Lee Ann's Travel Blog

Lee Ann from the Oregon Council shares about her 2006 travels in Europe, including destinations in Italy, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. This is merely a glimpse into her trip, but enjoy:

"After Innsbruck, we drove to Salzburg, home of Mozart, but more relevantly the home of the 2006 UCI Road Cycling World Championship race. We stayed in a very small town outside of Salzburg (in Germany, actually) where the owners wore Bavarian garb. We didn't have the guts to ask them if they did it for tourism purposes or if they really wore that stuff on a daily basis, so we gave them the benefit of the doubt and assumed the latter. They were really kind to us - we had a very hard time finding their inn, because the town was so small that Mapquest couldn't find it, and even once we were there, the roads were not marked well and it was dark. Fun. I finally found an open pub and managed to get some help with directions. I love German people :)

The race was soooooo fun! It was like being at the Tour de France without the crowds or the mountains. Definitely a European cultural event - there were fans from all over Europe - patriotic Dutchies wearing orange jumpsuits and clogs, throngs of chainsmoking Italians,
people wearing their countries' flags as capes. There were teams from Africa, Kazakhstan, and Iran and Japan - places I've never known to have a big cycling interest There were a few American riders and a lone Canadian who used the Swedish team's support car since he didn't have enough of a team to justify one of his own. Shane and I walked part of the course for a few hours and then stopped at a little pub to have a beer and something to eat. We could not have picked a better place to experience the event - it was full of old Italian men who were festively drinking and teasing the waitresses. We ended up in the Italian cheering section at the finish line, which was awesome because the cyclist who won is Italian (Bettini) and the fans went bizerk. We had more fun watching them than any part of the race!"


Additionally, Lee Ann blogged on her 2004 trip through South America and into Costa Rica. Click here to read about her experiences hiking the Inca Trail in Ecuador, scuba diving in Columbia, and more.

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