Frankfurt

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Frankfurt, Germany

August 18^th



We ended up spending a little more than a week at Neuf-Breisach, taking a side trip down to Mulhouse. The weather continues to be hot! By the time we got to Mulhouse (59.38 km) I think I was near heat stroke. We stopped at what we thought was a restaurant outside of town but, it turned out to be a distributor and they didn't have any drinks for us to buy. They did give us a large bottle of water. So nice! The campground was busy and nearly full. After our showers, we kicked back and watched other cyclist come in and set up their tents. We are always amazed at the number of different tents and bikes.

In Neuf-Breisach we met a very funny, friendly and great couple from Holland. Every night we would sit around the table and have some wine and tell stories. He works with the mentally handicap and she teaches crafts with her sister.

From Neuf-Breisach we started working our way back north. Our first stop was at Boofzheim, a place we had camped many years ago. We were able to find the great restaurant we had eaten at before and had a wonderful lunch and got to say hello again to the chef.

From Boofzheim to Strasbourg was sweltering. The campground was full but, they were able to put us in the tent area which was in the “back 40” a long way from the water and toilets. Like in the states, the best areas are kept for the RV's even though we had to pay the same rate. In this case, it was one of most expensive campground, 26,5 euros a night! Our average price for camping was about 14 euros.

Another hot day (100 plus degrees) put us in Roeschwoog. The campground was on a lake and when we got to the site, we were exhausted. Another permanent camper (they had there caravan there for 20 plus years) came over with a large COLD bottle of water and two glasses for us. Wow, I hope we are so nice to treat travelers the same way. We chugged down the water and then she brought two chairs for us to sit in! Later, she came back to introduce her husband, who spoke better English. He kept apologizing for his English but, we told him it was so much better than our German. He also told us that is has been the hottest summer for the Rhine valley since they started keeping records!! So much for escaping the heat of Florida summers....

The next day we headed for Lauterbourg, near the German border. We thought we might spend the night there but, decided to take the train back to Mainz, 42 km from Frankfurt. Well, it turned out to be a very long day and 5 trains later to get into Mainz. We got the tent up by 8pm, ate and went to bed.

So, we got to Frankfurt and went to dinner at Solzer with our friends. Actually, Chuck & Gunter went early to Solzer to watch the Frankfurt soccer team play. Gunter is a huge soccer fan and used to play for the team. Chuck is now one of the boys that sit, watch the game and drink apple wine. Apple wine is mixed with soda water and is quite refreshing.

So, we are planning some site seeing in Frankfurt, a little shopping and then be headed back to the states. We have put 2200 plus kilometers on the bikes, which for you non-metric friends is about 1300 miles. We will have lots of fond memories of the people we have met and places which we traveled.

Remember to travel when you can!

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