Day 6 and Day 7 - We take the train to Saarbrucken, stay in Bous, then on to Mettlach

Tuesday & Wednesday, July 8th-9th 2014  -  Day 6-7

Heidelberg to Saarbrucken by train

then cycle to Saarlouis, stay in Bous, 

then cycle from Merzig to Mettlach

32.6 km cycled on Tuesday,  228.6 km so far

16.5 km on Wednesday, 245.1 km so far

elevation gains:  174 meters on Tuesday

218 meters on Wednesday

Tracks for the days: 

Train ride Heidelberg to Saarbrucken

Saarbrucken to Saarlouis

Merzig to Mettlach

Rainy off and on, temp from 13 to 17 Celsius 

(The text is by Erika with pictures and captions and comments in italics added by Marvin.)

Across from the bahnhof Julie showed us this crazy big sculpture

Better picture of Erika and Julie who is standing by my bike

To ride a regional train with bikes in Germany involves no extra cost or worries. You simply identify the car marked for bikes and get on. If there is a gap and your bike is loaded, others who want to get on or off quickly step in to help with the lifting. The train in Heidelberg was packed when we first got on so after saying good bye to Julie, we found ourselves standing and balancing our bikes as the train took off.

It was several stops before enough people disembarked and we were able to place our bikes and sit down.

The first leg of the trip took us to Kaiserslautern where we changed trains and headed on to Saarbrucken. 

While on the train, we got out the "anatomically correct" gingerbread men that the boys had made for us.  We enjoyed them very much and already started missing the boys

While waiting for the second train, we got out the rain gear, as it looked like we would need it before the day was over.

No rain pants to cover my knobby knees, but as it turned out, I found it much more comfortable to have bare legs when it was raining.

That train was not as full so we were able to secure our bikes and take a seat. A young man with a bike soon joined us. Frederic is a 26 year old university student in Kaiserslautern who commutes to school from Saarbrucken. We asked if he knew of a bike store near the bahnhof. We needed to get different peddles for my bike. We knew we would be cycling in rainy conditions and, due to my ankle being fused, my foot will slip off a wet pedal. We needed to pick up pedals with metal, spiky, grippy things to keep my foot in place and thereby keep me safe. Frederic didn't hesitate but immediately said he knew a few and would lead us to one as soon as we got to Saarbrucken.

That part of the train ride took about one hour which flew by as we chatted with Frederic about his travels in Newzealand and Australia. When we got off the train in Saarbrucken, rather than leave the train station the usual way, Frederic lead us on a path that is used to clear the town stadium quickly after games. He obviously knew the town well as he zipped down streets and through traffic to the bike shop. We managed to follow him and stay alive. We got a photo of him, thanked him then off he zipped on his bike. We did have his email but unfortunately it was on a piece of paper that got thrown out by mistake.

Our "Road angel" Frederic

The bike shop was the Radhaus am Rathaus, http://www.radhaus-am-rathaus.de/team.html and the service was excellent, cheerful and English. Patrick Philipp was the man who helped us and he had us in and out in no time with the new pedals on and a rain cover for my helmet. An added bonus for us was that he spoke English very well and with enough fluency to tease and joke.

In no time we were on our bikes and looking for the Saar Radweg. One thing I noticed is that traffic noise is louder in the rain. The city centre was very busy so I felt very motivated to get onto the trail. Once on the trail it was easy to relax and even the rain we were getting was not a problem as I discovered my rain gear was doing its job. Marvin discovered that the rain gear he had bought, and never removed from the package, was only a coat. Fortunately it is warm even with the rain so he wore the jacket and cycled in his shorts.

The symbol we were going to follow was the blue map piece

Erika gets her first taste of cycling in the rain.  If you want to call it a 'baptism' , today it was by sprinkling.  'Immersion' will come a few days later (spoiler alert :)

We decided to cycle through to Saarlouis. On the trail we had seen an ad for the Hotel Muhlenthal so when we got into Saarlouis and found the tourist information closed we gave them a call. This hotel is approved by Bett und Bike a German initiative to screen hotels for their willingness to support cyclists. Hotel Muhlenthal instructed us to cycle back to the Rathaus where the owner came and picked us up with his SUV that is equipped with a bike rack. They also stated that the next morning he would drive us back to where we were on the trail when we called them.

Once we were picked up we discovered we were being driven half way back to Saarbrucken to the town of Bous where their hotel was! Oh well, we were drying out and ready to relax. Next to the hotel is a restaurant where we enjoyed dinner after which it was time for the Germany/Brazil football game. Marvin watched the entire match but once Germany had four goals to zero I drifted off to sleep.

While we waited for the SUV to come pick us up, Erika wanted me to take a picture of this fast food stall sign.  She will have to explain what it was supposed to mean.  It just seemed like a funny play on words to us

Our room in Bous (in the foreground is one of the batteries for the bikes)

A really wonderful meal.  Our standard drink has become Apfel Schorle, which is apple juice mixed with carbonated water

In the morning after enjoying yet another great German breakfast buffet, our gear was once again loaded into the vehicle and we were on our way back to the trail in Saarlouis. However, when we unloaded our bike it was evident that something was wrong with my brakes. After the fellows fiddled with the bike for a while they thought they had the problem pretty much solved but, to me, didn't seem entirely sure. As we were going to be cycling in the rain I really wanted to know my brakes were in good order. Michael, the hotel owner who was driving us, said he knew someone who could fix the brakes. He offered to take us back to the hotel and give us use of our room until the bike was taken care of; after which he was willing to drive us up to Merzig, the town we should have gotten to by the afternoon.

So, by 2:30 pm, my bike was fixed and we were being driven to Merzig where we once again donned our rain gear and set off down the Saar Radweg.

Michael looks on while I get the bikes set up and ready to go.  He was such a cheerful host as well as all the help he gave us.  He had the most infectious laugh. 

As we head off in the afternoon, the rain was more constant but still not at all unpleasant.

I must say that despite the rain, it was nice to be back on our bikes. I now feel like I have been truly baptized as a tour cyclist and that is true whether you believe in sprinkling or baptism by immersion! I also now have real appreciation of good rain gear. When we were in Saarbrucken Marvin had bought me a rain cover for my helmet. Boy, was I glad I had it!

You can see here that the path is not all pavement.  It was firm and while there were puddles there were no soft spots.  So there was a lot of grit and splatter but no real mud.

We had been told that the route from Metzig to Mettlach was really lovely and we had made sure to check that it was all paved surface. We were assured it was.... It was not! By the time we got to Mettlach our bikes, panniers, shoes and pant legs were splattered with red clay. Oh well, we found another Bett und Bike recommended accommodation and the owner actually hosed our bikes off for us.

Mettlach is a small town by German standards of only about 8000 people. However, it does have a few interesting claims to fame. First is an impressive ?? Year old monastery on the water front. The other is the Villeroy and Boch factory and training school. Of course, there is an outlet store full of beautiful things but even more exciting is their Christmas store! Oh boy I could have had fun there but the reality of cycle touring is that you have absolutely nowhere to carry any shopping or gifts. This inability to pack along gifts has caused me some internal conflict as I am used to shopping for gifts for my family whenever I am traveling. Hope they still love me when I come home empty handed!

Had to cross a bridge under some construction to get into the town

From Wikipedia:  Saint Leudwinus, Count of Treves (Leodewin, Liutwin, Ludwin) (c. 660 -           29. September, 722 in Reims) founded an abbey in Mettlach. He was Archbishop of Treves and Laon.  His feast day is September 23. He is the patron saint of Mettlach parish and his relics are carried by procession at the annual Pentecost celebration through the town.

Tourboat that plies the Saar river

The place we stayed was the hotel Saarblick. Attached to the hotel was a restaurant and the owner, it turned out, was a master chef. Suffice it to say we had a great meal followed by a sound sleep!

Day 5 - Exploring Heidelberg

Monday, July 7th 2014  -  Day 5

A day exploring Heidelberg

We didn't cycle on this day so there were no GPS stats for the day

It was a pleasant day, mostly cloudy. 

Our room, 2 floors up from the Glauer's flat.  On the second night, we stayed in their living room on their roll out bed because the upstairs bathroom was finally getting the rebuild they had been asking for for ages.

We bought a pass for the day and hopped on a tram to take us to the old city

We decided to take the funicular tram up the mountain to get to the schloss (castle) and whatever was beyond.  This turned out to be a great choice and took up pretty much the whole day.  We bought tickets that included return fare on the tram plus entrance to the schloss.

We settle into one of the cars on the "funicular" tram.  This means it is a tram that goes up a steep track but the tram is built with each car staying level in spite of the steepness of the track.  You go up and down stairs to get in and out of it.

Looking down on the car below us after the tram emerged from the tunnel on its way up

It turned out there were 2 trams and the first went in two stages:  First to the level of the schloss, and then up to another level on the mountain where there were some good views of the city and a restaurant.  We decided to stay on the tram and go to the top first and then we could get off at the schloss on the way down.  When we got to the 2nd stage up the mountain, we then discovered that there was another tram, much older, a little steeper and it went as much higher in its single stage as both stages of the first one.  We also discovered that we needed to buy tickets for this tram separate from our tickets already purchased, but we were quite willing to do so and it turned out to be certainly worth it.

Some views from the top of the first tram

Up the stairs into the building that houses the lower end of the upper tram

Here comes the upper tram down to pick us up

You can see in these pictures how passengers get on and off at different levels and walk down or up the stairs to or from the exit

Waiting for the conductor to open the gate and let us on.  I look like an excited kid.  Oh, wait a minute, I just remembered ...

We chose to get on the bottom car so as to have the best view of the valley while going up the mountain.  A couple of pictures here are to give you an idea of the antique-ness of the tram

At first, the curve of the track and the trees obscure the grand view 

But that gradually changes

Climbing up the stairs when we reach the top

Having reached the top, the views of Heidelberg and beyond are to die for.

Even better views were available when I climbed a little higher up to the road at the top of the mountain.  Also at the top of the mountain were a couple of radio towers and a park for children to learn about nature.

I played around with the zoom on our camera to get different views of the river valley and countryside beyond.  Compare this picture (above) with the 3 below   They were all taken from the same spot.

This shot illustrates what a terrific camera we have.  I have shaky hands, but even at 20x zoom, the stabilizer does a pretty good job.

We have a Canon Power Shot SX240 HS with 20X optical zoom, full HD (12.1 mega pixels) and image stabilizer.  I carry it in my shirt pocket while riding and can take it out, turn it on and shoot with one hand while trying to keep up to Erika.  A lot of the pictures that you are seeing in this blog while we were riding were shot this way.  I just point in the general direction and shoot.  Sometimes I will even zoom in a bit while on the fly, but if I want to make sure it is a good shot for zoom and direction, I will stop. But movement is never a problem as far as focus and light go.  The auto settings and stabilizer have really impressed me. 

While at the top, this graphic of the funicular railway showed up.  If you click on it, it will open up in a larger version and you can see the grade percentages.  

If you want to zoom any picture even bigger, right click on it and "save image as..."  Then you can open it up using Windows Photo Gallery or whatever software you use to look at .jpg 's

Waiting for the tram to come back up to take us down.

A bike path halfway up the mountain that goes under the tramway

As we come down the mountain, we are about to pass the counterbalancing other tram going up the mountain.  The two trams are connected by a single cable that you can see on the track in front of us.  The cable is attached to the tram coming toward us, goes under our tram, up the mountain to the top, then comes back down and attaches to our tram.

The halfway house between trams

The zoomed view from half way down the mountain

Halfway down the lower half of the mountain, we are now going to get off the lower tram to see the schloss

Not part of the schloss, obviously, but still picturesque

The schloss was really extensive and it was already too late in the day to catch the last of the english tours, but we spent a lot of time exploring and pretty well all the signs were in english as well as french and german.  

This area was set up for staged productions and they were just taking down some scenery boards that looked like the last play had been a Romeo and Juliet set in war time Europe

You can see the barbed wire on the facade

Erika was fascinated by this tree.  The flowers were kind of delicate prickly balls.  Don't know what it was.

A large section of the castle was a museum of the history of medicine and apothecary.  

From Austria, 300 years ago, this picture depicts Christ as a pharmacist

Bench of the day?

Some of the old castle passageways are pretty cool

Once back outside, we did a lot of exploring of the castle itself and the view of the city from the castle

We took a picture of a family that was travelling together with their son who had just finished his mission and they returned the favor by taking a picture of the two of us

When it rains, the water pours out of these dragon mouths

These are pretty large barrels, but the biggest is yet to come

Now this is a BIG barrel

Again, we traded picture taking favors, this time with a mother and daughter on vacation together.

We descend into the tunnel to go back to city level

The day ended with pizza making with the little boys.  One of the ingredients that worked really well was tuna.

Staying with the Glauers was definitely one of the highlights of the vacation for us.  The little boys treated us like we were really another set of grandparents to them.  Julie and Martin were fabulous energetic, thoughtful, interesting, generous and all round wonderful people who were just an absolute delight to visit with.  The exact same can be said of the Wildermuths who we stayed with 3 days earlier.  Erika has documented our stays with them in the earlier blog "Showering with Friends".  But I just have to underline that and say that we couldn't possibly have been luckier than we were to have had these two families introduce us to the opportunities that come by way of https://www.warmshowers.org/

I have to share one final sweet thing:  On the first day with the Glauer family as we were trying to learn the names and get them all straight, Moses, on his own initiative, brought this to us:

This is a treasured memento of our adventure.  Moses, Caspar, Turis and Herbie, I hope we get to see you again before you grow up too much and forget who we are.