Chuck and I watched Stage 4 on TV at a local watering hole in the fußganger (pedestrians only) section of Köln. Copious quantities of the Kölsch made it quite an enjoyable experience, despite not seeing it person. The next day, we picked up the rental van and headed south to Bavaria with Kelly and my family. While I got a pretty good deal on the 7-seater van, we soon found out that there may have been a reason for the attractive price. Specifically, the AC button turned out to be ornanmental and not functional. Given the abnormally hot European July, this resulted in a rather unusual travel situation. Chuck and I sat in the front seats with earplugs in our ears to dampen the sounds of 130+ kmh crosswinds resulting from our open front-seat windows. Unfortunately, for Ellen, Kelly and my girls, the back windows did not open at all and they would bake in extreme heat for the next week. Chuck and I resorted to hand gestures and facial expressions to communicate given the deafening winds. That said, we continued on to Bavaria and had a very nice time. The picture above was taken at Neuschwanstein Castle, which we visited on that Friday.Speaking of Friday, Chuck and I had a wonderful pre-ride right along the Germany-Austria border. Rolling farmland paths right at the base of the Alps made this one of my most memorable pre-rides ever. Here are a few pictures of the area.
After our brief tour of Bavaria, we spent Friday night in Zurich, Switzerland. On Saturday, we continued west to our next base camp at Annecy, France.
Bis später
