4 Countries in a Day… at 200kph!

We did a road trip to Switzerland!!!

After catching a train from Nuremburg to Heidelberg, I met Loris, a cool guy from Venice, Italy. He has worked with Renee and had been given the task of getting me to her apartment and showing me around town. For those not in the “Inner Circle”, Renee is a good friend of mine from uni daze, who has been working in Germany for a year or so. I was on a mission to visit her before she leaves for the Middle East in two weeks and returns home to Oz soon after.

Anyway.. the plan was a road trip to Switzerland, via the impressive “Disney” castle a.k.a Schloss Neuschwanstein. We also happened to go through Austria and Lichtenstein, all in the one day!

I got to drive at 200kph on the autobahns, legally!

The castles were very impressive. The mountains were “rather large” and for me, mind-blowing! The scenery in this part of the world is stunning! We saw more wonderful mountains and fabulous blue-water lakes in Switzerland (our b&b was on a lake edge, surrounded by mountains!).

We also saw massive amounts of flood damage – sections of mountain side missing due to mudslides, huge boulders just rolled down from above now lying in drains and canals or next to houses and roads. Previously grassy fields were now covered with mud. Shops were filled with dirt and water and sandbags lined the streets. Pumps were operating to remove excess water. Army personal were blocking roads and directing traffic. Helicopters were continually flying people and food around. Train lines were torn apart and service crews worked hard to repair them. Entire bridges had been swept away and roads torn apart. This flood had some power! The water levels were still high and the rivers were flowing very rapidly.

I’ve never been so close to a natural disaster – it was crazy!

We still did the tourist thing and checked out the awesome Trummelbache Falls in Lauterbrunnen Valley, ate Rosti and ice-cream outside a cafe, looking up at snow-capped Jungfrau (the highest mountain in Europe, I think). It’s a great place to visit, flood damage or not, so I reckon anyone thinking about it should inject some cash into the restaurants and tourist ventures here. I loved it and I’m coming back to Switzerland for sure!

I might get some pics up soon. Then again, I might not 😛

Oh, thanks to Vodaphone Germany, my phone was out of action for a while but it works again now (and I didn’t even need to “get medieval” on their asses!).

Bavarian Beer Ban in Bamberg

Too much beer in Nuremberg and Bamberg.. body shutting down..

But, good news! I will leave tomorrow for Heidelberg and my good friend Renee has been very generous and offered to host this tourist bum! Potential also for a road trip to Switzerland and maybe visit to Italy (this girl gets around!), although with the floods there I’m not sure how that will work out?!

Anyway, had a ball here.. will do a proper reporting job later.. perhaps.

Sun 21st: Nuremburg

Doing nothing much today except sitting around waiting for a train to Nuremburg. Oh, I did post back the swiped beer mug and some unused clothes. I leave at 13:47 and arrive around 18:30 tonight. Bamberg is about 65k away from Nuremburg and brews 200+ beers locally – can anyone guess where I’ll be riding in the next few daze? 😛

Sat 20th: Hangover not Hannover

Yeah, slow day..

Checked out town briefly but spent most of it sitting around here. I think this is why I actually did some blogging.

My current thinking, other than “why the hell did I order those shots?!” is something along the lines of:

I’m pretty keen to wrap this trip up and get a job back in the UK. I figure I will hit Nuremburg and Bamberg (LPG and Nikolaus both suggest visiting here). Then shoot west to Heidelberg, visiting Renee before she heads back to Oz, checking out the Black Forest area or the Rhine or whatever the hell is over that direction. I was going to visit Munich again but I did it last year and I’ve still got to work out how to get back to London, hopefully with some cash left, so I might skip Munchen. Might also pass on my re-visit to Cologne. I think it is possible to train from Germany to England with a bike but it might be easier going from Brussels? 300UKP or something though!! Shiiiite!!!

In other news: Simon T, another mate from Oz, is also moving his arse to the UK!

Is anyone left downunder?! 😛

In other, other news: I think I would like to work in a youth hostel. Don’t laugh! I can be nice.. sometimes.. Just a thought, but it could be more fun than working in a pub..?

Fri 19th: "I ride alone, I ride alone!"

These were the modified Greenday lyrics I was singing out loud while riding to Colditz. Not in the kinda sad way they sing it, more a celebratory version. I’m totally loving this!!

The ride to Colditz turned out to be a piece of piss! Less than an hour! That 15% climb was ‘it’ – after that it was rolling hills and seemed to be more down than up. Beautiful weather again. Very much one of those “I’m the king of the world” moments, much as I hate to bring Leo into my blog..

I asked a local where I would find the Colditz Escape Museum and he told me to follow him. He drove in front of me right up to the castle! Much easier than maps and signs, thanks dude!

I explored the castle grounds and a tour guide even let me sneak into the escape museum without paying because the next tour wasn’t for over an hour – thanks love!

Leipzig is 46k away (I’m going here now and not Weimar) and riding is much nicer now. I’ve cracked the code for cycling Germany: don’t use cycle paths, use a map (I bought the South Germany boxed set in Dresden) and a compass rather than signs. Wunderbar! 🙂

I have also worked out the “Pfand” system. I thought it was a tax added at the till, but it is actually a bottle refund scheme. Buy a bottle of water, beer, coke, etc. and if it has “pfand” added, take the empty bottle back to the “getrankmarkte” or supermarket and they’ll give you the pfand amount back! Nice!

Leipzig is a construction site! They are installing a new tram line or something. Detours everywhere! I made it to Hostel Sleepy Lion and the somewhat rude chick said “everything is full”. I went to the tourist info office opposite the MASSIVE Hauptbahnhof and, after some laughter when she mentioned 89euro rooms, she called a hostel. Sleepy Lion’s sister hostel “Central Globetrotter” had a bed free. I should hurry over there. I hauled ass over there! Lucky too, because a minute after I’d got the bed, other people were turned away! The guy working here was MUCH nicer, even giving me a free city map and free towel when I asked!

Turns out there is a massive computer game conference on this weekend, hence the severe bed shortage.

I bought some things from Aldi for lunch. I have overcome my bakery obsession.

While making a tuna sandwich I thought about what I should use to stop the tuna falling out given that I don’t butter my bread. I spread it with Nutella. Nutella and Tuna sandwich – is this a sign that I have been travelling too long, or perhaps not long enough? Wonder what sort of things I’d concoct if I spent a whole year touring..

Met one of the game-dudes Nikolaus. We (Nikolaus, Martin, Karim, Constantine and I) had a few Staropramen (Czech) beers in the hostel and then caught a taxi-van to “Schnitzel Fabrik”, in town, for dinner (6.90 for a “Dijoner Art” schnitzel).. and more beers (of course).

Then we hit the Kakadu Karaoke bar where a bunch of EA Games people were meeting the guys. Beer, beer, beer, beer, beer, beer, bber, berb, brrr, Jagermiester, beeeeerrrrr.. and so the night went on. Spent most of it chatting to Karim, one of the other good english speakers and a fellow technohead (well, d&b, but that passes! :))

Staggered back to the hostel around 4am, with a last-minute Bockwurst to soak up some of the beer.. and after all that, we didn’t even get to sing MJ’s “Beat It”! Damn! 😛

Leisnig to Leipzig Stats:

71.5k, 3h 40m, 19.6kph

Thur 18th: Hippy Hits Hills and gets SMRT!

Prologue: I am fscking sick of writing this blog! I left out Groningen, I’m going to leave out Berlin (even though it rocked HARD!), I’m leaving out most of Dresden (hi girls!). Sick of it! If you want more details, borrow my diary, I hate writing all this crap twice!

I wouldn’t be mentioning hills if I was sitting on a train. That’s right, I am back on the bike! For some reason I had a sudden urge to resume riding whilst I was in Dresden. Initially I was aiming for Weimar because Lonely Planet mentioned it and it was “only” 200 kilometres away.

I think I picked the steepest road out of Dresden.. 10kph isn’t a speed I’m accustomed to! 77kph down the other side is more like it 😀

On the way I noticed “Colditz” on the map. I know Colditz from all those escape movies where POWs dug tunnels to freedom and one group even built a glider under the noses of their captors! So, that’s where I headed. Weimar was much too ‘intellectual’ for me anyway!

Around 4pm, after a series of large hills (8% and 10% gradient for 130kg+ is granny-ring time!) and with 25k still to go to Colditz, I started thinking about taking a soft option. At the Leisnig train station I asked about trains towards Colditz – there are none, but, “the ride is only 10k”. This is after I’d seen the sign to Colditz with “25k” written clearly on it! I also asked about accomodation in Leisnig – “there is none”, I was told.

So, off I ride, up the next “burg” – a lovely 15% beastie!!

At the top (with both knees still intact, surprisingly) I spot a supermarket.. and a sign pointing to various hotels!! Don’t know what the train station guy was smoking but it can’t have helped his mental faculties.

I chat (hand signal) to the wonderfully helpful, non english-speaking bakery girls and they confirm with a phone call a 21euro bed is available in Pension Rauch, which happens to be 50m around the corner. Old hippy would’ve pushed on to Colditz and had a very bad ending to the day. New SMRT hippy stops right here and has a lovely, relaxed evening in Leisnig.

My hosts spoke very little english and it took a few minutes to convince them that I was NOT going to unclip my panniers. Other than that, it was a wonderful place to stay and the woman was very helpful with maps and directions while in town and for my ride to Colditz.

Saw the town’s Guiness Record holding boot..

My sexy tan lines are back with a vengeance! No surprise considering the 33degC I saw on a temperature gauge today!

My back wheel sounds horrible! It will self-destruct VERY soon. Not spokes this time, I think it’s the hub, grinding the bearings into a fine poweder..

Dresden to Leisnig Stats:

75k, 4h 22m, 17.3kph

Dresden Dolls

I’m in Dresden for a couple of days and actually feel like getting on the bike again and riding the 200k (as the crow flies) to Weimar. There are some hostels in between so I’m not going to do the 200k at once! I will need some maps though and a great deal more patience..

Dresden is pretty cool with old and new parts of town providing some variety (as well as people dressed as cows..) and the awesome weather helps!

I might blog the missing bits in between (Berlin mostly), but everything is more expensive here (coffee, food, internet) so wont be doing it now.

Lots of New Holiday Pics and Vids!

New photos:

2005-08-14 ‘Up to Bremen’

2005-08-14 ‘Up to Hamburg’

2005-08-14 Berlin

New videos:

Drumming in Hamburg

Hamburg ITU Triathlon World Cup

Earlier Photos:

2005-07-26 Groningen, 2005-07-14 Apeldoorn, 2005-07-03 Haarlem, 2005-06-21 Brugge, 2005-06-09 Tournai, 2005-05-29 London, 2005-05-28 London, 2005-05-13 London

Earlier Videos:

Haarlem Tent Storm 1, Haarlem Tent Storm 2, Haarlem Tent Whinge 1, Apeldoorn Ride 1, Apeldoorn Ride 2, Den Haag Marching Band 1, Den Haag Marching Band 2, Den Haag Marching Band 3, Den Haag Cheerleaders 1, Den Haag Marching Band 5, Riding along on my pushbike honey.., Gent canal cruise, Tunnel bike path, Belgium somewhere

Sat 6th: DIY Pub Crawl

Managed to sleep in, even with 25 people moving around and opening lockers and snoring and stuff. Only reason for this being just how trashed I was. Paid 15euro for tonight and resumed chatting with the Israeli dude and the two Aussies. Rain, sun, rain, sun..

2.50euro pasta dish for lunch from a bakery near the station. My iced coffee survey added 69c Mullermilch from a nearby MiniMAL. You get what you pay for. Took more pics of couriers – sneaky bike-lovin’ bastard that I am. Spent most of the day chillin out and talking shit with the other hostelites. Feet hurt again from too long in ‘the’ shoes. Thinking about sending home the Kryptonite cable and some other stuff that I haven’t used yet, to ease strain on the rear wheel. Could just stop eating but where’s the fun in that? It doesn’t really matter because I’m going to start taking trains now.

BIG triathlon in Hamburg this weekend!

At the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) I found the schedule for “fahrad” (bike) carrying trains going to Berlin on Monday. Some require reservation (like the faster (2hr) IC trains, really fast ICE trains don’t take bikes at all). The RE (regional) trains don’t require bike reservations but take 4hr+ to do the same journey and require a change of trains at Schwerin.

Gave some money to the African(?) drummers in the mall. Wish I could read their flyer! Also spotted a guy playing a didgeridoo!

I can’t find the triathlon, but keep seeing funny bikes being walked and ridden past me. Dude just went past on a Kona SS (pretty sure he’s not in the tri) and some aero-helmeted tri-geek on a Softride cruised by sporting the craziest hydration setup I have seen yet! It was an aero (teardrop-ish) bottle stuck out the back of the bike, behind the seat, with tubing running up to the guy’s mouth! It looked pretty crazy!

Speak to a guy at the “border crossing” and he said they will be coming around soon. I stayed from some fine tri-girl booty! But(t) of course I left my camera gear at the hostel and my battery went flat! Curses!

It seems like the amatuers have raced already and these are fast women. I’m assuming they’re fast because 1) they have names written on their race suits and 2) they are going fast! Maybe elite men next? Wonder how many laps?

Oh, NOW I know why it seems so big.. I made it around the corner and found the start/finish line and above it is written “ITU Triathlon World Cup”. Holy schnitzel! It IS a big race! No wonder they have their names on their backs! Now I know what all those helicopters were circling around for!

Anyway, I stayed in the grandstand and watched the rest of the race. It was totally frickin’ cool! Crazy MC was hyping up the crowd and we’re all clapping and cheering like mad. There was a crash just after a sprint lap (primes in tri? Elite tri really IS turning into road racing!). Wandered through stalls full of hardcore bike pron after the race.

Went out with Israeli dude and Lauren. Decided not to go to “Click” club because Israeli dude hurt his foot on a trampoline in the Dom amusement park and me feet were all screwed up again from the shoes. So, we just bar happed around the hostel (heaps of choice!). Dinner was beer. Can’t remember where exactly as I was drinking Paulener Weise beer before leaving the hostel. I know it rained at one point and we dived into a Portugese restaurant on Schuttlebart(?) Str. Also went back to Fritz Bauch and had a little photo session – Lauren’s some kind of photo nut. After that we went to the “gay” bar under the hostel. It’s not actually a gay bar even though skater boy from Pittsburg claimed so. Drank more here (well duh!). Left or got kicked out around 6am (and sunrise) and then someone said something about a “secret club” behind the hostels fire escape door!!! Surely this is rubbish but we all ran in to find out. Holy craniums! Up the stairwell, through the hostel fire escape and we were indeed in some club!!! It seemed to be full or Turkish dudes and Chemical Brother’s “Galvanize” was playing (love this track!). The group was kinda half through the door but it seems it’s invite only. I was happily bopping along to the Chems while Lauren hassled security. “Private party” was the claim. The claim was rubbish. Oh, we’d picked up “Pittsburg” and the Irish dudes in the “gay” club too. After getting kicked from there we headed down the street again, with Lauren hassling everyone she saw for weed! One guy kept trying to get us to go to his place and he’s “call some people” for some.. uh huh.. fscking psycho axe-murderer..

Gave up the pursuit and headed back to the hostel common room, where we annoyed the hell out of the people sleeping up on the little balcony thing. Hey, if you don’t want loud, drunk, idiots ruining your sleep – don’t be such a tightass! Finally went to bed around 7am. Woke at 10am so not exactly the full doctor-recommended eight hours sleep.. whatever!