Advertisement
Published: August 10th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Along the Rhein
The sun burns a hole in the overcast sky and illuminates a little Swiss village. Let me begin by saying that we had the best spaghetti sauce ever last night for dinner. Now . . . here are the details.
Yesterday blue skies greeted us as we awoke. By the time we had packed up the tent, the skies had turned cloudy with a bit of mist, a pattern of sun and clouds that persisted throughout the day, but it never quite rained, so we had no complaints. The bike path also vacillated throughout the day -- from gravel-packed to paved and back again -- as did the terrain -- from flat to hilly and back again. All in all, not a bad cycling day.
While we were still on the German side of the river, we stopped at a bakery and enjoyed a snack before we crossed the river at Rhinefelden and were, once again, on the Swiss side. Thinking we had about 80 kms. to ride today, we scurried a bit, hoping to arrive in Frenkendorf before the ubiquitous afternoon storms moved through. Lo and behold, we had miscalculated and had only 60 kms. to ride, so we arrived in Frenkendorf by 1:30.
Okay, now I have to backtrack to June
23, the day we were in Burgos, Spain, having taken the day off the bike to explore the city. We were staying in a campground just outside the city when we met a couple from Basel, Switzerland. They were on a two month trip in their camper and were oh-so-kind to us Americans. After just a few brief conversations, they handed us their address and invited us to spend a few days with them in their home if we came through that way.
Because one of our goals on this trip has been to immerse ourselves in the European culture, we took Jurgen and Linde up on their offer and changed our route a bit in order to visit with them. And so lo and behold, we were welcomed into their home yesterday afternoon with a lovely afternoon tea, a comfortable bed, warm shower, and absolutely the best spaghetti sauce ever. Linde grows a number of flowers and herbs that she incorporates into her cooking. I'm asking her for advice on what herbs I should plant at home in order to replicate the flavors and aromas that so delightfully fill her home.
Dinner, however, was just the
beginning. I got my laundry all done (which required a quick run outsie to get the clothes off the line when the evening storm moved through), we took a walk through the countryside, and then settled down for a good sleep. This morning, Linde and I drove to a nearby town where she had made an appointment for us to both get our hair cut. Me -- with a European hair cut. How cool is that? Certainly not as good as my daughter-in-law can do, but at least I won't look quite so shaggy when I go back to work on August 22. (Yeah, I may have forgotten to mention that HACC-Chambersburg contacted me recently and wants me to teach two classes there this fall. The only problem is that we return home on August 20 and classes stary August 22. Guess that means I'll be really busy on August 21.)
By 11:00 we were headed to the tram to go into Basel. For those of you who have never taken my humanities class, Basel was the site of much violence in 1529 during what is now called the Reformation. That history came alive for me today as we walked the streets and toured the Rathaus and the Cathedral (Protestant, of course, not Catholic).
Interestingly, while we were walking the streets, we ran into the Dutch couple with whom we had shared a campsite on Sunday night. Who woulda thought that we'd actually run into someone we knew in Basel, Switzerland? But what a terrific opportunity we had today to see the town and take a day off biking. Thank you!
Tomorrow we head west and then north, following the Rhine River on the French side of the German-French border. Not sure how far away the next campground is, but Jurgen tells us the weather is supposed to be nice as we take the next five days or so to get to Frankfurt.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.273s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 11; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0791s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb