Past Due

Too much to cover here, but the longer I put it off, the harder it is to get started.  I'm a bit more motivated to write now because we just got back from a terrific fall bike trip through Bavaria, so I think I'll start there.  On September 12th, we took our bikes and trailer on an all day train ride from Magdeburg to Oberstdorf, a resort town nestled in the foothills of the Alps, not far from the Austrian border.  I didn't know anything about the town, but picked it because it the last stop on a relatively direct train journey and there was a campsite located about a mile from the train station.  Leaving Magdeburg at 7am we arrived in Oberstdorf at around 4pm and had time to set up our tent and head back into town for a Bavarian evening of heavy food, beer and great music.  And although I had never heard of Oberstdorf - soooo many Germans had.  It was chock full of tourists and we joined most of them the next day at the Viehscheid (livestock sorting) fest.  This is when the cows are brought down from the cottages in the high mountain meadows (Alms), where they spend the summer, and returned to the farmers in the valley. The cows are adorned with flowers and big bells, which makes it quite festive.  Actually, I think there were many more people than cows, and I doubt the livestock enjoyed it very much, but the people sure did.  Of course there was beer and music in a huge tent throughout the day.

One young cow reunited with its owners

Beautiful setting, too

It was cool to see the Viehscheid, but that meant that the cows would no longer be up in the meadows by the Alms we planned to visit.  A big part of the charm of going up to the Alms is that you get to each cheese and drink beer while looking at/listening to the cows wandering about.  That didn't stop us, though, and we had a great time biking up to some gorgeous spots and enjoying beer, cheese and views, as well as the ride itself.

Riding up to the Alm with the morning mist

Rewarded with Beer!

Second Alm - lower location (looking up) 

Cheese at the third (and final) Alm of the day

After Oberstdorf, we took a route (I meticulously planned) following the BayernNetz (Bavarian bike network) along the Iller river valley and then over some hills to Marktoberdorf where we overnighted at a bauernhof (farmhouse) campsite.  We then took a scenic route back to Füssen, passing another farm-related festival along the way where we grabbed a great lunch (schupfnudeln!) while listening to Blasmusik in another big tent.  Oh, Bavaria!  Although our campsite in Füssen offered a majestic view that  included the famous Neuschwanstein castle, we found it way too expensive (30 Euros!) and on top of that some animal raided our food during the night. (Funny/strange because it happened the last time we were in Füssen, about 10 years ago, miles away at a different campsite!)  The next morning we headed up over the hills into Austria to Lermoos, a very pretty ski resort town in the shadow of the Zügspitz, the tallest mountain peak in Germany.   We liked the campsite so much (quiet, with a washing machine and heated drying room!) we stayed an extra day and hiked up through one of the ski slope areas to a restaurant with a great view for a beer and Matthias' favorite meal: meat and cheese board with fresh bread.  I couldn't complain, either....

View from campsite including the castle in the distance

beautiful lunch spot in Austria

nighttime view from our campsite in Lermoos

Happy Matthias!

Next, we took a very short ride along the Loisach river to Garmisch Partenkirchen, a more famous resort town at the base of the Zügspitz on the German side. After setting up the tent at another ridiculously expensive campsite, we had time to ride up to a beautiful (and touristy) lake for more views.  This rounded out the first week of our trip and the end of our sojourn in the Alps.  We then set off through the rolling hills of Bavaria in a more homeward (northerly) direction.  We rode along the Loisach river valley and then over some hills to Rottenbuch where we spent three nights and had two days to explore the surrounding hill country (including a side trip to Oberammergau).  We then followed the Ammer River to the Ammersee (large lake) and then along a smaller river valley to Ingolstadt, along the Danube to Kelheim and then a few days along the Altmuhl canal and valley (beautiful and wonderful for biking) and on to Nüremburg and Bamberg. Once north of the Danube (after Ingolstadt), we found ourselves in a region called Franken, a part of Bavaria that holds itself apart (historically, culturally).   This is where I found my new favorite German dish (so long, Schweinshaxe!) called Schäuferla.  Not only do I like eating it, I like saying it (pronounced "Sh-OY-fulla") with a full-on Chuck Schumer accent, which makes it sound Yiddish to me.  Of course, it's a pork dish so I'm quite positive the roots aren't Yiddish...

The view of Zügspitz from our tent site

Lake Eibing

Loisach river and valley

Down in the lower hills by Rottenbach - delicious cheese in a great location!

Schäuferla!!

We had great weather throughout, although during the last week the weather got close to freezing each night - two days we woke up with frost on the tent.  Once we reached Bamberg, where we spent the "German Unity Day" holiday, we decided to stick with the original plan and catch the train home.  We probably could have made it another week (the weather actually turned a bit warmer again) and closer to home, but three and a half weeks and 1,200 km seemed sufficient.

One of our campsites in the Altmuhl valley

Same campsite with FROST early in the mornign

Iconic picture from Bamberg

Now to turn back the clock and start from about where I left off last time (last May!!)  We had just moved to Germany and started getting settled in and I mentioned that I would report on the famous bureaucracy here.  Well, that would fill up way too much of my blog cloud space but I'll include some highlights.  First, we signed up for public insurance (not free, you need to pay 15% of your income up to around a 700 euro pp/pm cap).  It seemed to go well and they said we would be insured retroactively to the first of that month (May).  But then, a few days after our cancelled our ACA insurance in the US, we got a letter saying that our application was declined (due to incomprehensible reasons).  I panicked as we went to sign up with another company (one we registered with once before in Germany) and the process seemed to go just as smoothly, which worried me even more deeply.  But after a very stressful week, we received notice that we were accepted. which I didn't quite believe until a week later when I could access my account online.  But now we are covered, though it's still complicated.  Another, though less traumatic, experience was signing up for electricity.  They have hundreds of companies that offer electricity, including discount stores like Lidl and Aldi, and you choose the one you want online (not quite what I expected from "European socialism").  The monthly price is affected by bonus offers and discounts bundled with base and KWH rates.  Soooo confusing and of course it drives me crazy wondering if I got the best deal or not.....

Okay, now back to the good stuff.  While we were waiting on the insurance and other some stuff , we took our bikes up to Matthias' parents' cottage in the Harz Mountains for a few days.  It was great having the ebikes there as there are lots of bikeways through the forests and mountain villages.  We were also able to ride all the way up to the Brocken - the highest point in our region and an historic security/lookout point for the old East German regime.  After spending time in the Harz, we squeezed in a short bike tour from home to the Brandenburg lake area (near Potsdam) and back again via Lutherstadt Wittenberg (where Martin Luther posted his theses back in the day) and Dessau on the Elbe.

Scenic view from the Brocken

Then it was time to meet mom and Laurene in Spain!  Despite a rough start, it was great!  I found out two days before I was scheduled to fly that my RyanAir flight from Berlin to Barcelona was cancelled. That gave me the option to get my money back (a whopping 40 euros - woo hoo) or rebook on another RyanAir flight.  The problem was that I needed to get to Barcelona in time to meet my mother and Laurene at the airport, and all other flights for that morning (including other airlines) were booked.  What really bugged me was that I had also planned (so cleverly, I thought) a fun night in Berlin watching the World Cup at the Brandenburg Gate Fan Mile prior to my early flight the next morning.  So all of that fell through as I had to get a flight the day before from Bremen, which only took me to Girona, where I spent the night and caught the train the next morning to Barca Airport.  Although Girona was nice (spent the early morning walking around the old town), I didn't find a good place to watch the Germany/Sweden World Cup match, which turned out to be the only one the German team won....  It's still known here as the "WM Debakel" (World Cup Debacle) and I was doubly annoyed because I had planned a lot of our summer around the World Cup.  Lesson learned.  But we girls had a fun few days running around Barcelona, catching the major sights and eating our way through the recommendations in the Rick Steves guidebook. Our apartment just off La Ramblas was wonderful and gave us easy access to the highlights - La Sagrada Familia, the Mercado, Barri Gotic, and more.  After an action-packed few days, we took the high speed train to Madrid, where Mom and Laurene transferred to their overnight train to Lisbon (and more luxurious adventures with their Tauck tour) and I spent a last, more modest, evening and next morning in Madrid.  While Barcelona was fabulous, I had almost forgotten how much I love Madrid - need to go back soon!

Early morning in Girona

Ladies in Barcelona

Add wine for more fun!

After that whirlwind, Matthias and I were ready for the summer bike trip we had been planning.  Because the route went through the Harz, passing just a few kms from Matthias' parents' cottage, we headed there first for about a week culminating on Matthias' birthday, when his parents also came up to celebrate.  On July 20, we set out along the Europa 1 bike route (which apparently runs all the way from Holland to St. Petersburg, Russia) toward the west. This blog post is way too long already, so I'll try just to include the highlights...  We rode through part of the Harz mountains (hilly) through Goslar and Einbeck (pretty!).  We had a great meal in Höxter (also very pretty!) and then rode through the Teutoberger Wald to just past Detmold, where we stayed an extra day to explore the town and surrounding area.  We then continued on to Münster, which was a goal of mine - I had always wanted to visit as it is known as the (a?) bike capital of Germany.  It was a nice city, and yeah, there were a lot of bikes, but I'm not sure it lived up to my expectations.  Plus, it rained a bit that day - so it seemed a little dreary.  Although, on the other hand, the rain was WELCOMED - it had been (and would continue to be) a very HOT and dry summer. After Münster, we rode we enjoyed riding along a network of canals (built to transport coal but now used almost solely for recreation) and along the Ruhr river up to some lovely reservoir lakes.  Then we were really impressed by the bike routes through Westerwald and Hessen - and particularly the pretty towns with lovely central squares and  half-timbered buildings.  Fighting the heat, we headed back toward home, with a route that took us along the Lahn, Fulda, and Werra rivers, through a cute town called Schlitz (loved it!), and over the hills to Erfurt, where we were able to catch a direct train to Magdeburg and home.

cute alleyway in Detmold

Rock formations in Teutobuger Wald

Gorgeous building in Hoxter

River bridge - One canal crossing over the other.  Apparently these are quite common in Germany

And that's not all!  Summer activities were capped off by a fabulous visit with our great friends Jennifer and Brenda!  We met in Dresden and spent a few days (too few!) together catching some out-of-the-way sights - such as the Deutsche Hygiene Museum, Bautzen prison, Gommern - riding ebikes, and spending many hours sitting in restaurants (and trains) solving (or just lamenting) the world's problems.  It was heaven!

Biking in Dresden!

Matthias tapping the beer!

So I did it.  I'm promising myself never again to go so many (eventful) months without a blog entry.  Too exhausting.  Now I've got a month before heading to Florida and we are already preoccupied with getting our German drivers' license; our Florida license is only valid to drive here until the end of this month.  While we don't have to start from zero to get the license (having a valid US license allows us to bypass the physical driving test) we still have to spend hundreds (!) to register, study and take a really hard theoretical test.  I suppose because it is so hard to get a license here, I am much safer on my bike.  I do believe and notice that, but it's not much comfort at the moment.  More to come next time, unless I fail spectacularly - in which case I'll never mention it again!