Germany

Kate and I have absolutely loved our time in Deutschland so far. The combination of great riding, ever-changing landscape, cool people, delicious bakeries and the fantastic beer is hard to beat.

We last wrote from Köln in western Germany where we really enjoyed staying with Heidrun, Martin and their family. We had a guided tour of the city with Heidrun and Martin on their recumbant tandem bike. We visited the stunning Dom- a gothic cathedral that took over six centuries to complete (started in the 1200's)

From Köln we followed the Rhine River south. The weather was fantastic with tempertures over 30 degrees some days- perfect for frequent river swims. The riding was pretty cruisy along flat cycle paths with many beer stops at the cute Biergartens that line the river. We had to put a limit on our stops as one afternoon we realised we had drunk much more beer than water and Kate looked back to see me dangerously weaving between the many Sunday afternoon cyclists.
The highlight of the Rhine was the beautiful Rhine valley/gorge. This section of the area is surrounded by high cliffs, many hill top castles and medieval villages. Our favourite of these towns was the 2000 year old Koblenz where we spent my birthday visiting an ancient fort. Along the Rhine we were hosted by more people we had met through warmshowers. People are so so generous and welcoming- special thanks to Stephan and Nadine, Bennie and Caro, Romina and Luis. Before crossing the border for a brief stay in France we spent a relaxing morning in the lovely old university town of Heidelburg. The town is overlooked by the extensive ruins of an ancient castle- twice destroyed by bombs and once by lightning.
We continued south along the Rhine to the French town of Strasbourg. In Strasbourg we were greeted by Simon- a lovely quintessential Frenchman who showed us true French hospitality with a BBQ-turn-crazy party, a tour of the city and a relaxing afternoon enjoying the sun at a nearby lake. We enjoyed our brief stay in France, but found the French far less accommodating with our pathetic attempts at the language than the German people.

Simon

Canal in Strasbourg....

Next stop was Freiburg. A small town in the south-western corner of Germany, Freiberg is set on the edge of the famous Black Forest. We were greeted by Rudo, Anna-Marie and their four lovely children (also from warmshowers). We camped on their back lawn and had a great time exploring the forest on our bikes with no panniers. We climbed over 1000m getting great views and attempted some single-track riding - but our thin tyres are really not up to it. From Freiburg we rode east through the forest- with some steep but short climbs (compared to the Andes that is!!)

The Black forest...we found it more green than black!

On the eastern side of the forest, I had my first taste of the much built up Black Forest cake and we stayed with a lovely cardiologist called Sabine. Although a brief stopover, Sabine's hospitality, route ideas and maps were most appreciated.

As you can see on our map above, we then headed south to Lake Constance and along the German-Austrian border. The riding along here was brilliant with a mixture of lush, green rolling farmland dotted with huge old German homesteads, lakes and our first views of the spectacular Alps. We are really into our riding at the moment and have been doing lots of km's. After a particularly long, hilly 160km day we decided to have a rest day at the idyllic lakeside town of Hopfen Am See. What was meant to be a "rest day" turned into a ride across the border into Austria, a 70km cycle around a pristine lake in the Alps and then a hike up a 2000m peak. We were just so stoked to be back in the hills! We paid the price the next day with very tired and sore legs! Luckily we only two relatively easy days riding to reach our next destination - Munich. And that`s where we are now.

Yesterday we were greeted by Anna - Eloise`s "exchange sister" from her time in Germany. Anna and her friends are amazing hosts and have been showing us an authentic Bavarian good time! Anna had prepared a delicious Bavarian brunch including pretzels, bread, eggs, bacon, cheeses, meats, strawberries, melon and much more.....we didn`t need to eat for the rest of the day!

In the evening Anna pulled out her traditional Bavarian dresses so we could truly feel the part at the famous Hofbauhaus beer hall . We loved getting dressed up and had an awesome night with Anna and her friends enjoying one litre steins and enormous fresh pretzels. We looked so like genuine locals even the tourists were taking photos of us!!

On a more sober note we visited the notorious Dachau Concentration camp site and museum today where thousands of Jews and other `undesireables` were imprisoned and died before and during WWII. It was a very moving experience. We find it difficult to comprehend Germany´s dark past when you see where it is as a nation today.

Our journey will continue tomorrow when we will head south again to the Alps and make our way to Salzburg in Austria.

A few more photos....

So many beautiful lakes in the Alps

A mai mai at our campsite....with a view

Sussing out a route Reading at Hopfen am See

Neuschwanstein schloss....inspired Walt Disney's Cinderella castle