The train ride to Frankfurt was relatively uneventful. We arrived just after 4AM, and after some coffee and pastries we had a smooth ride in the dark to our hotel. Luckily they let us check in very early, at about 6AM. Jennifer had her bike packed very soon, so we went out to look for …
Berlin: Lessons in Recent History
After arriving in Leipzig, we counted up the number of days we had left before our flight home, the number of days it would take to bicycle to our next destination, and the couple of days we needed to get to Frankfurt, pack up our bikes, and catch the flight home. The conclusion: more long-distance …
Off river, in Leipzig
It took us two and a half days to reach Leipzig from Dresden. The first day was spent riding down pleasant paths along the Elbe river. We stopped midday in the town of Meißen, which was dominated by a large medieval fortress called Albrechtsburg. There we were able to stock up on some important supplies, …
Two National Parks and One City
When we were planning this trip, one of the reasons I wanted to try ride the Elbe River route was because where the river crosses the Czech-German border, both countries have national parks — Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic, and Saxon Switzerland in Germany. They sounded like pretty nice places (descriptions such as “the …
Into Austria
We made it into Austria this morning, and noticed several differences right away. The river valley is closed in on both sides of the river, leaving little room for roads, bike paths and towns. The railroads have disappeared, and the bike path is nice and smoothly paved, with very little car traffic. We’ve noticed an …
More German Danube
In the last few days, we have been continuing down the German stretch of the Danube river. A few highlights and notes… Zach’s GPS is working again — apparently the problem had to do with where he had put the phone. In his pocket it works; in his bike bag, not so much. So we …
Random Observations from Ingolstadt
Mountain Biking on the Sat-R-Day A fair amount of the riding we have done has been on unpaved trails, something we don’t encounter much at home. Zach doesn’t have much trouble with the gravel, but on my 2-wheeler that’s not really made for mountain biking, if the gravel is deep it’s a bit unstable. I’m …
Along the Danube
The Danube is the second longest river in Europe, and runs from the Black Forest in Southern Germany all the way to the Black Sea. We are planning to ride only as far as Budapest in Hungary. There is some debate on where the Danube actually begins, but the official source is located in Donaueschingen. …
Into Germany
On the third day riding north from Elsau, we finally reached the start of the Danube bike route. We rode north from Elsau to reach the Bodensee in Steckborn. Riding in Switzerland is fun, and as we were following a national cycle route, we didn’t have any trouble figuring out where to go. We saw …