the sights. We don't have to be in Vilnius until 8pm so it should be an easy ride.  I did find lodging at the Boss Hotel in Warsaw for the two nights. But what should we do in Warsaw?   Time will tell.

Day 13 - 28 June 2018 - Osweicim, PL - Auschwitz

Today we chose to visit the Auschwitz Concentration Camps. And I do mean plural. After a nice continental breakfast at our little Inn, we rode the few kilometers to Auschwitz Berkenau II which was the second Auschwitz built, and it's about 20 times larger than the original Auschwitz. We got there before 9am and before many of the tour buses had arrived. Much of the original camp and particularly the gas chambers were destroyed by the Nazis before the Russians liberated the camp in January, 1945. Several things stood out for me as we walked virtually the entire grounds. First was the sheer scale of this death camp. It's 40 square kilometers or 3 square miles in size and was specifically built to do the dastardly deeds that we performed there. Second, I learned that 75% of the incoming prisoners were immediately gassed: the young, the old, the infirm, the mentally challenged, those with prosthetics. We somberly walked around the camp following the guiding arrows and reading the placards at each appropriate point. In the back of the camp is a memorial to those who died there, and there are tablets written in many languages to commemorate the sad event. We ended up spending over 3 hours walking the grounds and paying our respects. 

We had parked in what turned out to be the employee parking lot so we moved the bike to the paid parking lot and thought there was a museum there, but there wasn't. A fellow noticed our license plate and we were able to chat with him and learn where the original Auschwitz was nearby located. So we headed there knowing that we would have to purchase tickets and take a guided English tour. It was about an hour wait and we got the last 2 tickets for an English speaking tour which would start an hour and a half later at 3:30pm. So we ate some lunch in the onsite cafe before heading in for our tour. While waiting there, we met a couple of ladies who were also on the English speaking tour, but they were on the newly created one after our tour became full. The girls are best friends and one lives in Australia and the other is a Pharmacist in Toronto, Canada. Promptly at 3:30pm our guide, Anna, greeted us and we began the tour. I'm not going to describe it out of respect for those who lived and died here and as it is well documented on the internet. Needlesstosay, it was moving and horrifying that man could be so cruel and inhumane to their fellow man. This camp was not destroyed to the extent that Camp II was, but the retreating Nazis did remove and destroy the gas chambers and related items. Two of the crematorium units have been reproduced and it's a gut wrenching sight. The tour actually continued with a trip to Camp II, but since we had already been there, we passed on returning.  

So we headed back to our Inn and put the bike away for the night. We also ate a nice dinner, and then decided to walk into the old town of Osweicim and explore it. It ended up being a 2.5 mile walk there and after getting thoroughly drenched in a passing rain shower, it was 2.5 miles back. We had a local tourist map and enjoyed many of the sites including the Castle of the Dukes of Osweicim, the Salesian Mary Help of Christians Church, the town square, Virgin Mary's Assumption Church, the town square with a giant TV screen playing a World Cup Soccer game, Later on when the cloudburst occurred we wondered how wet the few people watching the game got.

Back at the room, we hung up our wet clothes to begin the drying process and got ourselves ready for a night's rest. It would be another big day tomorrow.

Day 12 - 27 June 2018 - Turnov, CZ to Osweicim, PL

Today was a total travel day as we needed to cover some 260 miles which is s pretty big distance in Europe if one doesn't ride the equivalent of an interstate highway. I set the GPS to avoid toll roads and interstates and off we went under threatening skies.  

The route took us south from Turnov past the now familiar blockage that I figured out a detour around and then we rode on the 35 road and eventually headed more easterly. About 2 hours later we crossed the Polish border. From a riding perspective, the only thing that changed was the language. The road conditions were comparable to the Czech Republic, but a notch down from the German road quality. The villages were frequent and interesting.

Around noon we stopped in a major town that had a mall and an ATM and I withdrew $50 Polish Zloty not realizing how little it was in US dollars (about $12). But it was enough to allow us to get a quick lunch at McDonald's and use their WIFI. I also used Booking.Com to find a room for the next two nights for about $38US per night.

We rode on for a couple more hours past another unsigned blockage, and I found my way around it using some off pavement riding for about a mile. We then found a little village that had an ATM and I did a bigger withdrawal so that we could refuel the motorcycle.  

We arrived in Oswiecim around 5:30pm and found our pension called Zajazd Skorpion which is only a few kilometers from the two Auschwitz Concentration camps. The pension is clean and neat and the proprietor allowed us to park behind the building. As he had a group of Asian tourists booked for dinner we couldn't eat until 8pm after they left. So we settled into our cozy little room with the biggest bathroom door I have ever seen.  

After dinner I arranged for us to stay for a third night so we could spend one day seeing Auschwitz and the other seeing the famous Salt Mine. These are the two most famous tourist attractions in the area. During and after dinner we watched Brazil beat Serbia in the World Cup.

Day 11 - 26 June 2018 - Turnov, CZ - Day 2

Today we went totally Bohemian! After breakfast it was a short ride to the start of what would be a 7 mile walk though the Bohemian countryside. At the stop was Castle #1, Hrad Skala. It's now a hotel. We were directed to a sidewalk parking spot for a Euro for the day or $1.16US. After a quick tour of the external features of this castle we headed out on our trek. We chose to do the yellow segment first as it would get us closer to the rock formations.

We were not disappointed in the views and it was really surprising to see the number of parents with strollers doing the walk despite some significant staircases to get up and down through the rock formations. The sandstone rock formations were exquisite and varied. At the end of the yellow trail, we reached castle #2, Hrad Ravenstejn. We ate a kielbasa sausage at the local pub and then toured the remains of this unoccupied castle. 

1. The route back went along a ridge line using what appeared to be a nice former logging road. It was considerably faster to walk back, although it was less scenic. We then geared up and rode the 6k or 4 miles to our third and final castle. This castle was built on the remains of two volcanic spires which are a prominent feature visible for miles around. Castle #3 (Hrad Trosky) has as a main visitor feature the option of climbing 140 stairs to the top of the Babba tower where there were 360 degree views of the surrounding area.

We then rode back to our Pension stopping to refuel for the next day's ride. It also started raining after a picture perfect day. Back at our Pension, the garage was locked, so we squeezed by a little van and parked in front of the garage door, covered the bike, popped some popcorn, and watched the Argentina-Nigeria World Cup soccer match. Argentina won 2-1.

Day 10 - 25 June 2018 - Turnov, CZ

We headed out this morning on a northeasterly route via 2 lane roads and little farm roads. For lunch we stopped at a KFC and it was pretty good. There was lots of truck traffic on these 2 lane roads. At one construction stoppage Angela counted over 20 waiting to get through.

We had to be at the Hotýlek Na Výšince by 2pm and we made it with minutes to spare. After we unpacked we walked to downtown and found the tourist information office where a very helpful fellow helped orient us to the city and the area. First we visited a garnet exhibit (this is a big industry in this region) and then we walked around noting various memorials and churches and found the Jewish synagogue which was not destroyed in WWII. There was even a cafe called the Turnoff Cafe (a play on words).

After dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant, we watched the Portugal-Iran World Cup soccer match and enjoyed some microwave popcorn before retiring for the night. The room is one of the largest we've ever had and is quite cheery in decor. The comforters were a bit small, however. Tomorrow we gave an interesting day planned in the local area.

Day 9 - 24 June 2018 - Tabor, CZ

This day's ride was over 250 miles (that's long riding the back roads) and in the shape of a Czech (check) mark. We had hoped to visit the castle at Cesky Krumlov, but it took so long to get there riding the wonderful back roads that there was only two hours left to see the castle and it was closed the next day (Monday). Additionally there were many signs indicating that it was a high car prowl area. We were even approached by an English speaking beggar. So we settled for an external picture of the castle and motored on to the town of Tabor just south of Prague. With the help of Booking.com, we found a penzion with secure parking downtown near the train station.  

After we Czeched in, we headed out walking to find some dinner which we found at a little pizza shop. The proprietor was very friendly and the Gyro Tortila was wonderful. We continued walking towards the old town admiring the architecture and came across 

a 'Best of Carmen' live concert in the town square with a full orchestra. It was outstanding and we really enjoyed it although it was lightly drizzling.

Back at the Penzion Dasa, we watched Poland get eliminated in the World Cup by Colombia, and plotted our next stop. We're headed for Turnov and will spend two nights there. We're skipping Prague as visiting big cities with a motorcycle isn't fun. Little towns and villages are.

Day 8 - 23 June 2018 - Karlovy Vary, CZ - Day 2

Today we spent the day touring in the local area. There were two little cities we wanted to visit. First was Loket. It has a famous castle (hrat in Czech). Along the ride to Loket we found a large dam on the Ohre River. Loket is located on a horseshoe bend in the Ohre River and the castle has an effective moat on three sides plus it's constructed on the highest piece of ground. After being used for a noble residence, it was used as a prison for around two hundred years. There's a porcelain exhibit as well as a macabre torture chamber in the dungeon area. The city has colorful architecture and we walked the cobblestone streets and found yet another dam.

Leaving Loket, we rode back to Karlovy Vary and found the gorgeous Russian Orthodox Church of St. Peter and St. Paul. The onion shaped spires were golden and super shiny. Inside the Church was under renovation. The area around the church was filled with expensive, colorful, and large homes and boutique 4 star hotels. We found another place to park downtown and we to find the baroque church of St. Mary. We walked along a pedestrian mall and the famous colonnades and by open thermal fissures and geysers. There was no smell from them compared to Yellowstone thermal activity. We found the church and the interior is stunning but no photography was allowed. By now it was raining lightly and it was time to head back to our hotel.  

Back at the hotel we enjoyed an excellent Czech meal and then watched the German-Swiss World Cup soccer match and I did some route planning for our second week of traveling through the Czech Republic, Poland, and Lithuania.

We headed south to visit another famous castle. One might say this is a castles and cathedrals tour. But we're seeing so much more.

Day 7 - 22 June 2018 - Karlovy Vary, CZ

We woke up in a slightly chilly tent at the Campingplatz Zur Mühle. As the sun cane over the horizon the tent definitely warmed up. We bought our rolls and juice from the bread lady's mobile van, packed up, ate, and checked out.

I rerouted us around the main City of Nuremberg using the ring road through Fürther, but the traffic that way was just as bad. It took almost an hour to get clear of the city. And then the rain came. So we stopped and put on our rain gear. The rain would persist most of the rest of the day. We encountered another unsigned road blockage that took a bit to navigate around. There is no warning on these blockages; there's simply a red x across the route signage at the point of blockage But I'm getting pretty good at figuring out detour routes on the fly.

We slogged along little back roads and refueled at Speichersdorf (I wanted a full tank entering a new and unknown country to us) and took a break from the rain and had some lunch. We also took the opportunity to purchase some dishwashing gloves to help keep our hands dry. They worked well for 99 euro cents. Soon we approached the Czech border with the customary blue European Union sign, but our waterproof camera battery had died so I stopped just past it at the former border checkpoint to swap batteries. With the formation of the EU, there are generally no border checks between member countries on the continent.

Just after we crossed the border, a pretty blue unmarked police car did a u-turn in front of us and pulled over a vehicle. Welcome to CZ. We continued on our journey passing through little villages and it looked like they were generally a bit older in appearance and condition than typical German villages. There were a number of Soviet style apartment complexes (think big, boxy, & drab). We also noted Soviet style electrical towers that we've previously seen in the former East Germany.

In one little village our route had us turn right on what was now a gravel and pothole marred muddy road. The GS (it stands for road and trail in German) handled it well. This went on for about a mile and the pavement then returned until the next village. Then the conditions repeated themselves, only more harshly! But we motored on and when we reached the third village I asked Angela over the intercom if it would be a three for three day. Fortunately it wasn't and we motored on in pretty dry conditions on these little back roads until we reached Karlovy Vary which is a renowned CZ town noted for the largest film festival in Eastern Europe. That festival starts next weekend.

I first wanted to get some local currency so we found an ATM. Then we needed to find some lodging as it was 4pm. On the GPS I found a place with camping cabins (we did want to camp in the damp), and we headed to it. About 500 feet from our turn off we came to a complete stop due to an accident ahead, and it took nearly an hour to get to the intersection. We finally made it and navigated to the camping cabins which adjoined the Hotel Vitkova Hora. There were no camping cabins and the hotel was hosting a wedding; but the proprietress said they had one upper really nice room for $72 and we booked it for two nights. We couldn't eat in the dining room so she brought up terrific salads which became our dinner. We watched more of the World Cup (Switzerland vs. Serbia), began to dry out, charged our devices, & took our first real baths in years. Yes it's good to be pampered every once in a while. All the while, the downstairs wedding party throbbed to the loud music which resonated throughout the hotel.

And so ended yet another wonderful day. Sometimes it pays to be lucky. Or as we say continually to each other while traveling that our first rule is to just show up. Nothing good can happen until you do.

Day 6 - 21 June 2018 - Nuremberg Day 2

After a warm sleep, we woke up to the pleasant sounds of birds chirping. At 8am the Bread vendor arrived with the pleasant toot of its horn much like an ice cream truck does, and we purchased some bröchen and juice to go with the canned sausage meat that we purchased at the town the previous day. While it was tasty, it had the appearance of eating cat or dog food out of a can. We then geared up and rode back into town (6 miles away) and suffered the same traffic mess as the day before. We found our free motorcycle parking spot at the same place as the previous day.  

The goal for today was to visit 3 significant places: the Imperial Castle, the Albrecht Dürer house and museum, and the Nuremberg War Crimes courthouse and museum. First up was a hike across the old city and up the hill to the Castle. At the Castle we paid our entry fee and first climbed the tower to enjoy the views of the city. Then we toured castle itself with its exhibits. It's worth noting that most of the Castle was destroyed in WWII, but has been skillfully reconstructed. Our last stop inside the Castle was to watch a demonstration of the Castle well which was impressive.

Leaving the castle we walked down along the castle wall and down to Albrecht Dürer's house. He was a very famous German realistic painter. The self guided tour included a listening device and we listened to every presentation as we made our way through the house. Interestingly, there's not a single authentic Dürer item in the house as all his works are in collections all over the world.

As a parenthetical note, I have received a lot of static on Facebook for wearing socks and sandals, but there is a painting in the Dürer house of him wearing red socks and sandals. If it's good enough for Albrecht Dürer, it's good enough for me!

After touring the Dürer house, we made our way back to the town square and found a restaurant to enjoy some famous little Nuremberg sausages and sauerkraut. It was then a fairly long walk of about 2 miles to the courthouse where the Nazi War Crimes were held. It's still an active courthouse but there is an excellent museum with another self guided audio/visual tour. The actual courtroom #600 was in use for another event so we couldn't visit it. We, however, could look down into it through some windows.

To save some walking, we took the U1 subway back to near where our motorcycle was parked. That was quick and easy! Back at the Campground we ate at the local restaurant and watched more of the World Cup match. This match was Croatia vs. Argentina and was a physically challenging one. The score was tied when we left. We bundled up for what seemed would be a cold night and so ended our second day in Nuremberg.

We're headed for Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic tomorrow. Stay tuned for more.

Day 5 - 20 June 2018 - Nuremberg

After a very pleasant stay in Rothenburg, we ate breakfast, chatted with our Dutch neighbor (he's a psychiatric nurse on a HONDA 700 headed south on a week long trip) about riding, packed up and headed out. For the first time we saw the new part of Rothenburg and we refueled. At the gas station who did we see? It was none but the Night Watchman tour leader! And to verify that he's probably doing well, he was driving a pretty new expensive model Audi. 

The route to Nuremberg was around 50 miles, but given that we were riding on secondary roads and passing through numerous small villages, it took us nearly 2 hours to reach our next campsite at xxxxx. We checked in and then rode another 6 miles into Nuremberg through some terrible traffic. We found an ADAC travel bureau right next to the walled city where I purchased travel insurance similar to AAA in the US. Oh and did I mention that it was hot! Riding in traffic in heat is not on my prescription list for happiness.

We learned that there was free motorcycle parking inside the walled city and we found a spot to park near the German National Museum. We shed our motorcycle gear, locked it to the bike, covered the bike, and headed off to explore the old city of Nuremberg. I should add that I forgot to bring some pants so I just wore my LDComfort shorts. We visited a nearby church (yes not another cathedral!) before walking down the main pedestrian street Koningstrasse where we found an excellent Asian restaurant (Dao's) for a late lunch. The Shrimp Pad Thai was flavorful. We noted there was a dam on the river that flowed under the restaurant and I was able to later photograph it for my friends in the DamTour group on Facebook. We continued our walk to the town square where there was a nice market set up and visited the Church of our Lady and the local Tourist Information office.

There was a little tourist train with a 45 minute narrated ride around the old city for 9€ ($14US) so we decided to take it. We found it very helpful to get a "lay of the land". The trip was only marred by another non English speaking couple who continued to talk during the narration even after we politely requested they stop. After the ride we took a break at McDonald's to hydrate and use the internet. As the German National Museum was open for free from 6-9pm on Wednesday, we took advantage of that. This museum houses an extensive painting collection sorted by era along with medieval armaments, and many other historical artifacts.

Back at the bike we geared up and rode back to camp where refreshing showers were enjoyed and a perfectly clear half moon lit sky presented itself. Angela enjoyed some pleasant conversation with some Spanish campers with two little girls. Their van had really cool bunk beds in the back for the kids.

And so our day ended. We're going back tomorrow into the city to visit 3 or 4 specific things.

Day 4- 19 June 2018 - Another day in Rothenburg

A major part of our European motorcycle traveling style is that when we come upon something we like, we stop and enjoy it. We really don't generally have a 'punch list' of stops we want to do. So it was in Rothenburg. We enjoyed our few hours there the first day, so we decided to camp here one more night.  

We had pre-ordered rolls from the local bakery which makes a Campground delivery every morning (fairly typical in Europe). We bought some meat, cheese, and orange juice and made our own continental breakfast before heading out for the day.

We first walked around our little village of Detwang. There's several hotels here as well as the Church of St. Paul and St. Peter. The church has bells that ring 4 times per hour 24/7! There's also another campground called Idyll located slightly closer to the river.

From Detwang we once again walked the mile long footpath up the hill to the old city of Rothenburg, passed through the northern city gate and rejoined the charm of this ancient city. We ended up walking the length of the city and verified that there was a 2pm English speaking walking tour. At the southern entrance to the city we once again had Greek food for lunch before heading back into the walked city. We eventually found an entrance to be able to walk along the top of the wall, and we did that until we reached an exit that put us back at the town square and the starting point of our tour.

Renate, our guide met us promptly at 2pm; and after watching the 2pm clock tower performance, we headed off on our 90 minute walking tour which went north to St. Jakob's church and then over to the local museum which was a former nunnery, the city park which was the former location of the castle that was the original purpose for the town, and back to the town square. While this tour was good, I really liked the Night Watchman's tour better because of the guide's delivery style.

If one looks at a map of the town, it sure looks like a duck's head, although our guides both referred to it as looking like a hat. The town museum looked to be interesting, so we headed back there and enjoyed seeing lots of history of the area. There is an impressive arms collection as well as a nice stein collection among many other things. We were the last visitors out of the museum at 5:20pm and walked the mile back down the hill (much easier) to our campground where we drank soda water and watched more of the World Cup. I could not keep awake, so we headed back to our tent by 8:30pm, and sleep came easily. This night in our little area we were joined by a German bicycle camper and a Dutch motorcycle camper.  

Tomorrow we head for Nürnberg which has a walled old city and other historical sites. Stay tuned.

Day 3 - 18 June 2018 - On the Road Again

Just like the famous Willie Nelson song of the same title, it was time to be on the road again and head east. We had a last continental breakfast, settled up our account with Stefan, packed the bike, and headed out on this year's adventure around 11:30am. It felt good to be on the road again. I have my GPS set to avoid interstate highways, so it routes us down really scenic country roads, all of which are paved. Just south of Heidelberg we encountered our first blocked road with no detour signage so I used my sense of direction and motored on and eventually made it over the range of hills. This opened up miles and miles of riding through farm country, forests, little villages, bigger villages and more. At another little town we encountered a blocked road with no detour signs so I figured out a detour and rode to end of a dead end. So we rode back to town and at the blockage, we gestured to a worker how to get around the blocked road. He gestured back with a big sweeping arc to ride around the hill behind him. So we did and it took us on some more wonderful paved and twisty but very narrow farm roads. At one point I saw a large raptor right alongside the road and it was impressive. Around 2:30pm we arrived in Rothenburg and were first amazed by this mid evil fort like structure. Across the street was a Greek restaurant where we enjoyed a very nice late lunch. My Gyro dish was a heaping serving of sliced meat & sliced onions and a salad and ricebut no Pita Bread. It was filling enough that no dinner was needed! 

While waiting for our meal we used the town's free WIFI to investigate what this town was all about and we learned that we had stumbled upon what is probably Germany's best preserved medieval town. There was nearby camping, so we headed to the nearby village of Detwang and the TauberRomantik Campground. The name comes from being located along the Tauber River and the Romantic road of Roman times. A tent space with electricity was only 18.90€ per night or about $21US. Another older couple arrived after us on bicycles and pitched their tent in the same area as ours.

After we pitched our tent, we walked to town along a paved and inclined path to the old city. Our goal was to take the night watchman's tour in English at 8pm. So we walked around the town square and eventually a young Singaporean couple asked me to take their picture. We enjoyed some pleasant conversation with them and learned that they would be on the same tour with us. We walked around a bit more before assembling in front of the Rathouse or city hall. Our guide showed up in period costume including a wicked looking axe, a lantern, and a slightly disheveled appearance. He gave us an introduction to the tour and what it meant to be a night watchmen. Watchmen were the 3rd lowest members of society falling just ahead of grave diggers and executioners with the latter being the lowest on the social scale. We ( a crowd of some 300 people who each paid 8€ or $10US - do the math and see how lucrative his little 1 hour job is worth: I'll do it for you, it is $3,000 per night, he does it every day!) followed him around the city and he would recite various bits about life and history of the town. He had an engaging and honed delivery style. Payment at the end of the tour was on the honor system into his trifold hat. A CD of the tour was 15€. This was probably the best walking tour we've ever taken, I would highly recommend it! FYI, another really good walking tour is Louisa's Walk in Hobart, Tasmania.

We then walked back to camp (noting at least two other men doing similar night watchman tours) including a stroll along a section of the town's defensive wall. It was much easier walking down the hill than it was walking up it!

And so ended our first day on the road. Would we stay another night? Stay tuned.

Day 2 - 17 June 2018 - Festival Time in Heidelberg

It felt really good to wake up from a nice night's rest after being up over 24 hours the "day" before. We enjoyed a nice continental breakfast with Stefan and several other travelers. We learned that there was a festival happening downtown on the banks of the Neckar River, so we decided to take in some local culture.  

We walked a few blocks to the light rail station and caught a #26 train to Bismarkplatz which is the heart of the old city of Heidelberg and a number of light rail lines converge there. The train was pretty full as many were headed for the same event. Upon arrival, we walked about 1/2 mile over the main bridge spanning the Neckar River and observed the festival stretching down river for over a mile in the riverside park. There were all sorts of booths promoting various aspects of health and welfare along with dancing competitions, live music, sailboat rides, a BMX bicycle stunt jump into the river, and a Protestant church service with some English songs. There were a few food and beverage vendors and the lines were quite long. On the adjoining street there was a giant flea market with largely all manner of toys, children's clothing and other things for sale plus more booths supporting various causes.

We left the festival and walked the mile or so up river to the historic Roman bridge which was undergoing renovation. From there we headed into the main tourist street which is a mile long pedestrian mall. It was also pretty busy and we found a favorite restaurant where we enjoyed a late lunch including my absolute favorite beer in the world: Victoria. It's a very light Pilsner style bordering on sweet.

We made our way back to Bismarckplatz where we caught a train back to Kersheim and walked back to Knopftours where we watched with Stefan and his family the World Cup soccer match between Germany and Mexico. Unfortunately Germany lost 1-0. Afterwards we caught up up on internet and did some planning about where we would go next. We selected Nuremberg as we have never been there before and it's on our way to the Czech Republic which is our next major destination. Would we make it there? Stay tuned for the next installment.

Day 1 - 15 June 2018 - Seattle to Frankfurt

We began our 2018 adventure when our son in law dropped us off at the SeaTac airport on what turned out to the busiest travel day of the year with 70,000 passengers traveling through the airport. We checked in at Lufthansa but they told u we likely would not make the flight as we were numbers 5 & 6 on the standby list. So we inquired at the Virgin Atlantic counter, and they had room so we cancelled our Lufthansa listing and listed on the Virgin Atlantic flight to Heathrow in England and then we will take a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt.  

When we checked in at Virgin Atlantic they said there was only one seat left, but the counter agent said you should just try and see if someone doesn't show up. The ticket counter personnel were super friendly and helpful and that turned out to be true throughout our contacts with Virgin Atlantic personnel. It took a while to get through security, even with TSA Precheck, and we made our way to the gate area.

At the gate, the agent said it was going to be a full flight, but they kept paging one passenger. Finally after most everyone had boarded, they called our names and we had seats on a 4 day old BRAND NEW 787 Dreamliner to Heathrow. We got the last two seats of the 291 passengers on this flight. As we boarded the flight, the gate agents who also helped us at the counter, were thrilled that we had seats. One even had gone the extra mile to schedule out other carrier alternatives for us. That was going above and beyond in terms of customer service.

We've flown on the Dreamliner before, and it's now probably my favorite long haul airplane. The seats are comfortable even in economy. I had a nice chicken meatball dinner and watched a couple movies and had a good chat with the chap next to me who works for Amazon out of the UK.

It's probably worth noting that now we've flown on Virgin Australia, Virgin America, and now Virgin Atlantic. All have been impressive flights.

At Heathrow it was an hour to get through the border control checkpoint and we missed our connecting flight. The border agent advised us that for future trips to let their personnel know we have a connecting flight and we could bypass the line.

We then collected our luggage and with some help learned that we had to find our way to terminal 2 from Terminal 3 where we had landed. It was about a 10 minute walk through the labyrinth of tunnels and escalators to terminal 2 where we saw there was a 10:30am flight to Frankfurt. So I relisted us for that flight and we checked in our luggage and immediately got assigned seats since it was not a full flight.  

The security check was the most stringent we've experienced. My backpack was selected because of all of the electronics and Angela's was selected because of liquid deodorant. Once we got through security it was a short walk to the gate and boarding was quick and easy.

The flight to Frankfurt was a little over an hour, but it took over an hour to pass through the border check. There was only one border agent and the line was consistently 400 people long. Just as we reached the agent, 2 more lines opened up. Our new passports now have UK and German entry stamps.

Our TLS shuttle was waiting for us after we waited another 20 minutes for our luggage to arrive and we were quickly driven the one hour drive to Knopf Tours in Heidelberg. Stefan, the owner, greeted us around 3 pm, and we were assigned one of the upper rooms.

We retrieved our stored bike gear and I spent some time reinstalling it and sorting out some small fixes. The bike started fine after being stored for two years. While we were starting to feel the effects of being awake over 24 hours, we walked over to a local Lidl supermarket to purchase some cheap soda water and Coke Zero before walking downtown to get some Euros and enjoy a pizza.

Back at Knopf Tours we enjoyed more conversation with other riders. It's really fun to hear of their adventures. We took showers before getting to bed at 9pm for some much needed sleep. By the way, we typically stay here for at least two days to help reset our biological clocks.

Back to Europe in 2018

After skipping a visit to Europe in 2017, we're headed back to Europe to ride our motorcycle.  The cornerstone of the trip is an opportunity for Angela to sing with her choir at the quadrennial singing event in Vilnius, Lithuania.  Follow along as we chart paths along some new roads to us.