I actually wasn't sure what I would do today, Tuesday, exactly. But I got a very late start because I went into the university and did some catch-up work and good-byes, so I didn't get underway again until around 11am. (For Internet geeks - I was having a hard time ftping back to Stanford because normal channels were blocked for security reasons. Nothing, including sftp worked. But finally, I discovered that the Netscape upload feature, with userid and password, bypassed the ftp block. But then you can only upload one file at a time. So I was almost late for my very wonderful farewell dinner with Sigi, Stephan, and Harold Tuesday night. We had Pfannekuchen, an Alsacian cross between pizza and crepes. I have to start a restaurant selling this in Ca. We had a great time.)
I took off on the Johanniskreuz route again but much more slowly, being fully loaded again. I decided to run down to Freiburg, and jumped on the Autobahn at Landau, after stopping at a truck stop. The weather was nice but a little warm. I could tell because I was starting to eat ice-cream. I took the French Autoroute into Strassbourg. It was really warm there and I took a rest stop in the middle of town in the parking garage for the huge cinoplex. Not that I paid. Bikes don't pay often or much in Europe. Parking pretty much anywhere is the norm, as it is in San Francisco.
Riding back across the Rhein into Germany, I saw that the bikes were out again in full force as they were last year. The only difference is that I saw more racer-types and more singletons. I jumped back on an Autobahn to get to Freiburg for a late lunch. Don't try this.
Freiburg was very hot and crowded. I parked the bike right next to a police station and used my long cable to secure everything except my jacket, which I carried. I walked around a bit and visited the tourist office where I procured a free map of the area. I went and had a lunch of tuna salad in a Hungarian restaurant off the main streets. In reading the local information, it looks like a very beautiful area with a lot of things to do. There are a lot of steam train rides in this part of the country and one of the biggest is in Tubingen, where I happened to see it last time I was there. I often dream about coming upon a steam locomotive by accident, and every once in a while, it happens in real life.
But the traffic in hot Freiburg is unbearable. It is stop and go in single file for a long ways. I did stop and get gas, but there was no let up in the long stream of afternoon tourist traffic. I followed the lead of a young girl on a moped with no protective gear other than a helmet, and started aggressively passing large vehicles. Even so, it was hard hot work getting out of town. I was headed in the direction of Titisee, as was everyone else, apparently. But I really just wanted to get to Schaffhausen in order to see the Rheinfall.
I had intended to take very small roads, but my map, which covers all of the Alps for several countries, lacks sufficient detail, and it's too hard to consult it at every crossroads anyway. I just followed the signs and the roads got smaller and less crowded anyway. It was really hot still, so I stopped at the small town of Bonndorf at a ice cream place frequented by teeny-boppers and staffed by a young man and woman not much older. I just had something to rehydrate myself and moved on. Somewhere along the way, I crossed the border into Switzerland. It is not a part of the EU, so there is a real border guard. Like last year, he just waved on the the cruiser ahead of me and me as well.
The Rheinfall is much smaller than Niagara, but worthwhile visiting nevertheless. There is a restaurant on a small island with a great view, boats travel from there to the falls. There is a big palace on the cliff opposite and it is very pleasant. And as with most parking lots in Europe, there is a special place for motorcycles. When I stopped by late in the day, there was only an R100GS there already.
I work with Martin Fischer sometimes, a professor at Stanford, and I had visited him at his parents' house near Konstanz. It was not far and I made their house by 7pm. They of course invited me to stay in their guest room. I felt badly that I had not given them any warning. My phone cards from Germany did not work in Austria and I had not been sure what I was really going to do earlier. But Manfred and Hollies were very gracious and even fixed me a small supper.
They have an unbelievably beautiful garden in the back (including a pond with beautiful little frogs) and later in the day I walked up the hill to the meadow to watch the sun set over the Untersee, which is the last part of Lake Constance, the Bodensee. It had been very nice to ride along the Rhein and watch the lake grow. It then grows small again, devolving into marshes (a nature preserve) near their house in Taegerwilen. On the hill one sees the sailboats heading in for the night and an idyllic land and waterscape made more beautiful by the twilight, with the sun not setting until 9:30pm.
Anther Internet note. Manfred is an architect and hired a student to construct his web site. He is an Internet novice but has bought good equipment and has an ISDN connection. I used telnet with IE to read my email back at Stanford, though there was no secure connection. Manfred was very dissatisfied with the student's work so far and I agreed with him. For someone with little Internet experience, he has a good feel for what works. Later the student came over, and there was a big conference, with several people attending. I was introduced near the end and perhaps helped lessen some of the hard feelings the student may have had as I was an expert from America and we could also talk about traveling in a friendly way.
To get there, one has to cross from Switzerland back into Germany. And the Swiss have constructed a new road and a very large customs complex to control the the traffic. Manfred warned me about this and showed me the shorter older road to cross over into Konstanz. I took it and found the Swiss station there not even manned. Apparently all of their resources are being placed at the big new customs checkpoint.
The island/peninsula of Reichenau has three churches, one of which is the oldest in Europe, if I understood Manfred correctly. In any case, it dates from the 10th century. Shortly after St. George was built, a prominent churchperson visited the Pope in Rome and was rewarded with the head of St. George, which was installed in the church. Up until a few centuries ago, Reichenau was a very important and influential monastery. The 10th century murals in the church have largely survived and one can look at them and read about them today. But the brochure in the church does not cover the murals around the door, which is a shame.
The murals around the door are so faded that one can hardly make them out, but they are very interesting. They seem to indicated that passing through the door into the outer world is fraught with peril as there are skeletons with arrows aimed at those who pass through the doorway. But there are angels around the sides pulling people in agony to safety. There may also be devils tormenting people, but I could not quite make it out.
In any case, this very small island is a vacation paradise if one simply wants to relax. It is a bicycle-sized island full of cute houses. One that I like particularly seemed run down but somehow protected. It was called the "Rabbit House" ("Hasenhaus").
OK, enough prettiness. Time to hit the road. I cut across Konstanz. Along the way, I saw a dirigible over the Bodensee! Shades of Count Zepplin. I then took the ferry to Meersburg. This is a very wonderful thing to do. As Manfred had led me to expect, motorcycles are directed to a place on the side, in the front of the boat, and no one bothers to collect a fee from you. The boat ride was very steady and the bike gently rocked on its centerstand while I stood nearby and admired the Bodensee and Meersburg as it came closer. I looked for the zepplin, but it was gone. So I just enjoyed the boat ride. I even had a little spray on me and the bike.
I went on the road along the shore past all of the vineyards and palaces. The Bodensee has a lovely climate - the warmest in Europe. I made a small detour into Friedrichhafen. I saw the monument to the first dirigible flight but the traffic persuaded me to give up on the idea of visiting the Count Zepplin museum. I turned around and headed to Lindau. I had been there before and time was passing. So on to Bregenz. Turns out the only way to get there is on the Autobahn, so I stopped at a truckstop for ice cream and an Austrian Autobahn permit, which is necessary. I got a 10 day motorcycle permit for only 10 Marks. BTW, in case you don't already know, it makes no sense to change your DM into Shilling when you go to Austria. It's a fixed rate of 7 Shillings to the DM and everyone takes DM. And next year, everyone but the English and Swiss will convert to thee Euro.
I ran down the Austrian E60 Autobahn (which has a limit of 130Kph, which is generally ignored) until Rankweil, near Feldkirch. This little Dorf has a very beautiful monastery. And it was the beginning of some mountain roads I had chosen. I headed in the direction of Laternstal. Now I was on real hairpins. And for a few kilometers, the road narrowed down to a small one-lane curvy track. This was a real motorcycle road. I was appalled and chagrined to discover later that a bus had apparently come this route also.
In the high mountains again at last. It is always very wonderful up here. And the weather could not be better. In the valley, it was about 85F and up here it was cooling nicely. Even loaded, the bike and I were just having a great time flying along above the valley and enjoying the mountain views around us. Eventually, the road came to a pass, unmarked on my map, but called the Furkajock, at 1964 meters. There was a little historic shelter there, with bikes parked all over. I stopped and had my favorite high mountain meal: pea soup with wurst, and a Hefeweizen. Looking out over the valley, I realized that I saw my first snow, reachable probably with an hour's hike to a nearby mountainside. I refreshed myself, read all the plaques, talked with a few other bikes, and started downhill just as a tour bus(!) arrive over the same route I had taken..
The roads here are fabulous. Beautiful views, tight winding roads with surprise hairpins, and very little traffic, which is easily passed. But I was very tired by now. The day before and today had taken their toll, so I headed back down into the valley to catch the Autobahn for a while. I had been making a big circle, so I hadn't gone far as the crow flies. I came back to the Autobahn only the other side of Feldkirch, very near where I had gotten on, around Bludenz, but with a detour of a few pleasant hours.
Last year I noticed that a number of restaurants and hotels welcomed bikers. This year the trend continues with many more displaying signs welcoming both motorcyclists and bicylists, who are covering the mountains. Many of these places display old motorcycles and even sidecars outside. One place I noticed later in Switzerland had two old bikes, spraypainted, permanently parked in the parking lot like motorcycle decoys to lure in the bikers.
I ran down the E60 Autobahn until just before the Arlberg tunnel. I stopped at a truckstop to refill and get directions from the locals. I was so proud of myself that I understood the strong Austrian dialect of the clerk. I took off and took the overland pass instead of the tunnel. This is also worthwhile doing. It's silly because it adds substantial time but, except for a little construction, the road and views were worth the effort.
Back on the E60 again - I should note that at least this Austrian Autobahn is not like the German ones. Yes, German ones have construction too, which can stop traffic, but this Autobahn just converts to a normal road in many places. Any way, I was tired and just had to recognize the limits of my endurance, so I used the Autobahn to get closer to Innsbruck, running by Landeck. I exited at Telfs as there were some small roads leading from there to Seefeld, where the BMW meeting was.
These little roads were a fine entrance to Seefeld, which at 1185 meters, is surrounded by tall mountains that have pushed their way free of all vegetation and dirt. There are a lot of these wonderfully twisty climbing mountain roads in the area, but they don't seem to have names. As is usual here, people navigate by place names, with signs at the crossroads.
I entered Seefeld from the backside and so missed the BMW registration point, which was right at this edge of town. All of the other entrances to Seefeld are well marked with signs large and small. But it didn't take long to figure this out since Seefeld is not very big. Also there were lots of motorcycles and C1s zooming around town and parked everywhere. The organizers were using C1s extensively and in the morning I even saw a non-running C1 being towed by a bike.
I checked in and met Andra Nagel again who runs this show and remembers me because I am the only American (Actually, Court Fisher from the east coast was around but we never saw each other). But first I was registering with one of her helpers who kept trying to get me assigned to the Dutch table for the Friday dinner. I spoke passable German and my bike had Dutch plates. I must be Dutch. She was very confused when I insisted I was American. Andrea had to convince her. I continued to be mistaken for Dutch for the whole trip. It was kind of sweet to be out in the countryside stopped to take a picture and have a Dutch car passing by give me a friendly beep.
I checked into my hotel and showered off the sweat of the long
hot day.
Haus Paula
Reither-Spitz-Str. 390
A-6100 Seefeld, Austria
43 5212 2552
FAX 2552-4
email grameiser-scherl@tirol.com
http://www.tiscover.com/gaestehaus.paula
I had a small meal in a cafe near the train station. I had Gruene Weltliner, a common Austrian wine, with my wurst soup. Then I went to the "Tyloean Evening" that BMW had arranged and Andrea had told me was not to be missed. Well, it was - just not my sort of thing. I got there about 9pm so I missed what ever speeches there were. I can see that there was a lot of careful preparation. But it was essentially a couple of pubs in a fancy hotel. It was crowded, hot, and smoky. The evening consisted of Tyrolean bands. I was persuaded to go in by the hosts (also well-organzied) but didn't see anyone I knew. So I sat for a while and had some more Weltliner.
I did learn two things from this evening. One is that because it runs on a tourist economy and this is high season, everything here is very expensive, even for Americans, and the fancier the place, the more so. I could not believe what they charged for my wine and poor service. The second is that I now know the origins of country dancing. The rhythms of the southern germanic culture are those of country music and the dancing is the two-step. The older people seemed to like this entertainment, but I really could have gone to a pub by myself. I must have missed what the club organized that was special; probably some free champagne. I was told later that Andrea was there at the first but she didn't stay. Me neither. Home to bed. And I won't need melatonin to sleep tonight.
Part 3: An Easy Day
