Germany Till the End

As much as I loved Schwabish Hall, I was starting to get itchy feet to be on the road again.  Bye Schwabisch Hall, till next time!

I've abandoned the castle route as they are beginning to look all the same and change is nice.  The new route follows old wooden bridges like the ones in the movie Bridges of Madison County.  It routes through farm land in a valley with again lush medium sized mountains around and follows the Kocher River towards Aalen. I still hadn't found a place to get my derailleur fixed so had to suffer hills till I could.  Okay so welcome my day of wrong turns that lead to 17% grade hills that I have to push my bike up....this happened about four times that day, four unnecessary steep hills I didn't have to climb.  I may have started my day looking fresh due to a day off the previous day, but that did not last long.  Maybe I just like making things difficult for myself unconsciously but seriously the being on the wrong path was an issue for the whole day.  I'm going to complain about it for sure but I survived and made to the top of every damn hill I didn't need to climb! 

Besides the unnecessary hills it really was a lovely ride that day.  The landscape changed quite a bit to farming communities rather that lush mountains of the Neckar Valley.  The villages are different too, not so Medieval like, but still old though. The buildings are more made from cement stucco rather than stone bricks with the dark wood crisscrossed throughout.  There is still an old church in every village and I'm still finding many castles littered about but the farms, in addition to the fields, have more livestock.  Between Frankfurt and Schwabisch Hall the farms only had horses, if that. Now I came across cows and sheep and goats (and even saw some Llamas, including a baby Llama).  Not many horses anymore though and it's interesting because here all the cows are brown and white, not one single black cow have I seen yet. In North America cow farms have almost always black and white cows. 

In Galdorf, the next large village after Schwabisch Hall, I found the bike shop and was able to get my derailleur adjusted and have full range of gears again.  Jurgen, the bike mechanic was so excited to learn I'm Canadian.  He keeps a Canadian flag in the back bike shop hanging on the wall even.  The bike shop was such a treat! It was nice to chat with someone and was even treated to a cappuccino and biscotti before I left.  So now I have full range of gears again, yeah!, but my derailleur still needs another adjustment as many of the gears are now noisy.  Not that that helped on a couple of the hills as the grades were so steep, the only option was to push my bike up...not a pleasant task when fully loaded! 

It was getting to be after 6pm and I so took the time to look at the map to see where the nearest campingplatz was.  I was only around 60km for the day but the next campingplatz was too far away and the one nearest to me would still take me another 10km to reach it off route.  Although I got on the wrong bike path to the campingplatz and of course ended up having to a climb another long steep hill unnecessarily, sigh, I was happy to discovered that there was a lake this time (Germany does not have very many lakes and this was the first I'd seen).  This is when I learnt that every campingplatz has BEER! And this one had delicious pomme frites!  Huge rewards for my day of wrong paths and big hills later.  

So campingplatz's here are very different than in North America.  There's no assigned sites, it's usually a large open grass field and everyone puts up where they want.  Mostly people camp with small vans or small campers.  One couple had their small camper set up complete with a full tent covered porch and had wooded flowers placed in front to make it oh so pretty.  

I was also excited by the prospect of going for a swim in the lake.....up until I got a closer look and discovered the lake had the colour and consistency of milk chocolate (so close to swimming in a lake...sad face).  People were swimming in it though (um ew).  In Canada we'd call it a pond, not a lake and no one would dare stick a toe in it.  But they had paddle boat rentals, canoes and several other blow up devices all in this medium to large sized pond.  I guess I'm spoilt being from Canada and enjoying clean, clear water rather than brown water (although I've noticed that even the river water is more brown rather than clear).

Whatever though, I found a place near the shore and was happy nonetheless, after all I'd just had my first German beer and fries and was about to shower.  Happy girl!

This brings me to, I don't even know what to call this day actually, the next day.  I ended up being on the wrong path three times costing me a total of an extra 40km, which is a big deal! I struggled to not get frustrated with being lost so much in the past two days and tried to enjoy the beautiful things around me, but as the day was getting later and later this was becoming way more difficult. I was suppose to make it to Augsburg for my warmshowers night I had arranged, but realized at about 6pm that there was just no way that was going to happen.  I stopped in Nordlingen to give my warmshowers host a call and let him know the situation.  Thankfully he was awesome and very flexible and I was able to just be a day late. 

With that problem solved I was faced with another problem.  I was already at 80km for the day and discovered that the nearest campinplatz was another 30km away and it was about 7pm now.  Stressed for time and losing energy quickly I began to wrap my head around the fact that it was going to be a 110km day. I'd already stopped being able to feel my thighs and my knees were starting to ache, but what could I do.  Those last 30km were extremely challenging mentally.  I did all I could just to distract myself so I wouldn't think about the part where I was still cycling and the sun was going down.  I started to sing "Don't Worry be Happy" (funnily enough) and when I repeated that song way too many times, I began to just make up songs to belt out. Pushing hard, I did eventually make it (not something I wish to repeat any time soon though).  Again I was rewarded with more goodies.

I arrived at the next campingplatz at about 8:30pm.  Here beer came from a vending machine like cola's.  For $1.40 Euros you get a 1litre bottle of beer and the camp host provides the glass to enjoy it in.  I was also rewarded with some social time with a guy from France who is cycling to Romania. It had been three days since I'd had any real conversation with anyone and was great to find another person to chat with! I wanted to prolong our chat so I bought the next round (such a big expense at $1.40 Euros each).  After the second round it was about 11pm and I hadn't even set up my tent or showered.  So we said our good nights and off I wobbled. 

The next days ride from Donauworth to Augsburg was relatively relaxing.  I visited my first Biergarten.  I hadn't visited one yet as I let myself be intimidated by not being able to understand anyone.  How silly of me I think after I'd gotten over it all.  It's nice to sit with people who even though it was in a small village and was happy to discover that people still make an effort to chat with me.  This beirgarten is outside (as all are) with a small open shelter to one side and several long picnic tables scattered in front with the Dirty Dancing soundtrack playing in the background.  (ha ha ha).  An old man who smokes so much his upper lip is yellow and wears a wife-beater tank-top with light grey sweatpants that hang below his belly told me about his trip across Canada in 2010.  About ten other people lounged about with their beers.  Everyone knows each other, as is the case in small towns. It's perfect.

The cycling route after the Biergarten was great.  I found a path that followed a river, a fresh clean water river even (the first clear water I have come across in Germany).  The path was on a long flat gravel wood road (similar to a Forestry Service Road in Canada) in the trees.  Which meant I was able to spend the afternoon cycling in the shade, in a forest beside a clean river.  Which after the past three days of cycling through farmland with no shade was a welcome change. My face was getting very red and I was struggling to keep heatstroke at bay.  The shade for an afternoon was just what I needed. 

Whenever I am nearing a large city I develop some anxiety. I'm very proud of myself for navigating through the city of Augsburg to find my new warmshowers hosts home as Augsburg is not a small city at all.  I have a couple offline electronic maps on my ipad that I used to get myself through the city to where I needed to go.   It was such good experience for me as I avoid many cities because I lack the confidence to find my way around  and through them, especially in a foreign country where I don't speak the language.  But everyday I'm doing things I never thought I would or could do, busting out of the limitations I put around myself and am discovering that I already have the skills I need to do so.

So welcome one of my favourite evenings in Germany up until that point!  Jurgen, my warmshowers host in Augsburg, was so kind and giving!  When I arrived I was told that we'd be going to his parents house for a traditional Bavarian dinner in a small village about 8km from Augsburg. Seriously so cool!

After quickly unloading my bike and having a fast shower we hopped on bikes for the twenty minute ride his parents.  Jurgen arranged this dinner there especially for me.  His dad made a traditional Bavarian pork roast which was absolutely delicious.  The village has about 5000 people that have mostly all lived there their whole lives.  Jurgen grew up in the house we had dinner at, that his dad built after the war right beside the house his dad grew up in and several generations prior had lived in.  Neither of his parents have drivers licence.  I was told that only three people his dad went to school with moved away from the village and did so within only a 20km distance from there.  His dad has lived in three houses his whole life; firstly in the house he grew up in, then moved to Augsburg for a couple years when he was twenty (and when he met Jurgen's mother) and then into the home he built for his family and still live in now. His dad joked that the next place he will move is the cemetery two blocks away.  His mom comes from a village about 10km away.  Did I mention that neither of his parents spook any English and poor Jurgen translated everything.

After dinner we had german beer and his dad brought out some german spirits that you shoot from small pottery shot glasses that look similar to what French onion soup in served in with a small straight handle.  The spirits was so good actually and I normally don't like hard alcohol.  It had a hint of liquorice taste to it and his dad remarked is medicine for the soul. 

After a couple beers and several shots later Jurgen and I proceeded to cycle back to his flat in the city (fun times).  It was great to be able to ride my bike without any gear on it.  When we returned to his flat I was also able to have a video chat with my mom and catch up on my adventures (she's loving technology).

I decided to stay an extra day in Augsburg and delayed going to Italy for a couple days in hopes of seeing a long time friend who lives in Munich as she was in Spain for the weekend.  I'd still only get one evening with her, but think it's better than nothing.  I booked a train from Munich to Verona through the Alps and was looking forward to a relaxing ride through the mountains two days hence.

Jurgen gave me the full tour of Augsburg.  He owns the only rickshaw (bicycle taxi) in Augsburg.  I learnt that Augsburg is over 2000 years old and the third oldest city in Europe (the other two are also in Germany actually).  He showed me all the historical buildings and churches there while I sat in the back of his rickshaw and enjoyed the ride.  We had lunch, traditional Bavarian style of course and I was dropped off at the Fuggerei (a version of social housing here) to explore.  The buildings in the Fuggerei are old apartment style and run by the Fuggerei family (a wealthy family that helped rebuild Augsburg after most of it was destroyed during the war).  Jurgen says in order to qualify to live there you have to be an Augsburg citizen, be poor and be Catholic.  People that live there pay 88 euro cents a year! The complex (I use this word for lack off a better one) is completely enclosed by a stone wall and the gates are locked at 10pm every night. People that live there can re-enter after between 10pm and midnight for 50 euro cents and 1 euro after midnight.  But when you pay only 88 euro cents per year for rent it really isn't that big of a cost eh.

There is also a bunker from the Second World War at the Fuggerei that I was able to go down into.  It was mostly very museum like down there with artifacts from the war (Augsburg was bombed in the war and the only building to survive was the cathedral, which I'll tell you about in a moment).  It was very hot and muggy that day, which left my skin feeling sticky and yucky.  All day I wished for a cold mountain river to frolic in.  But the only water here are the water canals throughout the city (kinda similar to what you find in Italy) and not accessible to cool off in.  The bunker, though slightly boring after the initial excitement of entering into it, was quite cool and a nice break from the heat.

After the Fuggerei (pronounced fu-cer-rei) I walked up to the cathedral to see inside....OH MY GOD! It was built in 1544 and stunning.  I explored everywhere I could.  Everything is ancient in there.  I pushed through two huge wooded doors with lion head knockers in the middle.  Inside the air was filled with the smell of incense from mass a couple hour earlier as it was Sunday.  The ceiling was the traditional Roman Catholic  inverted peaks throughout and Jurgen said two of the stain glass windows are the oldest in Europe.  Statues and pews and confession booths and holy water fountains and stone pillars and crypts and and and...wow!  I even found the stairs to the basement and discovered another room where they light candles for loved ones. Disciples are buried there too.  They have monuments in the cathedral for them and their bodies are in the cemetery a couple blocks away.  

Augsburg is another unexpected city in Germany that I am now in love with. 

The next day was my first rainy day of this tour and I wussed out and took the train for the last 60km to Munich.  In my defence it's raining very hard and there is a thunderstorm warning in effect.  I'm a wimp at times, I will fully admit this.  Plus why suffer when there is a train available...

The train station in Augsburg is not very bicycle friendly, and especially not fully loaded bicycle friendly.  After getting a ticket for myself and my bike I was told I needed to go to platform 9.  Now platform 9 is the last one, or course, and the only way to get to it is down a flight of stairs to the underground walkway and then again  up a flight of stairs (no elevator!).  I guess this a hazard of being in a city over 2000 years old.  You would have giggled to see me manage me and my bike through this one....unload my bike, carry my gear down the stairs, then my bike, load my bike again, push it down the underground walkway at the far end for the stairs up to platform 9, unload, carry my gear up the stairs, go back down to get my bike, carry my bike up the stairs and reload everything again....all to reach platform 9.  Plus I only had twenty minutes to do all this to catch my train.  I felt like I was starring in a Charlie Chapman movie on fast forward.  I guess this is payback for wimping out on a rainy day ride. 

I arrived in a suburb (it's technically a small town) about 10km from downtown Munich called Passing.  I found a cafe at the train station and enjoyed a patio seat under a massive umbrella with a beer and a coffee (what the hell why not have both) to continue my escape of being in the rain. The only thing I did not enjoy thus far about Germany is the huge quantity of smokers.  Almost everyone smokes and are actually able to smoke anywhere (with the exception of indoors).  But the alternative is cycling in the rain, so I suffered the patio afternoon .

A new discovery for me.  I went to go find the toilette and was shocked to find them charging a fee to go pee...80 euro cents!  There was a full bar turn through and a place to put your coins in to gain access.  Like seriously! There's no way I'd ever pay to pee in a toilette when I can squat behind a bush for free! Blame it on the farm-girl in me.  So I returned to my table, finished my drinks and cycled to find the nearest park for a bush-pee.  I even found some more great graffiti.  I saw some pretty amazing graffiti in Germany actually.  After my bush-pee and a few pictures of graffiti I found another cafe to hang out in as the rain returned with a vengeance, bringing the predicted thunderstorm with it.  Yup I was a wimp stayed inside and did not brave the storm on my bike like a true touring bicyclist.  

I'd arranged for another warmshowers host for my stay in Munich (Hi Andrea & Robert!), a lovely couple that were very gracious and kind and made me feel absolutely comfortable.  Now all I had to do was wait for a break in the rain to cycle to their home not far away.  I successfully cycled a whole of 9km that day with only a brief stint in the rain...um talent! 

I had finally heard from my friend and arranged to meet her at 6pm at a place call Marienplatz, the courtyard in front of Munich town hall, which is called Neus Rathous.  Munich town hall is a very extravagant building done in a Gothic style architecture, it looks similar to a cathedral but with way more statues littered on it (so many in fact the whole building is quite busy it's hard to know what to look at).  All of the statues and exterior is made of grey stone, but in the middle there is a Glockenspiel of wooden puppets that circle about doing various things when the hour strikes three times a day which are painted very colourfully.  I got the full tour of all the old buildings in the downtown core of Munich by my friend and her girlfriend.  We also visited the cathedral (in Germany they call it a Dome), which compared to the one in Augsburg was simple and a bit boring.  (I'm so happy I was able to see the one in Augsburg as I have now been told it is one of the best ones in Germany).  

After the tour the three of us headed to the biergarten to relax, have some laughs and eat some Wienershnitzel (traditionally made from veal and was very delicious).  We were join by another friend and for the rest of the evening the four of us laughed, told stories, teased each other, drank beer, ate food and simply had a wonderful time.  I think it is one of my favourite evenings in Germany and am glad that I was able to end my time in Germany with an evening surrounded by old friends and one new one.

I was very sad to be leaving Germany and had an amazing two weeks and 575km on my bicycle there.  I can't wait to return! 

Off to Italy I go now.