WOW - this weekend was SUPERB

Well I made it up to Koln to catch up with 2 guys, René and Fredy, who I met in Slovenia. Slight amendment, they live 30kms north of Koln in a place called Monheim Am Rhein. Great location though, as it meant I could do a day cycle to Dusseldorf, neat Alte Stadt on the River Rhein, plus do a day site seeing with Fredy in Koln. René and I went for a 65km day cycle and Fredy decided to invite the neighbourhood for 14 trouts!!!!

All in all, we ate, drank, ate, drank, ate, drank, beer, wine, beer, wine, beer, wine etc. But better yet, they love Rugby so we watched the Ireland-Italy, South Africa-Scotland, France-Wales game, and they have BBC!!!!!!!

And by luck, we are all going to be in Paris on the 18 October for one last catch up.

Monheim Am Rhein Weekends

Above, just a 10litre keg for the three of us to consume. And 14 trouts for the neighbours to eat!!

Below, Fredy starting with white port and then onto Slovenian wine!!!

Neighbourhood Trout BBQ, in Tracyäs honour!! No pressure about not being able to speak German!!

Wupper River Day Cycle

René and I went on a 65km day cycle east of Monheim Am Rhein, beaut countryside and a change from the Rhein, with hills. The view below was suppose to be of Koln, but the weather wasnät the best for siteseeing!!!

The Wupper River Brucke that we ended up at, 157m high and the oldest bridge in Germany (we think!!). We also ended up Schloss Burg, a tiny castle at the top of a BIG STEEP hill (bike pushing material for Tracy!!!).

Koln Site Seeing

Kolnäs Cathedral, MASSIVE!!!!
River Rhein below and Koln from 100m and 509 steps

Dusseldorf Day Ride

I did a day cycle up the Rhein to Dusseldorf, beaut day, great weather, above another Schloss Castle Enroute and below the River Rhein promenade from Dusseldorf

Bonn

A street artist painting in Bonn
Bonn Schloss Poppelsdorf

Germanyäs ex capital - Nice when it wasnät raining!!!!

Castles Castles everywhere

The Rhein, between Mainz and Koblenz is just all castles!!!!

Princess versus B9 - She lost

One managed to lose the cycle track in the pouring rain and the ´9´yellow road turned into a B9 dual yellow carriageway. So needless to say, the Polizei caught up with us rather quickly, lights ablazing and informs us as he winds the window down ´You are not allowed on the B9'!!!!!! REALLY, so then with lights still flashing, we were ´escorted´off!!!!!!!

Koblenz

The castle that one stayed in, but wasnät a Princess!!!


The view from the Hostel in Koblenz in the background.

The corner of the River Rhein and River Moselle with the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Denkmal Monument.

Rudesheim

Rudesheim was a quaint little tourist town with a famous Drosselgasse (street) and a Seilbahn Cable railway to the Niederwald Monument (famous for the introduction of Germany) and great views down the River Rhein and over all those vineyards!!!

Above the monument and me with Christa and Heidrun.

Above and below, the vineyards and River Rhein.

Right, me in the famous touristy (with heaps of Americans and Japanese!) Drosselgasse street.

Frankfurt Hospitality

I stayed with Waltruads sister Heidrun and her friend Christa in Frankfurt. They spoilt me rotten. Had a brilliant time. In 2 days managed to see Frankfurt from the Main Tower at 191m (55 floors), by boat down the River Main, by bike, by train and on foot. I ate my first German meal of Rippchen mit Kraut (pork with Sauerdraut), 5 Verschiedene (bratwurst sausages) mit sauerkraut and bratkartoffeln, Grune Sobe mit Eiern (Green sauce with eggs) and all dranken with (Wir tranken) Sauer Gespritzten (apple wein with water)!!! I loved Frankfurt, really nice vibe about it.

Heidrun, myself and Christa with the River Main in the background, and myself in the Town Hall.

Frankfurt Views

Frankfurt Alte Oper (left) and the River Main (right) from the Main Tower

Frankfurt Cathedral above and the ´Manhatten´skyline below.

Frankfurt Romerberg and Me (above) and the footbridge below (which I caught the lift to get up on Princess!!!)

Worms

I met Carol here from UK at Worms. She was cycling madly down the River Rhein so we cycled together from Worms to Mainz. Beautiful countryside, very French in parts.

Arrival in Mainz.

More Heidelberg

Heidelberg is a verz prettz town, but very touristy (alot of Americans and Japanese!). There is quite an extensive US military presence here from a station to hospital and even alot of advertisements for Rugby!!

Me here at the Schloss castle, taken from a Japanese lady who said ´Cheese´as she took the photo!!!

Heidelberg

Wow, I even managed to see a Brown Bear at the zoo (well outside on my way past!!)

Heidelberg Schloss - Castle and the River Neckar (apparently a nice river to ride along which I will do tomorrow as I head back to the Rhein)

Kehl Cycling Ladies

Wow, I met two ladies in Kehl that blew me away. My first night in Kehl I shared my room with a 60ish year old from Zurich who had just ridden 150km!!!
Then the next night I shared my room with a 74 year old who had just ridden 100kms. Now this lady is amazing and does quite a few tours like this. She stays in Hostels each time. The following day we were both going to Karlsruhe so we met that evening again. If I am still going at 74, well ..... AND she drinks beer on the way, now that is impressive. She lives in Hamburg which is a little too far north for me to head unfortunately otherwise she did say I could stay with her.

Strasbourgh - France

Well I gave myself a day off, staying in Germany but today I walked over to France - as one does!!! - to Strasbourg, a nice quaint place situated over a series of canals and rivers, even Sydney is only 14000kms away!!!!!!

German Countryside

Had ok weather for the last 2 days but it looks like it will turn pear shaped tomorrow!!!! The Rhein has been really bad with poor Princess getting stuck in mud and me having to backtrack as the cycle route was a river!!!!! The countryside though in the villages reminds me of France though with the vineyards and fruit trees.

Switzerland

Things Iäll missÖ
- Henning and Waltraud
- Swiss Alps
- Friendly people
- Train System (always on time)
- Henning and Waltraud

Things I wonät missÖ
- Now thats a hard one. Switzerland is very similiar to NZ so culturally if you are looking for something left field ....

Distance in SwitzerlandÖ
245.0 kms ish (one may have been in Germany at some stage!!!)

The River Rhein

Enroute to Konstanz along Lake Bodensee (left), right is showing all the mud that has overflowed onto this mini golf course! And below is the Rhein at Basel, one should be able to walk along here!!!

Wow, with all the rain here in Switzerland, the Rhein was very high and a couple of times unpassable by bike so detours were required.