With an eye on the weather, we exited our hotel in Karlsruhe and headed north out of town toward Speyer. It was forecast to reach 97° today. Our first destination was a ferry crossing of the Rhine, about 12 miles out. We cycled through the deserted suburbs of Karlsruhe. 7:00 am on a Sunday morning and everyone is still asleep. Since we are still in the Rhine flood plain, the terrain is flat. Flat-flat.
We reached the ferry landing am 8:30 am after a quick stop at a bakery in a small town for our morning pastry. The ferry was not running, so we inquired at the dockside restaurant if it ran on Sunday. The lady behind the counter said she thought it started at 9:00 am, only about 15 minutes to wait. We were a little impatient. We did not want to get caught by the hot weather, but we could wait 15 minutes.
By 9:05 it was obvious that the ferry wasn't going to be running anytime soon. I asked another person at the landing. They said 10:00 am. Another 55 minutes of the day tickets my away?
Now, a European would have ordered something to eat or drink, started a conversation and enjoyed the 55 minute break. But us Americans, with our drive to be productive every minute, started studying a route around the ferry. With a nod of agreement to each other we headed up the east side of the river, negotiating slues and trails and roads, heading for a bridge crossing of the river, 9 miles up. We did not stop to consider that we were at our mileage limit for the day and that this small detour would out is over and turn a delightful day into a day of diminishing returns as the heat and fatigue slowed us down.
We finally got to the bridge crossing at Germersheim, made a wrong turn, but finally figured out the route to the bike lane on the bridge and crossed. We're we faster this way than if we had waited for the ferry? Doubtful. We had added a couple miles to our route. Plus, we could have been resting rather than cycling frontside 55 minutes, thus conserving strength.
We did our duty and paid a visit to a little bit of U.S. home turf, a McDonalds. Nothing to eat, we just shared a coke, which we spilled while still half full.
We headed out for Speyer again, arriving in town just a couple minutes after 2:00 pm. Spryer has a technology museum. On the roof they have a 747 donated by Lufthansa. It really catches your eye as you enter town. I had the museum on my list of things to see, but seeing the 747 plus the other two dozen aircraft scattered around the yard cemented my resolve.
We checked into the Ibis hotel. Sally decided to rest and take a nap while I toured the museum. I climbed into the 747, a giant Russian transport plane, (the kind James Bond would jump out of the back of), a German U-boat and toured their collection of "toys". I reminded me of a little boys bedroom and back yard-littered with his models-although these were the real things, life sized. It took me two hours to satiate my curiosity.
Sally and I rode to the Speyer Cathedral, built by the Romans in 1000 AD. No gothic arches on the original structure. Just roman arches everywhere. Some goth was added later, trying to stay hip.
Speyer was also celebrating their version of "Cheese Days". We walked the plaza crowded with booths and people. We settled on pasta for dinner, then rode back to the hotel.
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