Thursday, August 20 - Stage 21 - 24 miles, Day 35 - Düsseldorf to Duisburg

We headed for the waterfront from the hotel, retracing our route home of last night. Once on the river our route followed bike paths and wide walking paths. We passed by an old roman fort dating from 4 BC, then past the abbey where Florence Nightingale trained to be a nurse. 

We stopped at a bakery for a treat and a coke for Sally, then the trail headed out across open fields on a dike. Riding on dikes is wonderful. They are perfectly level, raised above the surrounding countryside providing a great, expansive view and usually well paved. 

The outskirts of Duisberg were gritty and industrial. It was not threatening, nor scary, just very unattractive. When we got to the downtown core, just at lunch time we found a revitalized city with a wide open shopping district. We stopped a diner specializing in fish and had lunch. 

Sally stopped to shop for a pair of pants, all hers getting a little baggy. I stayed outside , watching our bikes and gear and fiddling with some time lapse apps. After our prearranged half hour she wanted  to shop some ore, so we rode to our hotel, about a mile away, checked in and rode back, without our gear. Sal went in to find the allusive pair of pants while unchained my bike to a pole and took her electric wonder out for a spin around town to explore. It is amazing how much effort it saves when riding. Just a gentle influx of motorized energy moves the bike along as you peddle. I picked a new fuel canister for the stove and a torx tool for her bike. When we get to Paris I have to disassemble her bike, and it has a few torx bolts that her old bike did not. I also found the bolts that hold her rear wheel in place were not securely tightened. The wheel shifted slightly after I had been riding a while, causing a rear brake to rub. I realigned the wheel and got that tightened up so it would not shift around again.

Back in the hotel room, we had salad for dinner, then called it a day.

Tuesday, August 18 - Stage 19 - 0 miles, Day 33 - Site Seeing in Cologne - Of Cathedrals, Chocolate and Vivaldi

Although we strung a clothesline last night and hung all our wet clothing early last evening, most of it is not dry this morning. We made sure the heating fan ran all night, and we had the heat up, although we couldn't tell it was providing any heat. Regardless, we put on the dry clothes we had and prepared to head to downtown Cologne for a day of site seeing. We had slept in a bit, and were slow moving. It wasn't until 9:45 am that we made it out the door, onto our bikes and on our way to town. The Budget Ibis, our hotel, was about a mile east of the downtown core. We were surprised at how cool the air temperature was this morning, 46°. We were clad in coats and long pants as we headed to town. 

Breakfast had been a bit skimpy, so our first step was a bakery in the square near the cathedral to do a pastry. After that, a quick ride of a few blocks brought us to the cathedral square. We locked up our bikes to a fence and headed to the spire climb. 10:00 am may be late for Sally and I, but the rest of the tourist world isn't moving about at this time of the morning. There was no line to the stairs leading up to the top of the spires of the cathedral. We worked our way up the stairs, stopping to look out the few windows in this spiral staircase. We could see, up close, the gothic stone work attached to the outside walls of the cathedral. It is all stained black, giving the cathedral a dark and uninviting look. We climbed past the belfry, figuring we would see it on the way back down. Once at the highest point possible, we were able to walk around the entire spire, viewing the city below, but also, the cathedral below and all the stone works. It was nice not to be in a hurry. We hung around, inspecting the magnificent work and admiring the sheer size and audacity of its construction. Looking out at the "gingerbread" of stone carvings clinging to the building and realizing those thousands of tons of stone have to be supported and to be raised up to this level, gave us a respect for the tenacity of the builders. 

On our way down, we stopped at the belfry. There were about seven or eight bells hanging, the largest about 15' in diameter. As it was 11:45 am, we debated whether to wait for the noon ringing. We really wanted to see the bells in action, but feared for the safety of our eardrums once the cacophony started. We decided to stay. The large bell was not employed and only three of the smaller ones were rung. That was loud enough. 

Once we descended the spire, we planned to enter the cathedral, but the sounds of Vivaldi's "Winter", from his four seasons was wafting across the square. We decided to investigate. What we found was magnificent. Two accordion players and a violinist were playing for change. The three of them did Vivaldi justice. View one of their song I recorded at this site: coming soon

After that distraction, we finally entered the cathedral. It was magnificent, but by this time in our trip we had walked thru at least 20 large cathedrals. The magic of wandering past those magnificent columns supporting the atmospheric roof is awe inspiring. It reminds me of walking through a sequoia grove, the trunks of the trees soaring skyward. 

We rode our bikes to a Kabab place for lunch. We split a sandwich, and packed another one for dinner tonight. 

Luckily, the Chocolate museum is just a few minutes from the cathedral. We were in the door in short order. All aspects of the politics, biology and science of chocolate production are thoroughly covered. We spent over an hour touring the museum. It was great. 

We made a trip down the waterfront to see what we had missed riding past it in the rain yesterday, then headed away from the river a few blocks to a grocery store. We stocked up for dinner, breakfast and lunch tomorrow, then returned to the hotel. 

We spent the evening in our room, watching the BBC and blogging - and resting. 

Saturday, August 22 - Stage 23 - 38 miles, Day 37 - Xanten to Millingen an der Rijn - Nuke that Never Was

Dew. Wow. The inside and outside of our tent was saturated with clinging water, just waiting to deposit on us if we made the mistake of brushing up against its surface. We carefully exited the tent, then took a towel and wiped down the inside and outside of the tent to remove as much water as possible before stuffing it away for the day. 

About 8:30 am we were on our bikes and ready to move down the road. We stopped at registration and paid our camping fee, €15.  Then it was back thru picturesque Xanten and then north out of town. We stopped at the bakery in town for a soda for Sally, and a pastry. 

There are two large lakes just outside Xanten, which we cycled past in the first 2-3 miles. Then it was up on the dike for most of the rest of the day. We had a little wind to our backs, so we just motored along for, enjoying the sun and beautiful countryside. Again, we bypassed most of the small towns. 

At about 14 miles, the object of our curiosity came into view. Germany was building a nuclear power plant in the 1980's, spending about 4 billion dollars per plant. This one, a fast breeder reactor, was completed and was going through tests when Chernobyl happened. Public outcry forced the decision to shutter the plant before any nuclear fuel was brought on site. The expensive components were sold off and the plant sat empty. A enterprising business man bought the facility for $3 million dollars. First thing he did was strip out all the wiring and sell the copper, making back more than his $3 million dollar investment. Next, and this is the fun part, he turned the site into an amusement park. The cooling tower has a spinning ride that comes out the top and he painted jagged mountain scenes on the outside and turned it into a climbing wall!  There are numerous other rides as well. He turned the control room building into a hotel. A true destination theme park. The site has about 600,000 visitors a year. 

We pulled into the parking lot about 10:30 am and toyed with the idea of spending the $52 entrance fee. It was above our budget, but we talked ourselves into it, just for the chance to go on a ride in a cooling tower and so I could rock climb the outside of it. But, we quickly realized we had no way to secure all our gear hanging off our bikes. No lockers were available and no fenced storage. The chance of losing our gear to theft was small, but the consequences were huge. We decided to let it go. We ate lunch on a bench outside the entrance gate, then started peddling our way north again. 

We stopped a couple hours later for a beer and a pop, but the food at the adjacent tables looked so good, we decided to eat an early dinner. We both ordered potatoes and eggs, my potatoes with German sausage. It was delicious!

Back on the dike and about half an hour later we crossed the German-Netherlands border and arrived at Millingen an der Rijn. We cruised town, looking for camping. Seeing none, we stopped at the information office, but it turned out to be a hotel service. They gave us funny looks when we asked about camping.  I found a campsite across the Rhine using my GPS. We made our way to a grocery store, got food for dinner, then rode back to the dike and down to the Rhine for our ferry ride across. This was a passenger only ferry, no cars. We scaled the ramp on the other side and rode the mile and a half to our campground for the evening.  

We were greeted in the reception office by a very jolly man of 59. He and a partner had just bought the entire area from the state and we're making a go of it. The state claimed they were losing money on it, but he had already turned a profit in his first year of ownership. We had a long conversation with him, enjoying his humor and kindness. We finally left the office, on a slight rise, and rode down to find a place to camp. We picked an area with shade (it was 82°) between two permanent looking travel trailers, or "caravans" as the English call them.  

I was really tired. I pitched the tent and crawled in for a nap. Sally went to take a shower. As she walked away she stopped to talk to our neighbors as I listened through the tent wall. The people said they stayed there, in their trailer for six months. There was a community of them that did so, as was obvious later in the evening as they all got together to drink and talk. After Sally walked away I could hear the women chattering in German, repeating Sally's statement of surprise at six months and giggling about it. What do you do here in a travel trailer for six months?  We decided they were the modern day equivalent of gypsies. 

Because we had eaten our dinner of potatoes, eggs and sausage earlier in the afternoon, we settled for a small pot of chicken broth soup before retiring to the tent about 8:30 pm. The neighbors, only about 20' feet away talked and laughed into the night, but their conversation was in German so it was just white noise and I was too tired to notice. I fell asleep.   

Friday, August 21 - Stage 22 - 41 miles, Day 36 - Duisburg to Xanten - Dikes, Romans and Windmills

It did not take long to get out of Duisberg. Our bikes were locked in a metal storage shed behind the hotel. I went to retrieve the bikes while Sally watched our bags in the lobby and checked us out. 

We rode through some suburban streets, crossed the Rhine, made a few jigs and jogs, crossed a canal and we were on the dike that holds the Rhine in its banks. It was a beautiful day of riding up on the dike, green fields on either side, skirting small towns, and occasionally ducking into one for lunch or a snack. 

As we rode along the route, we encountered a gate across the road with a universal don't enter sign, the red circle with the red slash across it. I checked the map on the GPS. If we didn't enter this gate, it would require a two mile detour. If we did go through the gate we would be entering a construction zone because we could see heavy equipment up on the dike and had read they were reinforcing some sections. The map also showed we had only to ride about 150 yards across the construction site to the continuation of the road that was our route. Better to ask forgiveness than permission. We pushed off through the gate, making a beeline for the gate 150 yards away. The going was rough, but not impossibly so. I slipped my phone out of my pocket to take a picture. We were 25 yards from the exit gate when we heard the inevitable supervisor's truck racing up behind us. He caught us 10 yards from the gate and started to explain something to us in German. He was not too angry, but was upset we were in a place we were not supposed to be. Sally explained we only knew English, and with sign language and gestures suggested we just leave the construction site via the gate just 10 yards away instead of riding back. He shook his head in agreement, and we cycled back onto our route. We did have to dodge some super big trucks on the narrow, but paved one lane road. We rolled into the bushes while they passed. Soon the road widened and we back on track. 

We found a bakery in Ossenberg with a nice lawn across the street. We bought fresh rolls, then laid in the lawn and had rolls and cheese for lunch. Then back on the dike and soon we were entering Xanten. 

This is a quaint town with a long history. The Romans built a city here, which has been recently studied and replicated. We toured the grounds, with a reconstructed coliseum, Roman baths and partial temple. We only spent a little over an hour as we were anxious to get to our camping grounds. 

On our way back into town from the Roman city we stopped by the windmill. I paid my 1€ fee to go up inside. As expected, I found the grinding wheel and old wooden gears that drive everything. Very cool. But, I also found a group of about eight people in the process of pointing the windmill blades into the wind and unfurling the cloth on the blades that catch the wind, much like the sails on a ship. Whereas a modern windmill points itself into the wind, these relics of the past have to be turned into the wind, with a winch and half a dozen people. I watched the process and saw the blades begin rotating. I popped back inside to see the center shaft spinning. I enjoyed that.

We headed out of town, about 3 miles to our campground. When we arrived about 5:00 pm, we found the office closed for the night. We rode around and found the tenting area, pitched our tent in the open field, and hid from the sun in the tent's shadow and rested. Because we missed the proprietors, we did not have a simple way to charge Sally's bike battery nor my cell phone batteries. I found power outlets in the washroom and, since I had to blog anyhow, I took both devices to the restroom and spent an hour writing while the batteries charged. 

We had a salad for dinner, along with a roll and cheese. Some more quality time in the restroom charging bike and cell phone batteries got us through until dark.

While I was charging batteries Sally met a Dutch couple, ages 75 and 73 who were biking while the weather was good. The conversation turned to their experiences during and after the war, mostly after the war. That talked of food shortages and clothing shortages. They described difficult times until the early 1950's. Dutch men were required to go to work for the Germans during the war. For each man that worked for the Germans so many prisoners were released. They talked of current immigration to the Netherlands. Sally wished she could have talked to them all night, but about dark she was crawling into the tent. 

Wednesday, August 19 - Stage 20 - 34 miles, Day 34 - Cologne to Düsseldorf - No Water

The statement "No Water" was a common one when doing the PCT last spring. It required a constant vigilance to be sure we had a water source so we could refill each day. Here in Europe, on EuroVelo 15, finding fluids to drink is not a problem. We pass dozens of small towns and shops everyday where water, beer or soda is available. So, the statement "No Water" in this case refers to temperatures cool enough that we are not soaking in our own sweat nor dripping wet from rain. Today was the first day of the trip (note above this is the 34th day) when it wasn't above 85° or raining. We are neither sweating from the heat nor sweating inside our rain gear. 

What a difference!  The high today was 72°. There was no wind. The sky was clear blue. We rode in complete comfort in our T-shirts.  We didn't feel the need to hurry up the ride and get out of the sun by noon. 

Our path took us back across the Rhine to the center of Cologne, then right, heading, as always, downstream. This morning the ride was a mix of city waterfront with parks,  cafes, and tree lined lanes, then gritty "Joe vs The Volcano" industrial manufacturing including a Ford manufacturing plant that stretched for a few miles followed by quaint towns with tree lined streets, and finally open farm fields with miles of open view. Through it all, it was perfect weather. One of those days you feel like singing as you ride along. 

Although it is only the 18th of August, it feels like fall. Is it the angle of the sun in the sky?  The cooler temperature? The leaves scattered about under the trees? The ripened corn, turnips and apples we go whisking past?  Most likely, it is the sum of all these elements that triggers my bio clock to say, "It's fall". 

We crossed the Rhine at Zons, a small town with a rich history. Originally, and the town was built right on the banks of the Rhine, and like all towns in those days, it lived by shipping and collecting tolls from passing boats. But the channel silted in and the river shifted, leaving the town landlocked and out of business. It did not disappear, but declined in significance and wealth. Today, it is well preserved walled city, with a windmill at a corner where two walls meet. The windmill did not open for visiting until 2:00 pm and we were there at 11:00 am, so we bid it and the very quaint town farewell and road to the ferry dock for our quick trip across the Rhine. 

Once on the opposite bank, we found a nice vantage point to watch the ferry and other passing ships. We assembled Sally's chair and sat down for lunch of rolls and cheese.  I shot a time lapse sequence of the ferry going and coming. Hopefully, it is posted on YouTube at this address:

Immediately after the Zons crossing, we passed between the Rhine and the town of Urdenbach. After a quick stop at McDonalds to leave a deposit, we had a decision to make. Do we follow our guidebook route into Düsseldorf, or do we take the more direct route along route D8 straight into the city and right to our hotel? Scenic beauty or efficiency?  This time we chose efficiency. As we began to cycle the D8 route, a red highlighted route on my beloved MotionX GPS app, we were wondering if we had committed ourselves to 4-5 miles of cycling busy city streets. We were happily surprised to find a bike trail parallel to the highway, separated by a wide and heavily treed, green belt. 7/8 of the ride was on isolated bike trail. The last eighth had us on city streets contending with traffic. However, a change has occurred since my earlier reports of the driving habits of Germans. They were unspeakable courteous and yielding. They stopped at every crossing to let us pass. Even if they were making a right turn and we were behind them, waiting for them to make the turn, after which we would go straight, they somehow sensed we were there (rear view mirror) and waved us to go past them before they made the turn. Wow!  This was so remarkably different from our experiences a week ago in Spyer, Worms, Mainz, Bacharach, Koblenz and Konigswinter. There must be regional difference in driving attitudes, or we just caught the southern drivers in a series of very bad days. 

Our hotel was right in the middle of downtown Düsseldorf. It was clean, but tired and worn. But at €38 a night, we could see past the imperfections. Besides, it came with a balcony!  After resting a few minutes, we headed for the waterfront and Altstaten, Old Town. Most of Düsseldorf was flattened by allied bombing in the war, so there is no "historic Düsseldorf", just what has been constructed since 1945. Some was built in the old style, but most is not. We had a beer and a pop on the quay after cycling around town a bit, then wound our way through the streets back to our hotel where we cooked Tortellini with veggies on the balcony, for dinner. It was good. A little TV on an old CRT TV, all in German,  and we settled into researching our route to Duisberg tomorrow. 

Today was such a wonderful day. As I rode up ahead of Sally, I could hear her singing behind me, just out of the joy of the day, the ride, the entirety of the trip. Every time we stopped, we would remark to each other how wonderful the day and the trip was. All the days have been fun, and challenging, but this day gets a special bookmark for exceptional quality.     

Monday, August 17 - Stage 19 - 38 miles, Day 32 - Konigswinter to Cologne - Turn up the Volume

If yesterday's rain and wind was a level 5 on a volume knob, today someone cranked the volume to an 8. 

We had a delightful breakfast in the restaurant downstairs this morning after packing. The owners doted on us as we ate rolls, sliced meat, cheese, juice and tea. We also had an egg served in the little stand that holds it vertically. Last time we were in Europe, we had eggs served this way. We had no idea how to eat them. By the time we were done there was yoke dripping off everything, reminiscent of a B level slasher movie. But, when we stayed with Roger and Marlis in Lucerne in July, they gave us a lesson on how to gracefully eat these elegant eggs. We applied our new skills and polished off the eggs without a drop of spilled yolk. Thank you Roger and Marlis. 

The hourly forecast made it look like we might get a few miles down the road without rain, but when we pushed our bikes out the back door of the hotel we were greeted with very heavy drizzle. We rode the four blocks down to the river and waited for our ferry across the Rhine. Once on the other side, we found the head wind lighter than yesterday, but the rain heavier. We did not have too many stops planned for the day, in fact, just two,   (1) Rheinhotel Dreesen, a favorite of Hitler (he stayed there 70 times) and the site where Chamberlain signed the peace agreement with him and (2) Beethoven's birthplace in Bonn, now a museum.  

Our rain gear was doing its job well. We were warm and dry as we cycled along. However, it is hard to pay too much attention to your surrounding when the view is through rain drop covered glasses. We did find the Rheinhotel Dreesen and briefly visited the lobby just to get a feel for the location. 

Not too many miles further we entered Bonn, and GPSed our way to Beethoven's birthplace. We contemplated locking our bikes to a light pole on the street while we toured the home/museum, but thought better of it, what with all our bags dangling off the back. Sally checked out the entry to the house and saw it had a foyer that looked to have room for two bikes. We opened the front door and wheeled our bikes in, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. We must have been successful, because no one told us to remove them. We locked them together, paid our entrance fee and toured the house for better than an hour. It exceeded our expectations. The information was good and we enjoyed our visit. 

From Bonn to Cologne is a long slog in the rain. We kept up a steady pace, although I noticed it was a bit slower than yesterday, even though we did not have the head wind today. We were running out of gas. This is the first day that I had zero food in my bags. All I had was a leek to use in the soups we cook. Because we were on the river with a steep river bank, we were not seeing towns. No restaurants. No grocery stores.  As the wet began to wear on us, I turned up and inland at a likely town, Urfeld. It took quite a bit of meandering through the streets before we found a grocery store/bakery. Once the bikes were locked up in the rain, we hit the bakery counter and got mini pizzas for lunch and rolls for dinner. I got some chips in the grocery store and found a coke across the street. There were tables in the front of the store, so we sat down and tanked up on food and fluids. 

About 45 minutes later we were back on the trail, re energized. So was the rain. That morning drizzle was now just plain rain. My iPhone has been guiding us faithfully, but just as we were about to enter Cologne where I would really need the GPS to guide us to our Budget Ibis hotel for the night (€46), it gave me the 10% battery warning. I had my external battery available to charge it back up, but to do so in the rain ran the chance of wetting and ruining all the components. Luckily, we had one more bridge to pass under. Once under its protection, I pulled out my bath towel, dried my hands, battery and bag for protecting it and started the electron IV into my iPhone. As always, it responded to the treatment quickly and was soon at 25% battery life, enough to guide us to the hotel, where it would get wall socket therapy. 

We found the bike lanes in Cologne wide and well established. We easily followed them for a mile off the river to the east, to our hotel. Dripping wet, Sally registered at the front desk. We wheeled our bikes around to the back of the hotel, the designated locking place. They had sturdy racks . . . out in the rain. I locked the bikes to a pipe attached to the building, under an awning.  

Once in the room, I strung a clothes line diagonally across the room and we hung all our wet clothing up to dry. The rain and cool temperatures made the Ikea-like room even more desirable. We had a roll and cheese for dinner. I went out to check on the bikes once, surprised at how cool and wet it really was. We were both happy to laze in the room, cruise the web, blog and watch the BBC. Tomorrow the forecast is excellent, high about 68° with no rain. We plan to spend tomorrow here, visiting the Cologne Cathedral and the Chocolate museum.

Sunday, August 16 - Stage 18 - 38 miles, Day 31 - Koblenz to Konigswinter - Rain and Wind

Before we left for this 2 month cycle adventure we researched the weather of the cities along our route. After our drought experiences in California on the PCT last year we were aghast to see it rained 16 days a month in all the cities we would ride through-Mainz - Koblenz - Cologne - Düsseldorf - Rotterdam. We planned accordingly, and made sure we had good rain gear and everything packed in plastic bags. The average high temperatures were reported to be in the high 70's with average lows in the low 50's. We packed fleece and clothing to keep us warm on chilly nights. 

Hmmmm. As you might have seen in yesterday's post the temperature at midnight was 82°, with daytime highs in the 90's. To sum up our weather experience, it has either been sunny with high temperatures in the high 80's to high 90's or 68 and raining. Not much in between. Today, we continued that pattern. The forecast showed rain beginning this morning about 3:00 am and continuing nonstop all day, night and all the next day. This we had not seen. It has rained at night quite often, and if it did rain during the day, it was only for 3-4 hours. An all day soaking was something new. We went to bed last night only after making sure everything was wrapped in plastic and ready for the soaking we expected to receive today. 

I woke many times during the night, as is usual, but the rain had not started as predicted. Finally, as we were waking up to prepare to leave, about 6:30 am, the rain started. We took our time packing, hiding in the tent as long as possible. I brought the TarpTent because it is lightweight (2 lbs) and packs really small, but it is hard to sit up in and is really only good for lying in and sleeping. Our Irish acquaintances called it the coffin. Sally repeatedly reminds me how much she hates it. 

Rain gear on, we got on the road about 8:30 am, heading north and down river. The rain was steady, although light. The wind was fiercely against us, blowing the rain and mist in our faces. There was not a lot to see for the first 15-20 miles, so we just plowed ahead. Our route left the riverside bike trail and brought us into the town of Andernach. We stopped at a quickie store to use the bathroom, get a pastry and a soda about 10:30 am. It was nice to get out of the wind and rain for a few minutes. Once on the road again, we made occasional stops under bridges to adjust gear or clothing, enjoying a respite from the rain. I continued to use the App, MotionX GPS on my iPhone to navigate. I had my iPhone sealed inside a waterproof bag and it inside my vinyl bag attached to my handlebars. The two layers of plastic still let me tap and swipe, although as a little water got inside, when I took the phone out to take pictures, the operations got a little flaky. Still, I could navigate well with it as our route ducked in and out of small towns, running down on the river bank and then up into towns. 

A word about MotionX GPS. It is an amazing app! It cost $2.99, yet has detailed maps for every inch of the earth's surface. More than that, it has all the bike routes on Europe highlighted, all the trails of the Sedona,  Arizona area, the entire PCT . . . in short, it has every trail, track, path and road. I know I extolled its virtues in an earlier blog, but it truly is amazing. By setting waypoints ahead of time, I can mark turns, sites to see and landmarks. Remarkable.

We stopped at the bridge footings and towers at Remagen. This is all that is left after the bridge collapsed in 1945 after the Americans captured it. The Germans were trying to destroy it, but their attempts to blow it up failed. The American 9th army captured it; the only bridge across the Rhine that the Germans did not blow up. The U.S. moved troops and equipment across it for ten days while engineers worked to repair the damage done to it. On the tenth day, the bridge collapsed, killing 28 engineers working to save it. Now, the bridge towers are a museum devoted to peace. 

The bridge and the rain put into perspective the difficulties and hardships of the war. Sally's dad moved across Europe as the allies advanced on Germany and experienced the rain and terror associated with war. Being at this spot, seeing the size of the Rhine, the severity of the weather, the landscape of mountains, farm fields and small villages brought a better insight to the events and locations of the war. It also created in me a confusion. How could the people of Germany throw the entire world into conflict under the leadership of a mad man? What was so important that they would murder their fellow Europeans? What in their history, traditions and national psyche would make them lash out with such hate and violence? I have read the analysis of the war from many authors and historians, yet standing in the rain and wind on the banks of the Rhine gives me a real perspective and makes me wonder anew. I can see I have more reading to do. 

Quite wet and getting hungry, we stopped at a riverside restaurant for lunch. The moment we walked in the door we knew it was the right place to eat. The temperature inside must have been near 80°. We hung our coats on the backs of chairs to dry, plugged in Sally's bike battery and my iPhone to charge and enjoyed a lazy lunch of potatoes, sausage and eggs. Greasy and delicious. 

Once on our bikes again, we covered the 10 or so miles to the ferry at Rolandseck. Here we were to cross the river and get to the resort town of Konigswinter. While waiting at the ferry dock, I had my opinion of German drivers reinforced. 

We have noticed, since entering Germany, that the drivers are aggressive. They are downright mean and belligerent. They do not slow or stop for pedestrians waiting at a crosswalk to cross the street. If a pedestrian sees no traffic on his side of the street and steps into the crosswalk, the drivers in the other lane will not stop for him. Not at all.  They don't even slow down. After observing this phenomena a few times I decided to test it. I stood on the curb, bike pointed across the street, front wheel slightly beyond the curb, indicating my desire to cross. A dozen cars whizzed past, none of them slowing or stopping. When a break in the traffic on my side of the two lane road came, I pushed my bike out into the road and walked until my wheel was slightly over the center line, clearly communicating my desire to cross the street. Not a single car stopped or even slowed. They just barreled past, missing my wheel by inches. The break in the traffic in the lane I was in was ending, with cars approaching. They showed no signs of slowing. I am sure they would not have run me over (I hope!), but I did not get a chance to find out because the traffic in the other lane had a break and I could finish my crossing of the street. As we rode through the narrow streets of Bacharach, the cars would not slow in the least as they whisked by on the narrow streets, again, just inches from our handlebars. 

As I stood with my bike at the ferry line, next to the first car in line to board the ferry, I realized I needed to be on the other side of the ramp to board. The last car coming off the ferry was just leaving the ramp. There is no one on the ramp directing traffic as these are small ferries holding 10-15 cars, max. There were only six cars in line. I started to walk my bike in front of the lead car. As I took my first step, the driver jerked his car ahead one foot and abruptly stopped, obviously challenging me not to cross. I moved forward again, and he lurched forward again, threatening to hit my bike. The last car off the ferry now cleared the ramp. This 70ish year old, aggressive driver now gunned his car down the ramp, missing my front wheel by millimeters. All the cars behind him followed suit, each cutting off my path across the ramp. When the last car passed, I rode my bike across the ramp and down onto the ferry. 

After this test of German driving kindness I now know the rules of their roads. Most of the drivers here do not realize, or don't care, that they are piloting 2500 pound missiles capable of squashing the life out of passers by. They show every sign of aggressive, belligerent and callous behavior. As Obe Wan Kenobi would say, "We must be cautious."

Once on the other side, we covered the three miles to Konigswinter and began our search for lodgings. We hoped to find a cheap zimmer, but could not find any dwellings with signs out, advertising a room. After 20 minutes we found the visitors information office and inquired about rooms. We ended up in a quaint hotel/restaurant, a member of the bike and bett group. The room was upstairs, above the restaurant. It was large and comfy. We hung all our gear to dry and cooked soup for dinner. I must have been tired, because I fell asleep about 7:00 pm and was out for the night. 

All in all, in spite of the wind and rain, it was a good day. The bridge at Remagen was enlightening, lunch was superb, the scenery, through raindrop splattered glasses, was magnificence. The weather forecast says we get to do a repeat tomorrow. I can't wait!