Zienken

Hello from Briesach, Germany. Mike and I are on the road again. This fall we are away from lovely Victoria for 6 weeks, The plan is to bike for the next few weeks in Germany and France and follow that up with a visit to Rome with Tara and on to Sicily where we will meet up with Al and Natalie.
Our first leg was Saturday, on Rouge from Victoria. They were on-time Rouge style - meaning an hour late. We got our cardio racing to the international gate and settled in for the flight to Frankfurt. After last fall’s excellent experience with KLM it was a real come down to get a dry pastry for breakfast from the “ we’re not happy til you’re unhappy” gang at Air Canada. I know, first world problem, boo hoo. Just happy they found a pilot to fly the plane.
Miracle of miracles, my bag arrived and we easily navigated the trip to Oberlahnstein by train. Oberlahnstein is outside of Koblenz and it is where we rented our bikes yesterday. I located the company on the internet but the proprietor’s grumpiness made the Air Canada crew seem as friendly as Newfoundlanders. He groused about how hard he had to work and the fact that he couldn’t get any help. He seemed somewhat hung over and totally disorganized but we managed to wheel away with 2 passable electric bikes , a repair kit and our panniers laden. We hope to see the rest of our luggage sometime in the next few weeks.
Yesterday was one of those start of holiday, working out the bugs, days. We needed to take 3 trains to get to our start point of Lahr so we were navigating platforms and loading and unloading very heavy bikes. Unfortunately, our new sim cards were only working on Mike’s phone but not mine and when Mike tried to contact the company about the problem, Shaw - bless their little hearts - shut off our Email accounts. The highlight of the day was the first class seats on the intercity train - our neighbours saw my Canada bike shirt and the man insisted we join them for a glass of wine and also some of their picnic. Turns out he was offered a job teaching at the University of Victoria. It was a merry party until we had to stagger back 15 carriages to recover our bikes for the racks.

We started our real biking journey today (Tuesday) in Lahr - a place near and dear to us as Tara and Jon were both born there in a military hospital - now torn down and replaced by a FedEx site. We wandered around the Marketplatz - which is the main area of any German town. Lots of Kebab shops now but we did find a good, traditional Gasthaus for a meal. Today was our first full ride and Mike the Mechanic spent 2 hours tinkering with seats, panniers, phone holders etc. The 62 km was beautiful and we enjoyed sunny weather through farm fields, quiet roads and small towns. The system of bike trails is great and the ride app I’m using kept us mostly on scenic trails. If I recall correctly, the Germans have always been avid cyclists and the infrastructure and signage is good. Our bikes are comfortable enough but we have to be aware of the weight - without even considering the additional weiner schnitzels and beer that we’re adding. The strategy is to go slowly and carefully because if you decide to turn suddenly you may turn but your bike may keep going straight on. The highlight of today was visiting Kippenheim where Mike and his young family lived in he early 70’s . As we approached his former home, a lady on the balcony jumped up and exclaimed - Mr. Parry. I thought she would break into tears! This was Claudia , the daughter of Mike’s now-deceased landlord - Herr Janoschka. She recognized Mike immediately and invited us in - in true German fashion, broke open a bottle of local German wine and we spend a wonderful hour chatting and reminiscing. Claudia babysat Tara, which was a novel idea back then if I recall. The Germans simply went to the pharmacy and gave their children a “tonic” which was heavily laced with alcohol. It knocked the kids out for the evening. Ah, life was simpler back then!
Tonight we had another full-on German meal at a lovely old Gasthof with heavy wooden panels and loads of black and white pictures of ancient relatives peering down on us. A family business for sure. Tomorrow we cross the Rhine and head into the Alsace region of France.
That’s the news for now.
Happy BIrthday Helen and Ryan, hope you shot a moose!!
Love Heather (Mom) and Mike (Taid)Read more