Changing Gears Cycle Tour: August 2010

Germany - pictures, part 2

Town hall of lovely Weil der Stadt

Statue of the Kepler, Weil der Stadt's most famous son

The church of Weil der Stadt

Stained glass image from early 1940's depicting Jesus forsaking Hitler. Pretty risky as the gestapo later came to take away the priest.

Gina and friend

Two witches

The main town square or Market square

Weil der Stadt from above

Taking in the view from the top of the bell tower. Up until last century, people lived up here to watch for fires.

Above the ceiling of the church - 16th century

The night watchman tour of Weil der Stadt. Learned about the thousands dead from the bubonic plague, and the hundreds of red headed withches killed. Not too mention puppet museums, torture dungeon and such.

Lisa in the Stuttgart fountain... 95 degrees outside

The TV tower in Stuttgart

Photo of a photo

Top of the tower

Carnival statues

Local wurst (sausage)-one liver, one something like bologna, one is a mystery and the dark one is blood. Oh, and pickles.

Bratwurst and kraut

Drinking local schnapps

Germany - Pictures, part 1

Brendan trying on super-sized beer googles at the Seehausenfest

A very happy Ron Lightfoot

Seth trying to set a record... These are not pints!

Installing Lisa's new Brooks saddle which the company gave to her after listening to painful story of how her old saddle treated her...

Lisa on the Brooks tradeshow booth with her new saddle

Lisa's new saddle: Courtesy of the nice people at Brooks

Getting fancy with the camera settings: Lisa at a concert

Meersburg, Germany

Our new favorite sandwhich: Donner Kepap (something like a gyro)

Phone cards are worthless... more than a dollar a minute

Great cycle routes in Southern Germany

German Pastry Break!

Switzerland Writing

We spent about 3 weeks in Switzerland.....maybe June20-July10, we think.

Our last night in France we slept in a farmers field close to the Switzerland border, forcing us on the road by 7am. We entered Switzerland via Geneva, a beautiful city with a fountain that sprays directly up out of the lake at least 300 feet. Wow! Although it took us quite a bit of time to orient ourselves and find the information center, we did actually manage by means of a street map and using the fountain as a frame of reference. Considering how high the water goes up, you can see the fountain from almost anywhere. A few hours later, yes hours, we found the middle of downtown. At times it is definitely frustrating when you are riding in circles, hungry and confused. I have always heard that Switzerland is expensive, boy those people weren't lying! First off, the franc dollars look fake, bigger in size and the colors are pretty fantastic. Secondly, it requires a lot of it to travel through the beautiful country. After a few weeks of perfectly cleaned streets, houses and lawns, spotless garbage cans, bike paths galore, we saw where the taxes are spent. A simple lunch of basic sandwiches cost 18 francs and campgrounds close to 40. Now that was something to get used to. But worth every penny.