Dog – An Idiot Broad Abroad

Day 20: Colmar to Strasbourg

I slept in a little and had a petit dejeuner in Colmar before heading out (because my apartment did not include breakfast). I had to search quite a bit to find an adequate breakfast spot, which was surprising. I thought the French were famous for pastries for god sake?!

Today’s ride was glorious. I was riding next to a canal for about 98% of the time. Mostly on the Eurovelo route 15 again. This follows the Canal du Rhône au Rhin, which I just learned (when Googling how to spell it) is one of the most important watershed canals of the French waterways, connecting the Rhine to the Saône and the Rhône and thereby the North Sea and the Mediterranean. Most of the route was dedicated and paved bike path! Lovely.

There were plenty of other cyclists on the route. My face was pressed into a permanent smile – both from enjoyment of the route and smiling and nodding at other cyclists!

The only, slight, downside with the canal side ride is that it didn’t pass through any towns. I didn’t have any lunch packed so I had to try my luck going into a nearby town slightly out of the way. A quick phone check showed that there was a restaurant about 11 km away from where I was and, miraculously, it said it was open. The time was nearing 2 pm which is basically the cut off time for feeding in France. If you don’t find yourself near a restaurant between 12 and 2 pm, you will likely go without food until they reopen for dinner around 7.

I was legging it to the town with the restaurant and, surprise surprise, when I arrive it is “closed.” I say this with quotes because there were locals sitting in the outdoor area drinking beers when I got there, but a server came out and explained that they were indeed closed – even though it was a full half hour before their website said they closed at 2 pm.

Ah well, luckily I had noticed a patisserie not far back. I made my way there and then tried to decipher the sandwich options. The woman working there was kind enough to explain to me what each and every sandwich contained. When she had trouble translating, she was so helpful as to actually open each sandwich wrapping, open the sandwich itself, and then poke through the ingredients with her fingers. Exceptional customer service, if a might concerning in terms of hygiene in a food dispensing business. After her explanations I felt I had about the same level of knowledge of what was in the sandwiches as before, so I just picked one at random. It was good.

Finally, I made it to Strasbourg and to my hotel. This hotel is run by a company called “Happy People.” I was a little concerned when I recieved their welcome email yesterday:

“We are happy and impatient to welcome you to this hybrid place where a unifying spirit reigns for the great tribes, the travellers but also the residents”

I considered cancelling but I had already paid a non-refundable deposit. When I arrived I was pleased to find it was actually quite normal and comfortable. However, there was an issue of where to store my bike overnight and the hotel deskman was anything but happy to make the exceptional allowance to keep my bike inside the hotel. I guess he forgot to drink his happy Kool-aid this morning.

I stashed my stuff, showered, and then hit the town. I visited the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. I did a little meander through the important sights in town. The Cathedral is highly ornate and stunning. I bought a chocolate milk. It was a nice afternoon.

Rodin (but not the original, at least I don’t THINK so)

This evening I will try to find something for dinner other than bread, cheese, and meat (which all I have been eating for what seems like two weeks straight) and I believe there is a free musical concert in the main square.

I am very excited to report that tomorrow I will be riding to a place called Bitche.

DOTD

Day 19: Basel to Colmar

I wish I had a better excuse for missing yesterday’s post, but unfortunately it just comes down to admission of laziness. I was pretty tired after the 100+ km ride to Basel the day before and then simply couldn’t bring myself to ‘brain’ last night once I arrived in Colmar.

France / Germany / Switzerland triple point!

I left Basel around 9 am and found my way easily enough to the Eurovelo route 15 (The Rhine Cycle Route). Most of the route was nicely paved, with an unoffencive gravel path along the canal. I am no longer having issues with my panniers flying off my bike at every slight bump! The secret: industrial garden hose tape. I purchased some sort of waterproof tape in Marseille and fixed it to the rear rack. Now the panniers fit perfectly! In fact, it is becoming a bit of an issue trying to get the things on now because it is such a good fit.

A cool moment of the day was when I passed over a bridge that marked the triple point between the borders of France, Germany, and Switzerland. I honestly wasn’t even sure which country I was in on the other side of the bridge. It wasn’t until I stopped to use a bathroom a little further along and heard the woman say, “bonjour” to me – okay, I am in France!

It was a minor travesty not to have a croissant with breakfast as I have become so accustomed to. How dare the hostel serve thirteen different bread varietals but no croissants? To make up for this I had a Swiss roll (pastry thing with chocolate chips and flan) when I stopped in Hombourg. It was delicious.

Most of the ride was weaving in and out of small French villages and admiring the old churches. I really liked one – somewhere I can’t remember – that was bright yellow. It was a pretty warm day and there were plenty of massive flying creatures to dodge. One almost entered my ear.

The final 15 km or so was along the road, which was fine. In some places there was a large shoulder – others, not so much. Generally the drivers here are pretty respectful. I arrived in Colmar around 2 pm and was shown into the apartment I was staying in. It was gorgeous! I put on the Tour de France and didn’t leave the horizontal position in my room for quite a while.

I ventured out with plans to do a self-guided walking tour only to find that I had left the guide map in my room. Luckily, Colmar is small and I just wandered aimlessly with nearly the same effect. As soon as I stepped outside I felt like I was on fire. It was bloody hot out. A block or two later I saw a sign telling me it was 30 degrees – at about 6 pm.

I tasted some local crémant d’Alsace at a cute wine tasting market. I wandered a little more and pondered further sustenance. I couldn’t really get my mind off the cool comfort of my apartment room so I ended up buying a few things at the supermarket and dining in.

I spent the evening lounging and neglecting my blog. Tomorrow’s ride was to take me to Strasbourg.

DOTD

Many dogs today!

The girl knew I was leering at her dogs…

Day 18: Zürich to Basel

With the alarm set for 7 am, it was no surprise that I stayed in bed snoozing until 8 am. Still, an 8 am wakeup and 9:30 departure isn’t too bad for my first day back on the bike in a week. I set off from Jackson’s place in Zürich with a long ride ahead of me to Basel.

I honestly didn’t have too much of a plan for the ride today. I had consulted with Jackson, checked out the Eurovelo routes, and also downloaded the Swiss Mobility App. It was already looking like the journey was going to be over 90 km if I took a direct line to Basel. I had to decide how far I wanted to tangent off course to make my way to the Rhine. I played it by ear as I went and aimed mainly northwest following the Swiss national and regional cycling routes. Their routes are well signed and I felt that I would have to try very hard to get lost.

The first issue of the day become imminent quite quickly. The first time I went to brake, my bike emitted the sound of a robot giving birth. It was an unbelievably high pitched metallic scream. I realized there was some rusty build up on my rear disc break from the beer spill and subsequent wash I had given it a few days earlier. I admit – I forgot to dry off the disc brake before leaving it in Jackson’s bike storage room for three days (I can picture the cringe on my father’s face).

The screeching carried on for about 5 to 10 km whenever I had a hard brake. I tried to favour the front brake to avoid scaring anyone I was coming up behind from soiling their pants. Then I got a bit worried if I had to keep doing this for 100 km I would do something very bad to the front brake. In the end, I was glad that the noise subsided.

It was a little challenging for me to navigate out of Zürich and get heading on the right bike path toward Basel. I found myself on the Swiss Mobility route 5, which included nicely paved smaller side roads. Later I was on route 56 and then route 2 (also Eurovelo route 6).

I stopped for coffee around 35 km into the ride in Baden. I had another wee break in Brugg, which was not far from Baden. I decided the next break milestone would be a town called Frick. I kept muttering to myself, “where the frick is Frick?!”

I don’t know why but I expected the ride to be flatter than it was. I am in Switzerland, the land of the Alps, after all. But it was still a bit of a shock when I would come to an abrupt, and violently steep, ascent. They never appeared to be as bad as they really were. I don’t know how steep they were, but I don’t think the Swiss followed any sort of reasonable transportation design guidelines when they decided that human beings could ride up these slopes. I saw a lot of electric bikes ridden by locals…

When I left Frick and made my way toward the Rhine I found most of the ride was on gravel path. It was fine, but my back tire was looking a little low and I felt a bit of a weight pulling at me. I figured it would be okay, but prepared myself mentally for the worst. Thinking through this, I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen my hand pump.

When I arrived at a cute little German style Swiss town called Rheinfelden I saw a bike shop and thanked my lucky stars. I went in and had my tires checked / filled. Even better was when I spotted the definite dog of the day outside the shop. See below!

The portion of the ride along the Rhine today was really neat because it was right along the border between Switzerland and Germany. In a couple of areas it would have been easy enough to cross a bridge or swim across and I’d be there! Gotta love that about Europe. Everything is so close compared to Canada!

Finally, I arrived in Basel and had a beer close to my hostel and a riverside bar. People there were sun tanning and swimming as well. It was a hot day.

After I checked into my hostel and took a shower I wandered around the small but beautiful city of Basel. There are many museums and galleries I would have been interested in, however, because of my late arrival nothing was really open. I saw the Basler Münster (some old church), the Rathaus (actually not a house for rats as I had assumed), and many a water fountain.

People flocked to the Rhine tonight because of the fab weather. I noticed people floating down the river with water proof / buoyant (?) bags strapped to themselves. It looked very refreshing and fun! Once the float down the Rhine was done there was plenty of space to have a picnic by the water and people watch. Many people brought food and drink, but there were also a few bars and restaurants along the way where one could purchase such things. I bought a beer and ate my leftover sandwich for dinner. No complaints!

I wandered home in a sun dazed trance and simply admired the architecture and the way the sun was reflecting off various surfaces and casting shadows on others. It is indeed a nice feeling not to have to think about much else.

Tomorrow the hostel begins serving breakfast at 6 am… motivation to get up early and get going before it is too hot? Hmm – not sure. Either way, I will head up the Rhine and then slightly west toward my destination of Colmar, France, tomorrow – about 60 km away I think.

DOTD

Switzerland is awesome because you can drink out of any of the water fountains – they spew potable water!

Also, dogs sometimes find themselves inside of them.

Back in Barcelona

As we bid farewell to young Tomithy in Girona this morn (he has now returned to the land of tea and crumpets), we prepared for our own journey back to Barcelona. Immediately upon arrival my parents and I pounded the pavement to visit what seemed like every bike shop in Barcelona. Eventually, the perfect bike and pannier set up was found at Probike. I am super excited because it is a Specialized and quite similar to my bike back at home in Vancouver so it feels just like ‘riding a bike’ – yikes, could not resist. Photos and details to come once it’s all set up.

How joyful I am that I have a bike to ride for the next couple of months! (this is from the old walls around Girona)

Following the busy day of bicycle acquisition I actually rode my new bike home through rush hour traffic in Barcelona. No idea where I was going and it certainly was interesting to navigate the roads. I do think that Barcelona has very good cycling infrastructure and an ample number of dedicated bike lanes, however, without knowing which streets are one-way and which have multi-directional bike lanes it is kind of tough for a new cyclist. I think if you wrapped yourself fully in bubble wrap while learning over a few weeks it would become more comfortable. And invest in a bell.

When I made it back to our hotel and reconvened with my parents we reminisced over the enjoyable holiday we have had as well as the successes of the day.

Also of significant note today was the purchase of a SIM card. For those who are not aware, this is a little plastic chip that you insert into a phone and it makes magic happen via the internet. Of course, like most things I do, this feat was not without serious complications. First I spent nearly an hour in a Vodafone shop waiting to be served. Next, I paid 20 euro for a SIM card and 15 GBs of data later to find out that I can only reload it by going IN PERSON to a Vodafone store each month, queuing up and waiting again to pay 20 euros. Apparently it is too difficult for an international cell phone provider to allow humans to use plastic cards called VISA to load credit onto their phones. Ah well, I do love a challenge.

Now, you may be hoping that the SIM card story is over, but alas, it is not. Once I got over the blow of having to manually update the thing every month I carried on waiting for the data to arrive to my phone to start using the various features that require internet. Eventually after refreshing the screen every few minutes, restarting the phone, taking the SIM card out, gently massaging it, performing reiki on it, whispering sweet nothings into its ear, and returning it inside of the phone – all to no avail – I gave up trying. It was only after one and a half gin and tonics that my mom proposed we switch the SIM card into her cell and see what happens. And lo and behold – hello data! Upon this miraculous discovery I figured my dear mom would suggest I simply take her phone and she replace hers when she returns to Vancouver in two days. Oh how mistaken I was – I was faced with flat out refusal. Okay, fine. I guess I will just put the god forsaken SIM back in my Dad’s old phone and give up on ever being connected to anyone ever again. But wait, returning the SIM to my Dad’s phone and it works… someone please explain this to me.

In summary: I have a functioning cell phone with data. Yet to be sorted out: syncing it with my apple ID and shrinking the text down from extra extra large (sorry dad).

DOTD: Dog of the Day

This is a feature very close to my heart. I will do my very best to not only take a photo of a cute dog each day, but I will try to touch at least one dog per day. Ideally I will take a selfie with a dog. Today I got to touch a little Cavi (cavelier king charles spaniel) just like my old Winnie.

Note that is my hand touching the face of a dog.

Tomorrow will be my final full day in Barcelona and I have some last minute shopping and prep to do before I head out on the 28th. Looking like it is going to be a hot one!