Interlaken Mountain Biking

September 22, 2010

 

No more messing around with finding internet or a decent breakfast place.  I had a cheese sandwich from some groceries I was carrying and packed some clif bars for my ride.  I had planned to take the train to Lucerne rather than bike in order to try some Mountain biking in the Alps.  I had a little trouble finding a place that rented decent bikes (a place I had previously contacted didn't respond with their address nor availability).  I did ended getting a good deal once I rode to the North end of the Valley Interlaken is in.  I found out most of the accessible trails were actually double-track with some pavement so I opted for a hard tail to save 20 Franks and make the ride more efficient.  The ride was quite scenic, and roughly 20Km each way.  I pushed to get all the way to Grindelwald (I'll have to double-check maps later to confirm this was the place) and return in time to catch my train to Lucerne.   About halfway there I saw a sign with 10km, 346m (or something like that), and Grindelwald all together.  Without understanding the rest of the words I realized I was going to have to climb over 900 feet in elevation to make it to my turnaround point.  Let me just say I was glad to have the MTB granny gear and glad to not have my extra 50lbs of Adam gear.

 

I made it in 2hrs, and raced back in 1hr.  As you'll see from the picture, it was worth pushing to Grindelwald.  I grabbed a sandwich and Fanta at a train station café and ate fast.  I flew down the valley, returned the rental, biked back to the hostel, installed my panniers, and rode to the train station with 30min to spare.  Then found out on the train I had to buy a bike ticket that ended up costing about the same as I had paid for my own ticket two weeks earlier.  Definitely going to need to hit an ATM for a second time before getting out of the country...

 

And made it to Lucerne by 6pm!  That's two days in a row with daylight to spare.

Finally Fondue!

So I walked around trying a little to find a computer I could do some transferring, but still nothing simple.  I made it to a small restaurant and decided to try the Fondue.  It was 21 Franks, but it's a specialty, right?  There was a suggestion to add Jacket Potatoes (In the UK this would be a big baked potato with various fillings, sometimes served as a meal) for 4.50, and I was hungry so why not?  Well, a big bowl of small chunks of bread showed up, then the fondue, then the potatoes.  These were NOT jacket potatoes.  There were a handful of new potatoes, it seriously seemed like the kitchen had to hold back and gave me literally a half bowl of tiny potatoes, each one basically bite-size.  So after eating half the potatoes and several pieces of bread with the cheese I simply had to ask for the menu because there was no way I'd get enough to eat.  Add on a plain omelet for 12 Franks and I finally had a good size meal with one large beer for only 45 Francs.  Let's see Rachel Ray try and do $40 a day in Switzerland with enough balanced calories to bike 40 miles on consecutive days.

 

After dinner I found a bar/café with a few computers that I was able to do some file transfer.  Apparently I'd just gotten lucky though and the computer ended up closing out the applications and logging off sometime after I started the file transfer.  I then asked about using the computers without using the internet (prices shown implied being for internet not computer use) after already having purchased a 9 Frank Sangria but they couldn't figure out how to let me use the computer without paying and it would've cost 9 Franks per 30min of use, and I like I said, it takes 42min to free up just one of my 16GB SD cards and I had four full cards by that time.  Nevermind.

Berne to Interlaken

September 21, 2010

 

What does it take to find a decent breakfast in this country?  So now I've confirmed McDonald's is not an option.  It doesn't open until 10am most days and skips breakfast entirely.  I had met backpacking sisters the night before and eaten with them at the Spaghetti Factory, the only restaurant still serving food (other than kebabs) by the time I'd checked into the hostel and showered.  Randomly I had stopped to check my GPS upon nearing the hostel when they asked if I knew just the street I was routing to.  I directed them and of course they were looking for the same hostel as I.  Then, after they had also checked in and gone searching for food they also ended up not finding Swiss/regional food and had to settle for the Spaghetti factory.  During our breakfast/coffee search we somehow ended up crossing paths again.  Ironically enough, my girlfriend and one of the girls' boyfriend happened to be in Manchester, UK that week.

 

After a few days of recording video footage from my helmet cam I was nearly out of SD card space and trying to find a computer with two free USB ports.  I should've been a bit more forward and asked somebody at the hostel with a laptop, because the other available computers seemed to either only have one (thus doubling the 42min to copy from card to computer, and then computer to my HD) or else some security software prevent the USB from working properly with my adapters.  I was running out of time early and wanted to get on the road to avoid such a late arrival again (hoping there weren't too many hills that day but knowing I was headed straight for the base of the Swiss Alps).  I did finally find a great breakfast restaurant with a reasonably priced omelet, and got on the road about 10:30am.

 

I'm a lucky dog!  The route to Interlaken took me down a valley (I decided to nix the bike route detours I'd planned thinking it would be too short of a day going straight) and along a lake just past Thun with the only serious climbing being when the mountains next to the lake rose sheer and the road had some winding and tunnels about 5-10mi before Interlaken.  My arrival time:  6:30pm, perfect.  It was late enough however to end up with the room at the absolute top of the hostel (climbing stairs with my luggage after biking for hours was becoming quite the trend).  I should finally have my choice of dinner...

Morlon to Berne

September 20, 2010

 

Gorgeous!  Surprised again.  I opened my shutters to such an amazing view it was almost better because I got in too late to realize what view I had from my balcony.  I slept in and got a slow start riding because I had free wifi again and figured 35-40 miles would be half as difficult as the 75 from the day before.

 

The day was a mixture of pristine farmland, lake views, with snow-capped peaks just at the edge of view.  I intersected paths with a German bike tourist that would regularly ride nearly across Europe during the summer.  He was planning for coffee in Bulle, then camp in the forest a little beyond (about the top of the hill).  He was excited becaues the next day he'd reach Lake Geneva and head around to the French side where he'd be using Euros again.  This was important because he was stressing how expensive he felt it was in Switzerland.  He ballparked that it would take me about five hours to get to Berne that night; and about two to Freiberg.  This was hard to believe, but he turned out to be quite accurate in his estimate.  I arrived to my destination in the dark again, and turned off of the planned bike routes in favor of a more direct road routed by my GPS to try and save miles as it got late.  Despite riding about 30 miles less than the day before, the number of hills meant that I only climbed about 400 less feet (2,500 instead of 2,900). 

 

So, in short, it was long but beautiful.  Need to start earlier than 1:30pm tomorrow...

Morlon to Berne

September 20, 2010

 

Gorgeous!  Surprised again.  I opened my shutters to such an amazing view it was almost better because I got in too late to realize what view I had from my balcony.  I slept in and got a slow start riding because I had free wifi again and figured 35-40 miles would be half as difficult as the 75 from the day before.

 

The day was a mixture of pristine farmland, lake views, with snow-capped peaks just at the edge of view.  I intersected paths with a German bike tourist that would regularly ride nearly across Europe during the summer.  He was planning for coffee in Bulle, then camp in the forest a little beyond (about the top of the hill).  He was excited becaues the next day he'd reach Lake Geneva and head around to the French side where he'd be using Euros again.  This was important because he was stressing how expensive he felt it was in Switzerland.  He ballparked that it would take me about five hours to get to Berne that night; and about two to Freiberg.  This was hard to believe, but he turned out to be quite accurate in his estimate.  I arrived to my destination in the dark again, and turned off of the planned bike routes in favor of a more direct road routed by my GPS to try and save miles as it got late.  Despite riding about 30 miles less than the day before, the number of hills meant that I only climbed about 400 less feet (2,500 instead of 2,900). 

 

So, in short, it was long but beautiful.  Need to start earlier than 1:30pm tomorrow...

Getting the Full Belgian Experience

So I've heard plenty about the regular strikes and industrial action events in France and Belgium particularly.  Today at 2pm the air traffic controllers started a strike at Brussels airport that I think is supposed to last at least 24 hours.  That would definitely include my flight out tomorrow morning, so THANK YOU - BRUSSELS!  And to top it off there seems to be some major European summit or something so that EVERY HOTEL IS SOLD OUT!!!  We were thankful for our average 325 Euro rooms rather than the 799, 1200, and 2000 Euro/night rooms we saw online.  I hope the airlines pay for hotel rooms for flights delayed by industrial action... 

Geneva to Morlon

September 19, 2010

Wow. I'm biking in Switzerland. Childhood imagination after reading The Apple and the Arrow aside--wow. Lac Leman is beautiful. The manmade geyser was quite impressive at dusk the night before, but somehow as I returned in the morning for better pictures it was even more beautiful. And the weather was superb, nary a cloud in the sky. It was brisk, no joke, but for biking that's generally preferred since you warm up quickly while riding. Unfortunately, due to a late night stitching the patch and organizing panniers it was difficult to rise very early and the breakfast options were disappointing as you may have noticed the overpriced McCafe meal I settle for. I then walked to the train station searching for the characteristic shot glass to collect for cities I've been to (hey, it's nearly a universal souvenir and small to boot). So all packed up and checked out I showed up back at the boardwalk watching the geyser round about 10am. Skirting around the north side of the lake was gorgeous. Switzerland has an extensive national and regional bike route system, and once I fouund the route number that went through the cities II needed I could relax and follow the signs until I needed to switch routes. The wind was against me some, but never too strong. I stopped for lunch in Rolle, making a huge sandwich and only taking a few bites before rolling on (but keeping the sandwich handy in a bag in my bike jersey pocket). I had stopped just in time as the huge baguette I'd purchased the night beforere (for who knows how many Franks!) was about to drop 1/3 of its length out the back of it's bag that was strapped to the top of my baggage. My lunch stop afforded me a view of the lake, with a medieval barracks behind me and a farmers market in the square adjacent--not too shabby.

As if on cue, just when I was looking forward to turning away from the lake and seeing what climb I had to do, I reached the most beautiful scenery of the day. As I grunted and complained inside because the bike path left the lake and climbed a wicked steep path, it did so right in the heart of several miles worth of vineyards overlooking the lake. The view from above was more than worth the climb, and I got to descend some of it anyways. Also, as the air cleared up during the day I really got to see the outline of the Alps across the lake in France.

Underestimated. That seems to be the trend when I plan bike rides--underestimating the difficulty. Or perhaps I'm simply always overestimating my own fitness. When I rode the Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco to San Diego in 2008 it seems like 6:30pm was the earliest arrival, with 7-7:30pm much more common (and me rolling in last). So I cannot blame www.toporoute.com as it gave me a pretty good prediction. I wasn't sure if it would work outside the US but figured it probably just pulled the data from Google so why not. I very coarsely mapped out the first days route (with 75, 35, 35, 35mi days, if the 80mi day is OK then the others you don't worry about). I figured with most of the route along the lake it would be relatively flat, but ended up estimating 2,800 feet of elevation gain. Turns out it was 2900. Not too bad for 75miles, but 2900 ft with an extra 50lbs of luggage was what I underestimated. I kept hoping I"d reach the top and get the reward coasting down at 30mph but it was always not so steep of a descent and a slight headwind keeping me from capitalizing on my gains.
To keep a long story from going too long, I didn't ge to my hotel until 8:30pm. I checked in and unloaded and made sure to order dinner from the restaurant before the shut down the kitchen and then went up to shower before returning to enjoy dinner.

Dinner was good--I was beat tired afterwards. 7,150 calories was the number on my Polar heart rate monitor so there was no guilt eating dinner, drinking beer, and having a scoop of ice cream for dessert (other than the continuing sticker shock of course). The Minotel in Morlon had a very courteous staff and they even provided me with a bag of ice for my knee since I knew I'd be paying for the days exertion in more ways than one. Sleep came very easily...

Geneva

September 18, 2010

The fast train. So I've heard of like 300mph trains, and I've heard that France has high-speed trains, but what really is high speed? When travelling to Amsterdam from Brussels my the train would often reach 80mph, but I heard that for twice the price there was a train that would take 1.5hrs instead of 3hrs... So 80mph is not high speed apparently.

I took the train from Brussels to Paris, got off in Paris Nord Station, had to take a local train (RER for those familiar with Paris transit) and transfer to Gare de Lyon to catch a high speed train to Geneva. This was a bit more complicated because my bike was bagged up and thus I had to grunt with both a duffel full of panniers and a bike that had none of the advantages of bikes but all of the weight and bulk. Having been to Paris a month earlier the transit system was easy enough to figure out and my 70 minute transfer allotment was reduced due to a late arriving train to Paris but I still made it before the platform had been assigned to my Geneva train.

My GPS clocked about 184mph a couple times while I tracked it on the way to Geneva, so apparently that qualifies as high-speed; in case you were wondering.

I had been under the impression that every hostel I booked for this trip had "Free Wifi" on their website but was either mistaken or the website outdated, so I didn't make any updates realtime in Geneva. That was about the end of my "free time" for a few days, but more on that later.

I am willing to bet that I got the best value dinner in Geneva (except for a cheapo Kebap of course), it was even declared "traditional food." It really filled me up; in fact I polished off every last bit of it except maybe 2 pcs of the bread (see picture for 'before'--nevermind, apparently the sd card in my phone farted between pics 562 and 580 so I'm not sure I ever even ate that chicken). I ordered the 2.50 Franks special sauce so that's not as good of value, but the meal of chicken, salad and fries for 14.90 is a great deal--for Geneva. I think the Frank is around the value of the dollar right now, but even still it's more expensive overall than in Euro territory. But then I haven't been in Ireland for awhile and I distinctly remember feeling that Belgium was cheap, Germany cheaper, and Spain even cheaper still compared to Ireland.

OK, so I had a nice chicken dinner, walked around the old city and went bock to my hostel to finally pack my panniers as they would ride and to claim my American heritage (it's a bike tourist thing, see the picture with the new patch on--bought in Amsterdam).

And to close out, since I didn't find the picture of the best value food in Geneva, I shall include nearly the worst value found at McCafe in Geneva. Two blueberry muffins and a two-shot Americano for 12 Franks!!!! I'd ridden by the McDonald's the night before and scoped out the hours of service but unfortunately the 6:30am opening was only for McCafe, the McDonald's proper didn't open until 10am on Sunday. I knew Sunday could potentially hold problems but I was counting on Mickey-D's after confirming the open hours. I need some serious protein and calories before biking 70-80mi with a bike loaded with an extra 50lbs of gear. McDonald's in Berne failed me also, they didn't open till 9:30 or 10am even on Tuesday. So much for worldwide continuity. The circle of trust has been broken...

Stuttgart, Germany

September 17, 2010

Due to a late start from Budapest, and enjoying the sights of Vienna, we arrived late at our destination once again. I was not the best navigator, as I passed out in the car with about 45min left. Anyways, we toured the Mercedes-Benz Museum, which I highly recommend. These pics are from a kiosk there that will BT them to your phone for use as a desktop wallpaper.

Good times and Schnitzel...

Austria

September 16, 2010

I forgot to take any pictures with my phone, and getting pics off my camera is too complicated when I'm working off my Palm, so you'll have to Google them.

Vienna was a gorgeous city, impeccably clean streets in the downtown area, big monumental buildings and lots of pedestrian walking areas.

Austria was a lot lower elevation than I had expected, it must just be how far north it is that gives it the feeling of being higher. The mountains in the Eastern side weren't so steep, but beautifully covered in dark green trees, with Austrian villages speckled throughout. Turns out, Phoenix, AZ is higher elevation than a lot of the portion we drove through.

On to Stuttgart, Germany to stay for the night...

Hungary

September 16, 2010

(once again written a few days later in an attempt to catch up in roughly the order of appearance)

We arrived in Budapest just after midnight, definitely appreciating when we finally landed on a decent motorway. The hostel was quite spectacular, or at least had been in it's heyday (the building that is). We had breakfast and took a quick walk around and across the bridge (I hear originally there were twin cities, Buda and Pest, but are now combined as the capital). It was quite a beautiful city, noticably cleaner than Bucharest from what I saw despite it being one of the poorer nations in Europe (Romania sounds like it's really in dire straits now though, and is attempting to tax it's way out of the problem).

We drove on through here headed towards Vienna (Wien), Austria as the next stopover. Hungary was pretty and relatively flat with lots of trees and farmland and good highways...

Romania

September 10, 2010

(I'm writing this much later, but that's the date I arrived in Romania)

Just some quick highlights, other than eating, socializing, and eating again with some very friendly Romanians...

I got to see another one of Dracula's castles, this one being a perfect outpost to guard a kingdom, overlooking the most accessible mountain pass around. It was a little over an hours drive north of Pitesti, I think. I definitely earned the picture from the top, as there were like 1,400 steps to get there!

Also, just to tick off one of the main attractions to Bucharest, I took a tour of the People's Palace, or rather the Parliament building. It was called the People's Palace because it began construction under communism. Apparently, had it not been built, the main "old town" for tourists would probably have been on the same site, but it was plowed under in the early 80's to make way for this building. It is the second largest in the world, second only to the Pentagon (in square footage I believe).

Then there was about 10 hours driving from Pitesti before reaching the Hungary border when the drive began at noon Wednesday...

7 countries in 4 days

Saturday, September 18, 2010

I'm writing at 185mph. At least that's how fast my train is going right now. Seven countries in four days is not usually my style; I prefer to be able to blink at least twice in each country. But if the opportunity arises I also figure I shouldn't let it pass by.

So I've been a little busy with not quite enough down-time / internet access to keep up with the blog. I actually probably slacked off on writing the blog just because I didn't know when I would find internet next. Hmmm... where to begin? I think I will try to backdate a few entries to a little better filling in the gaps, but this will serve as a high-level update.

Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland. In that order. So I flew to Romania and spent about 5 days there. Then I rode with a buddy back to Brussels in his car. I talked him into a slighly less intense drive with about 2-hour layovers in Budapest, Vienna, and Stuttgart. We actually spent the night in Budapest and Stuttgart. I had been to Romania and Germany before but got to see Austria and Hungary for the first time (not a bad combination considering the capitals were once major cities of the same empire).

I got into Brussels late, stayed up late packing and doing laundry, then caught a 8:30am train to Geneva, Switzerland via Paris. I'm bringing the bike on this one, but the high speed trains require them to be packed, so it was great to have a ride to the train station instead of having to bike and then disassemble my bike at the station in a rush before the train. I have never been to Switzerland either, so I am really looking forward to this. Switzerland was my choice when doing a report on a country back in elementary school; the outdoor junkie in me thought the Alps sounded awesome. Rough Itinerary: Spend tonight in Geneva, bike like crazy tomorrow to Morlon (70-80 miles I think, depending on how windy the bike paths are), then it's about 35-40mi to Bern, then 35-40mi to Interlaken, I'll rent a mountain bike and ride there then catch a train to Lucerne, then bike about 35-40mi the next day to Zurich. At least that's the plan. If I survive the first day of biking, then the rest should be pretty relaxed. It's an intense schedule but it takes me through the heart of Switzerland and I'll get to MTB in the Alps (I think there's lifts to take the bike up!). To finish it all off I'll hop on the train in Zurich for a weekend rendezvous with my wonderful girlfriend in Munich for the Oktoberfest! Life is short... Carpe Diem.

Croque Madame

Correction: Madame is a fried egg on top of a grilled ham & cheese sandwich. A Croque Monsier is w/o the egg. Go figure. Tasty...

Good (rainy) day to catch up on Internet

Today I camped out at a nearby restaurant that I found out has a nearby Wifi link.  I got here around 1pm, ordered lunch and a Stella and have been slowly ordering things to keep from being kicked out.  I found a great table next to an outlet so I'm not limited by battery life.  Having guaranteed high-speed internet at home is something that I had definitely taken for granted (although I probably get to sleep much earlier without having it at home).  It was rainy most of the morning and overcast for the rest of the day today so it's just as well that I go online and research some of my upcoming travels and what the heck I'm gonna do when I get back to the US (not to mention how to get back to Europe but that's a long story).

 

Yesterday I did about a 35 mile bike ride on the east side of Brussels.  I stopped at a bike shop and picked up a nice regional bike route map of Wallonia (that the employee kindly translated the dutch to English on the map legend).  I was glad I wasn't on my expensive road bike after all as I ended up on several dirt tracks (generally smooth) and it added to the experience to be able to just go for it without wondering if I'd end up walking in the tricky bike shoes.  But this is my touring/beater bike and I'm rolling with some comfy MTB/commuter bike shoes.  It's got slicks but they are a little wider than true road tires and have sturdy 36 or so spoke wheels.  The weather cooperated even though the bike shop employee advised me of rain after 1pm, although it did start getting much colder toward the end of my ride.  Afterwards I was starving and it was tough to find a restaurant open on Mondays (plenty of "cafes" open for drinks/coffee but not for food).  I decided to try out the street just past where I usually take the Metro and sure enough there's a restaurant right there that served up a nice plate of spaghetti.  I had my Palm TX with me and decided to go ahead and check for wireless since that's always a desirable thing and sure enough, there were two "open" networks and one let me connect and sync email.  The laptop usually has a stronger connection than the TX so I was pretty sure I could use the laptop inside some other time (I opted to eat outside since I was still in my bike clothes even though it was a bit chilly).

 

Tonight: a croque madame from the same restaurant.  It's a fried egg and cheese on toast I think.  Plus salad and I asked for some frites as well.  They already brought a Heinz ketchup bottle out so I'm excited.  There's some big deal about how to eat Pommes Frites in Belgium.  I guess the real way to do it is with Mayo, but I don't take that on anything but tuna salad if I can help it.  The true Frites stands will charge like 2 or 2.50 Euro for small frites then 0.50 Euro for each sauce, with a surprising variety available.  Curry Ketchup is my personal favorite of the usual options.  McDonald's charges 0.60 Euro for each ketchup, and 0.30 for the bathroom (WC).  An interesting aside, you can buy canned beer at McDonald's in Belgium.  OK, on to ticking (Irishism) my checklist.

Belgian beer galore!

Not a bad weekend to be in Brussels...

http://www.weekenddelabiere.be/en/pages/home.htm

 

I think I'll head over to the Grand Place in a few hours.  It'll be some good practice for the Oktoberfest, actually.  I just booked accommodations in Munich for my last hoorah before heading back to the States for awhile.  It was more expensive than I'd like, but then I didn't have to fly from AZ just for the weekend either.

Chilling in Exki, a nice chain of on the go/healthy cafés with free internet in Brussels for the meantime.