31 August - Frankenjura Day 2

Skylar and I woke up bright and early, but most of the others didn't get up till 9 or so and then had these elaborate breakfasts.. well, elaborate for camping anyway. We went out to another area to climb and it was a much nicer day.. not too warm... maybe 75 at most. This area wasn't as serene as the others though because it was along a pretty busy road. It must've been motorcycle day or something because their were bikes flying by all day! The routes were really nice and there were quite a few of them of varying difficulties. I did a fair amount of lead climbing and top roping. We stayed out there a long time, but took more breaks and joked around quite a bit more.

Skylar didn't climb much this day either. I think the homesickness is really get to him. Makes it hard to enjoy the fun stuff we are doing when all he can think about is going home. Anna had a hammock that she set up and that made him happy. He laid there and read his book all afternoon.

We headed back that afternoon and I think we all fell asleep in the speeding car.. all except the driver, I hope. We stopped at a rest area to use the bathrooms and much like many public restrooms, we had to pay 50 cents to get in them. My bags were all packed in the van though, so Michele kindly loaned me the money. Sometimes, they even charge at restaurants, but then it is more of asking, not a locked gate or door to get inside.

All in all though, it was a fun and exhausting weekend!

30 August - Frankenjura Day 1

We got up bright and early and waited for Michele with our 7 bags in front of the house ;) He was with another friend, Anna that works with him who also didn't know anyone else. Then we all drove to the Kletterarena to meet up with the rest of the group. Some of the people I recognized, but most I had never even seen before. After a little confusion of what van we were taking and where to put our stuff, we got going. We drove with Mick who drove 150km/ hr the whole way. Still took us about 3 hours.

By the time we got to the campsite we were starving, but our bags were taken in another, slower driving van, so we had to wait. We set up our tents at the campsite while we waited. Camping is different in Europe.. it's like a parking lot of tents and cars... reminds me more of the way people camp at festivals in the states. The tent I borrowed from Bjorn is like ancient! It kept collapsing because one of the poles was broken... the center one. We just had to hope it didn't get too windy or there would be no way to keep it up. I just made sure our stuff was at least protected and hoped it didn't blow into the pond. The other van finally arrived and we shoved some lunch down and packed some up to bring with us.

I guess I'm used to climbing where we camp, but this was different. We drove to the climbing site. It was also quite colder than I thought it was going to be. Leave it to me to where a halter top and shorts in 60 degree weather :) OK, not really freezing, but the rock gets really cold and especially out in the woods when it is all shaded.


We went to a couple different places and it was cool because the group kind of broke off into smaller groups based on levels. Michele, Anna and I climb at almost the same level. Since we were kind of the outsiders of the group we went our separate ways and found some things to climb. The rock was really sharp, so my fingers are all cut and bloody. It's nice when it's rough because it's easier to grip, but it can be brutal. I was climbing this one route and all of a sudden this furry thing ran out of a hole I grabbed onto and then back in really fast. I screamed and everyone ran over. It was hissing and growling like crazy! I had no idea what it was and the other climbers said it was probably a sieben Schläfer (seven sleeper) but didn't know what the English word for the animal was. They said they are only about 3" big and thought it was hilarious that is scared me so bad. I felt pretty silly, but all I saw was this rush of fur and all this noise... it could have been a bear for all I knew :) I just kept climbing and steered clear of it on my way back down. We climbed for about 8 hours! Skylar mostly wandered around and read his book. He wasn't really in the mood for climbing. By the time we headed to the campsite, we were all exhausted and starving.

We all cleaned up a bit, put on some warmer clothes and headed for the little restaurant at the campsite. It was decent enough and they had Käse-Spätzle on the menu so we were good. Anna is a vegetarian too, so she kindly helped us out with the menu. There was about 20 of us and the waitress was bringing our drinks two by two. Without even thinking about it, I took a sip and got reamed by half the table! Apparently I was supposed to wait for the toast before I could drink. Whoops. However, no one waited for everyone to get their food. Actually, many people were done before we even got ours. Then the waitress brought us all a little bottle of liqueur for a shot. I didn't take mine as I was already falling asleep in my beer that I didn't even drink half of. So the group first puts the bottle cap on their nose, then they stick their tongue in the bottle. Usually they would then all toast each other's bottle, but people were too far away, so they just drank them. Such silly German customs :)

The tent had blown over when we got back, but I just fixed it up again. As long as it kept us dry, it would be ok. I didn't have a pad for the ground either and it was so cold! My sleeping bag is really warm, but without something for insulation underneath it, it doesn't matter. Woke up freezing a few times throughout the night though.

28 August - Last day of Gaffenberg

Just look how sad he is on the last day of camp... he must really be going to miss the place. Yeah right. His last day consisted of what seemed to be more fighting and even had a few bruises on his legs to show for it. His counselors weren't very helpful in the matter either. So I'm glad he's done with it too.

Today I packed our gear, clothes, and food for the weekend. I am not sure what the food situation will be or if we need to have everything we plan on eating, so I made sure to bring plenty.

Michele called this evening and asked if we would like to be picked up. We were planning on taking the bus to the Kletterarena where would meet the rest of the group for the trip. I know Michele lives on the other side of town, so I said he didn't have to, but he insisted. So nice of him! I really didn't want to drag our bags, climbing gear, food, and tent on the bus at 6am, but never would have asked him to go out of his way like that. So nice!

Of course I couldn't sleep because I was excited and nervous :)

27 August - Eve

I took some pictures on my run this morning. The forest area is so beautiful around here! Everything is so green and the air is so fresh. I usually run along this creak around this small pond. It opens up into a big meadow in one direction and the wine fields in the other direction. There is a path called Sculpturweg that has all these different scupltures carved out of tree trunks. There are beavers, bears, deer, and various birds. There is this one really elaborate one that looks like a woman entwined with a snake. I asked Nora if it was a German thing, but she said no... maybe it is Eve or something. Anyway, looks really cool!

Skylar had a mostly boring day at camp again, but learned a new trick with his string called Cat's Eye.

I am getting more and more nervous about the trip this weekend and thought it would be a good idea to get as much climbing in as possible. So, I met Michele and Thomas at the Kletterarena again. I tried some trickier stuff tonight and somehow kept managing to scrape the backs of my hands on the walls. For the non-climbers out there, you are not supposed to climb with the backs of your hands.

26 August - Mountain biking

OK, so my bike is more like a cruiser.. an around-the-town kind of bike, but the trails were so tempting and I got to Skylar's camp a bit early... soooooo... I took my bike and rode the best I could up and down then hills. Down the hills were fine, but with thin tires, my bike was not happy about the uphills... neither were my legs actually. Guess I'll just have to wait until I get home and hope there are a few nice days left. October is going to be one busy month! So close and yet still, so far. Skylar said this morning, "I want to go home." :( I said soon sweetheart, but don't worry Venice is just in a couple weeks. Yay for Venice!

My project is turning into a complete flop. I am going to leave here with nothing to show for it.. well, no work anyway.. lots of play and adventure, but no work. I don't think it will even count for my thesis and there is nothing I can do about it now. I'll just have to write another one when I get home. Maybe I'll get a public health degree while I'm at it and I can use it for that. Informatics, though? No.

25 August - End of Climbing Hiatus

I finally got the info on this weekend's camping/ climbing trip to Frankenjura! There are 23 of us going... of which, I know myself, Skylar, Michele, and Mick. I've seen some of the others around the gym and at the crag, but I don't know any of them by name and have never spoken to them more than a head nod. Mick is a really good climber and I am pretty sure the rest of the group is pretty hard core as well. I just hope there are some easier routes I can do without holding them up at all. I mean, I know at the gym, it doesn't matter if one person is better than another, but outside, you set up routes and we are most likely leading them... they are not going to want to bother setting up easy routes. Oh well..it's Frankenjura and it looks incredibly beautiful, so if nothing else we will just sit back and enjoy the scenery :)

Michele is also back from his vacation, so we met at the gym tonight. Thomas was there too and he's really nice and a really good climber as well. I was saying something about Skylar and camp and he goes, "You have a son?! How old is he?" I say, "10" and he says, "How old are you?!" and I tell him and he says, "WoW!" He said he was 30, but assured me that he has no kids. I told him, good for him. I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it, it was just strange. 21 doesn't seem that crazily young to have a kid, but maybe I've just gotten used to it.

Riding home from the gym was a bit colorful tonight. It was a bit late and when Skylar's not with me, some guys seem to think it is OK to holler at me. I was riding past this one bar with a bunch of guys crowded around an outside table and they start talking to me as I ride up and get more giddy as I get closer. I sped past them as fast as I could and they shouted a few things. For all I know they were telling me there was a big snake up ahead, but I didn't slow down to explain that I don't speak German, so who knows.

24 August - The World is a Vampire

I really had good intentions of working on my research today. I even brought the endless papers I need to read and set them right next to me. Instead, I brought Skylar to camp even though he begged me not to make him go. I went for a run and managed not to get lost. Then I don't really know where the day went. I chatted with Nora quite a bit about this and that. I wrote emails and chatted online and then all of a sudden it was time to pick up Skylar from camp.

They turned him into a vampire! I knew something was funny about this camp... they may have even told me, except it was in German ;)

23 August - Family Day

Today was family day at Skylar's camp. We went up there and walked around. There was a ton of people all over the place and some of the counselors were dressed in costumes. Many of the guys were wearing dresses and butterfly wings. They made some announcements in German and they sang some German songs. They also sang Leaving on a Jet Plane. It's funny how they have this set of classic English songs that they sing at camps and stuff. It is the same songs they sang on the boat in Amsterdam. They even had a book with all the words. Germans seem to really like to sing. Even the drunken guys downstairs kept breaking out in song from time to time the other day.

Anyway, after playing on the playground and walking in circles, we decided to leave. We didn't know what was going on or who we should ask. Skylar showed me around the small camp grounds and compared everything to his camp back home.

When we got home we watched another movie together, Hotel for Dogs and I cried like a baby :)

22 August - Saving money

Skylar begged not to have to go to camp this morning, so I didn't make him. It's supposed to be fun, not torture. He's still having trouble with some of the kids, but he won't really talk about it. He's turning into such an emo teenager and he's only 10.

I am terrible at saving money. I am terrible at staying home and doing nothing. One, I wanted to save for Venice and two, we are going camping next weekend, so I wanted to play it low key this weekend.

Skylar and I played Skip-bo and watched a movie. It's about as low key as it could get.

21 August - Bitte?

I finally got the wine vineyards worked out but now there are all these new and exciting trails to run around by Skylar's camp. They go through the woods in every direction. It's gorgeous! I keep running my signage and old ruins of forts and things. A lot of the trails look like they are used for mountain biking and has really gotten me thinking about riding. A new friend has offered to teach me a thing or two if the weather cooperates when I get home. I can't wait. Of course I got lost again and this time turned left instead of right but still ended up far from home when I finally could figure out where I was. It also rained a bit, which was sooooo nice. I love running in the rain! It's like cleansing the soul!

Soon after I got home, it really started raining and thundering and lightning. It was pretty cool and made the thick air so much more breathable.

This afternoon, I was meeting Julianne in town for coffee. I was a bit early and stopped to look at shoes, but I could hardly look because the man in the store was so interested in why I would be in Heilbronn of all places studying. Such a small town for anyone from America to come to. He kept asking me questions until I had to go. Julianne and I chatted for hours. She is going home for a couple weeks and so we wanted to get together before she left and maybe we'll be able to get together again before I leave. It started raining again, but I had to go and get Skylar so off I went in my skirt on my bike in the pouring rain. I looked like a drowned rat, but had to stop at the grocery store for just a couple things. I ran in and got what I needed. There was a man talking to me, but I have learned it is sometimes easier to be cordial and just smile and nod rather than explain I can't speak German. Well, usually this works. I ran out of the store and stopped in the bakery to grab a pretzle because I was starving. So with pretzle shoved in my mouth and still soaking wet I mount my bike when the man from the grocery store tries to call me over to him. I just wave and start to ride off and so he gets out of his car and runs over to me. I told him I don't speak German and that I was in a hurry. He starts going on about how pretty I am and how he would like to see me again trying to form a string of English words into some semblance of a sentence. I politely try to tell him I am only here for a little while longer and that I have to go and he says I am speaking too fast. I finally just say Entschuldigung! and ride off. I felt really bad, but I had to get to camp before Skylar got out.

I made it there just in time. Skylar still hates camp and was thrilled it was Friday until he found out there was camp tomorrow too.

20 August - 36 degrees Celsius

I ran with Skylar to camp again. Even at 7am it was hot! By noon it was 36 degrees (96F) and on the third floor, it is just hot! I think my brain melted.

I have been trying to save money for our trip to Venice next month and therefore staying home quite a bit. Going a little stir crazy, but it will be worth it. I finally got paid today, so I booked the hostel. It is just outside the city, but there are bus and shuttle rides, so I'm hoping it all works out. Couldn't beat the price and at least there is a pool. I have a feeling it is going to be a bit of a party type place meant to appeal to young college kids on vacation, but that's ok. Now I just need to start working on our itinerary.. what is there to do in Venice?

I was thoroughly glistening with exercise moisture when I went to pick up Skylar this afternoon. He was all muddy and said they were playing by a creek, but the water was too cold to get in. I would've given anything to jump in a cold creek today. He was happy that he learned a bunch of cool tricks with cat's cradle (remember that game with the string around your fingers). He learned Gummi (rubber band), Krone (crown), and a few others. Now he has pieces of string everywhere.

It is the boy downstair's birthday tomorrow so they started partying early and went all night long. I think all of the neighbors complained.

19 August - Losing myself

So now that Skylar has camp so early in the morning and I have to bring him up there, I have been able to get out early enough to beat the heat. This morning I ran with him to camp. He was on bike and I jogged along side. Like I said, it is completely uphill, so we move like molasses anyway. It's a great warm up. The road we ride up into the park is kind of narrow and has a sharp turn around the bend, so I have trying to see if there is an alternate route because the buses come up that way and it makes me nervous. So across from the entrance there is another paved road, and I decided to run that way and see where it leads. I came to a choice of right or left and chose right because there was a sign that said Heilbronn. I ran and ran and ran and for nearly an hour and finally came out by the University. I have no idea how I ran completely around Heilbronn, but at least from there I knew my way.

Had a bit of trouble motivating myself on my research this morning. The day passed relatively quickly though and it was time to go get Skylar. Up the hills I went with my legs complaining the whole way. At the beginning and end of each day there is this group of teenagers that play music as the kids come and go. It's really cute and sometimes they are dressed up. Today they were dressed as ancient Greeks. Skylar said today went better than yesterday and the kid didn't bother him anymore. They had a water fight and he got completely soaked. He still doesn't like it though. His favorite part is the ride home.

18 August - Scuffle

Rode with Skylar to camp again this morning and glided home. I did some stretching and went back off for a run. I have had to hit the pavement in the morning hours otherwise it is just too hot!

This afternoon, I had a meeting with Wendelin and he went over my drug list with me to find some of the German translations of common medications and insulin. He said I seemed to be in a much better mood than our last meeting, so took that to mean that my project must be going well. I went back to my office and printed out a bunch more journal articles. I know I am killing trees, but reading on my computer is just too distracting.

I went and picked up Skylar at camp and he had a bandage under his eye. Uh-oh. So I ask him what happened and I can tell he is not in good spirits. He said another boy pushed him into a bush. I asked why and he said he didn't know. This went on for a couple minutes, so I went in search of his counselor. I talked to another girl who promised to pass along the message when she saw his counselor, but assured me that kids just do that sometimes. What? It wasn't a play fight, I tell her. I continued to try and find out what happened and the most I could get was that the boy kept kicking Skylar and so he told his counselor and then the boy attacked him. How can he fight with someone when they don't even speak the same language? Skylar kept saying he didn't know why the boy was upset. I hate when there is nothing I can do. Kids can be such brats! How do you say don't fight back if they won't stop without telling on them and making them angrier?

Nora made dinner tonight for us and her boyfriend Bjorn. There is just enough room to squeeze four chairs around the little garden table. It was nice and I cleaned up after.

17 August - Gaffenberg

Today was Skylar's first day of camp. Nora kindly asked our landlord what he needed to bring because her son had gone in years past, so she left us a note. She is so sweet! I had run into this camp before on my runs through the vineyards, but as I am usually lost, I wasn't sure exactly where it was, so we googled it. It's not that far, but completely uphill! So we struggled with our bikes and had to walk them at a few points. We found the entrance and I watched Skylar bravely enter yet a new territory with more new kids and very little English speakers. I can't imagine what that feels like!

Now if the ride there is completely uphill, well of course the ride back is completely downhill. Wheeeee! I was in such good spirits this morning so the cool wind through my hair felt amazing :)

I had quite a bit of my paper to work on and started actually putting it together. I had 3 different documents of facts and figures, but wanted to start writing my rough draft to see where I am at. I got a good 10 pages down, so I felt accomplished. I am failing to see an informatic aspect of this at all and wonder if it will even count as my thesis paper, but I'm too far along to change anything.

Went back this evening to get Skylar from camp. He loved the ride home too :)

He said camp was ok... kinda boring... kinda like a day care. There is another American boy there though and he has been living in Germany for three years, so speaks English and German. Skylar was happy about that. Couldn't get much else out of him... they ate and played in the woods.

16 August - Katzenbuckel

We got up bright and early to catch the train to Heidelberg this morning and meet with this hiking group. We then took the train to Eberbach to hike over the Katzenbuckel and through the Wolfschlucht to Zwingenberg. The 626 m high Katzenbuckle (cat hump) is a volcanic cone on the Buntsandsteinhochfläche.

The first part of the hike was probably the hardest since we had to ascend 550m. Obviously it wasn't straight up, but it was a lot of walking uphill. We got to see the castle ruins of Eberbach and Skylar impressed everyone with his climbing skills, while I impressed them with my steel nerves. We continued up for a while and stopped in a meadow for a snack. Once we got to the top there was a magnificent 18m tower which we climbed up the narrow staircase to see the view from the top. It was extrodinary! You could see Osenwald and the Stuttgart Tv tower all the way out to the Black Forest.

On our descent down the other side, we happened along a little lake festival and stopped for lunch and apfelshorle, which is a common refreshing drink made of apple juice and fizzy water. Germans love that fizzy water! Then we walked down to the lake where Skylar promptly took off his shoes and waded in a bit to cool off. Temps were about 32 degrees (90 F), so it was hot!

We continued on and were so grateful upon coming into the forest again by the creek where it was considerably cooler. We were in the gorge Wolf. The scenery was beautiful and had the feeling of an Amazon forest with overhanging trees and lots of greenery. We hiked down the creek for a while and then back onto the paths in the woods. We cut out of the woods and into a small neighborhood at some point and then back into the woods. We came to the Castle Zwingenberg which overlooked the Neckar. It was just a short hike from there into town.

We stopped at a cute little restaurant for lunch and refreshments along the Neckar. The group was very diverse and had some people native to Germany and some from Iran and even an army guy who was recently stationed there. It was fun trading stories and chatting with all the different people.

We parted from the group at the train station because they were going back to Heidelberg and it was quicker for us to go on to Heilbronn from there. Well it would have been quicker if we didn't get mixed up again somehow. Not sure what happened, but we had to catch another train when our train reached it's final destination. We're getting used to it and the trains are nice and relaxing where we read our books and/ or I knit, so we don't mind anymore.

A full day and 10 miles! Wow! I was so impressed with Skylar. I had originally thought we might part from the group and go back, but there was no need. He complained a little, but had no problem keeping up. Actually he was usually ahead of everyone.

15 August - Lichterfest

Nora put up an add for the room to rent in October for when we leave. Today the first person came to see it. We spent most of the morning straightening up. I went for a short run and came back to be around for some Skype time.

I talked with Debbie for quite a while, but as the day got on, it was just too beautiful to stay inside. So Skylar and I went back off to the Lichterfest. We watched a Brazilian band for a while and had some ice cream. For the most part it was local restaurants set up with tables and special menus, so we skipped all that. They did some neat light reflections on the water and played a lot of music.

I made some more of my healthy bars for a hiking trip we have planned tomorrow. I also attempted to make asparagus soup, but the season is over, so I had to use frozen and it just wasn't the same.

Then we went to bed early for a big day tomorrow.

14 August - Running

Ahh... I went for a nice long run through the wine vinyards and managed not to get lost! Yea me! It has been really hot lately and I really should run in the morning, but no. It is so beautiful through the vineyards and up to the campgrounds. There is this one house that I always pass that is painted like the rainbow... literally like two foot wide vertical stripes in bright rainbow colors across the building. I wonder what it is.

I'm so tempted to sample the grapes as I run by them just to see, but I haven't. I think I have finally figured my way to navigate through them though, which is nice because I don't like running on the boring neighborhood roads. Getting lost really isn't that bad anyway :)

I managed to get Skylar off the computer for a bit to see what was going on down town. We didn't stay long, but it was nice. They are setting up for the Lichterfest this weekend which is described through google translate as a farewell of some sort, but I don't know what they are saying farewell to.

13 August - Number crunching

OK, 80 mil Germans and 300 mil Americans times the prevalence in both countries equals how many diabetics in comparitive numbers? 140 million euro spent on diabetes in Germany and 90 billion spent in the US is about the same according to my adviser... really? What mathematical manipulative did you use to deduce that??? 15 euro for insulin in Germany and 150 dollars in the US... 4 dollars for this medication and 1 euro in Germany... Ahhhhhhhh!

You would think Skylar had gone weeks without his computer by the way he has been glued to it since we got back from the bike trip. Sometimes I get him to take breaks by playing Skip-Bo or something, but wow.

12 August - Back to research

Still tired and sore and would have liked to sleep until at least 3pm this afternoon, but I had to meet with Wendelin about progress on my research. Riiiiighhht.... about that... ummmm....

That's about how my meeting went and he wants to meet again early next week because I seem to be stuck and I think we are both worried that after five months, I am not going to have anything worthwhile to show. He did get me a book of list price drugs for the US and gave me access for Germany's price list, so I can at least get started on that. I also need to extrapolate comparable figures given the population differences as well as the dollar the euro. I've got my work cut out for me, but as always, I brought it on myself.

I need a vacation to rest up from my vacation :)

11 August - Bodensee, Austria

Again we got up bright and early and went down to the breakfast buffet. Same lineup except for these little peach cake things which were yummy. It was pretty dreary outside and this was the day we planned on swimming. So we took our time getting ready. Again we were going to take the ferry, but do to the weather and no hurry in getting to Reinspitz where we planned on swimming, we decided to bike it.

The weather cleared up considerably, but wasn't very warm. We were still set on going swimming though. We rode through some towns in search of a good swimming area, but many in this area seemed to be for boat docking. We decided to ride our bikes on to Rorchach and then take the ferry back to Lindau where we would catch the train. As the day went on, it did become increasingly warmer and by the time we came across a quaint little spot in Gasau, we were ready to swim. We swam out to this pontoon about 400m out and pretended to surf for a while. The water was quite cold though, so we didn't last long. Not to mention my legs already being sore enough without adding too much swimming in. So we dried off and changed and got back on our bikes. We continued on to Rorchach and got some lunch. The first place we stopped had no vegetarian options, so we had to pay for our drinks and try somewhere else. Then it seemed to be siesta time or something because everywhere was closed form 2-4pm. We rode around a bit more and found this sand sculpture thing that was going on. They were all about 5X5 ft and extraordinarily sculpted. It was very impressive.

We found a place to eat and then boarded the ferry to Lindau. It was packed and we barely found a place to sit. At the first stop it cleared out a bit and we were able to enjoy the view. It took about an hour. We pulled up to Lindau and the train station was right there, which was nice. Today's ride was about 40km at least, so we were ready to relax on the train. We changed trains in Ulm and again in Stuttgart, arriving in Heilbronn at 12:04am. We biked home and passed out almost instantly.

More pictures can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/osani77/BodenseeBikeTourDay3

10 August - Bodensee, Germany

We got up early this morning and went down to what seems to be the typical hostel buffet breakfast. We haven't been to many but, the handful we've been to have been pretty much the same. They are always nice though. Usually they consist of a few different kinds of cereal, fresh bread, some jams, hard boiled eggs, various cheese slices, yoghurt, milk, juice, and coffee. A great way to start the morning.

We went back upstairs and looked off the balcony at the beautiful view of the lake. We shortly got our things together and went off in search for the ferry to Meersburg. We shortly crossed over into Germany at Konstanz, which was strangely guarded by military. We rode for a bit more trying to follow the bike signs which were of a little bicycle with a blue wheel.

Finally we found the ferry and jumped on for the short jaunt to the other side of the lake to continue our route through Germany. Meersburg is an adorable little town, so we stopped and took some pictures and Skylar played in the park. The route was much nicer than the Switzerland side with much better markings of the path. We rode along the lake edge for a while and stopped to play a game of miniature golf. A very hard game of golf, I might add. Then we rode a bit more and stopped for lunch at this quaint little restaurant. She gave us the english menu, but the translations were a bit off. I ordered mushroom herb donuts because I was sick of eating pasta and curious as to what they could be. Well, they turned out to be crepes, but they were really good. Skylar got the spätzle, which was also quite good.

We rode on for quite a bit more and stopped in Freidrichshafen, which is another cute little lakeside town. We stopped at one of the ten ice cream places within a fifty foot radius and then Skylar played in this fountain for awhile. My original plan included taking the ferry from here to Bregenz, but the day was only half over and I wanted to keep riding and figured we'd take the ferry from Lindau instead. Just a little outside of town we stopped for a swim and to skip some rocks along the lake. Then back on the bikes to continue our ride.

We rode through so many fruit orchards, I was so tempted to sample from. There were lots of grape vineyards, apple trees, pear trees, and some that I think were prune trees. The path went along the lake, through some towns and through some farming areas. It was all really nice. At about 4pm, the sky opened up and it started to pour. Luckily we were near a bridge and we took shelter for about 20 minutes until it slowed down quite a bit. It was still drizzling, but we went on. The rain cooled things off quite a bit and made that sweet smell in the air which was really refreshing. I felt like we could just ride all day. Which, I guess we did, because we couldn't find the ferry dock in Lindau, so decide to continue riding to Bregenz. At this point it was getting pretty late and we were starving, but I wanted to get to the hostel before we stopped so that we wouldn't be searching in the dark again. I was also afraid it would start storming again. Skylar was pretty tired at this point, but kept trucking on. He did a great job and I let him set the pace most of the time. We even stopped at a few more playgrounds just to stretch our legs a bit. At about 8:30pm, we crossed into Austria. We crossed two country borders in one day! Three countries in one day by bike! So cool :)

We had to ask where the hostel was, but eventually found it and checked in at about 9:30pm. We put our stuff in the room which seemed to be full this time and then went back down to the bar area to get some food. All they really had was frozen pizza, but we were hungry and it worked. Then we went straight to bed. After biking about 70km, it didn't take much to fall asleep.

More pictures can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/osani77/BodenseeBikeTourDay2

9 August - Bodensee, Switzerland

We got up at the crack of dawn and made our way to catch a train to Stuttgart and from there to Ulm and then on to Schaffhausen, Switzerland where we would begin our journey around the Lake of Constance, otherwise known as the Bodensee. Upon arrival in Shauffhausen, we would ride to the Rhine Falls and then catch a ferry to Am Reine. We would then ride our bikes to Kreuzinglen to stay overnight. That was the plan, now this is how it went:

When we first got off the train, I was a bit confused about which direction the bike path was in and thought it would be more clearly posted. So I looked at my map and the maps at the station and finally decided to play einie meinie minie moe. I stopped again after a km or so and consulted another map. Not sure if Skylar picked up on my anxiety or what, but he was quiet while I had my panic attack and was nearly in tears about which way to go. It was a wonderful way to get started. I collected myself and set back in moe's direction. After another km or two, we came along a bus stop and I stopped an looked at the map there which showed Rhine Falls completely in the opposite direction we were going of course! So we turned around and finally found some signage as to where we were supposed to go and finally came along the lake which meant we were headed the right way.

It was about a 5 km ride to the Falls. It began on city streets and then along the lake and into a forest area. Once we came to the top of the Falls, we locked our bikes up and hiked in. We viewed the Falls from above and hiked down to the bottom to get a better view. It was amazing! It wasn't as tall as I expected and not nearly as wide as the Gulfoss in Iceland, but beautiful and breathtaking nonetheless. Once we go to the bottom, we took a boat ride to a big rock viewing station in the center of the falls. The boat was packed and the line up the stairs of the rock was long, but the view was well worth it. From the top you could see the force of the water crashing into itself without mercy. At the bottom, while we were waiting for the boat to come back we could view the surrounding magnificence of the falls. There was this fish bound and determined to swim its way up the falls and all I could think of is those inspiration posters with some key phrase about Determination written along the bottom. Skylar tried to take a picture, but unfortunately the boat pulled back up and knocked into the dock, making Skylar bang his shin along the guard rail. First injury of the trip and probably not the last.

We stayed quite a bit longer playing in the water, taking pictures, and walking around, so that we missed the last ferry on to Am Rhein, so we biked it. After leaving the falls area the bike path ran along the highway of Switzerland. Then the bike path signs seemed to stop altogether and the lake was no where to be seen. We biked for a few hours on what seemed to be a general country highway, past lots of cow pastures and corn fields. We came along this beautiful flower garden with a sign that seemed to offering for people to pick the flowers and take them, but I didn't really see the sense in that. We decided to just take pictures amongst them.

We finally came a long a small restaurant along the Lake and knew we must be at least heading in the right direction. Luckily they took Euros, so we got dinner. However, this was quite a cutesy place and the food was ridiculously overpriced. It was good though and the waitress was from Australia so was able to translate the menu for us. Unfortunately, the vegetarian options were very limited, so Skylar got spaghetti with pesto and I got a tomato and mozzarella salad.

We hopped back on our bikes and rode for another hour or so until we came along a train station as it was getting dark. Not soon after we got on the train, it stopped and a mad told us we had to get off because there was something on the tracks up ahead and we had to take the bus. I was so confused, but followed the other passengers to the bus and crammed ourselves on with our bikes. I was precariously holding mine up over a baby carriage and using every muscle in my body as the bus went around turns so as not to fall on him. We were finally able to get back on the train and then we arrived in Kreuzlingen. Again my directions failed me and my bike map was beyond useless. We found a small restaurant and between the five people there and after a few German discussions and arguments over the map, they were able to point us in the direction of the hostel. We had to ask two more people along the way... actually one woman must have just saw the lost look on my face because she was biking in the opposite direction and asked if we needed help when I didn't even have a map out. All in all, we biked about 50km this first day and that doesn't include all the back and forth from getting mixed up. Snowy had the best seat for the ride :) We finally found the place, which was situated in the middle of a park and looked like a mansion.

Our key was clipped to a board when we came in as it was past curfew. We found our rooms and made our beds. There was another young man staying in the room with us, but other than that the rest of the beds were empty (the room had 5 bunk beds). Within minutes, we were sound asleep.

More pictures can be seen at:http://picasaweb.google.com/osani77/BodenseeBikeTourDay1

8 August - Preparing to ride

OK, so not everything worked out with the hostel booking and I had to make a few modifications. We are staying in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland on Sunday night and Bregenz, Austria on Monday night. We'll bike as far as we can from the morning's starting points and then catch ferries to our destinations.

I put Skylar's bike all back together and it seems to be working properly. He rode it around a good bit to test it out, so hopefully no unexpected mishaps will flatten it again during our trip. I'll be prepared this time though if it does.

I spent the majority of the day chatting with people and packing. We aren't bringing much, just the necessities because we will be biking with our bags. I got Skylar some saddle bags for his stuff and I will use the backpack. I also packed some food and water even though I'm sure we'll stop along the way at places to eat.

We tried to go to sleep early, but I was too excited. Skylar was whining all day that he didn't want to go and it was going to be so boring and blah, blah, blah. So emo!

7 August - Bike tour planning

Benjamin from downstairs helped me patch up Skylar's tire using the kit Lael bought me. I asked him if he had a bucket to look for the hole in the tire with and he kind of took over things. It was very nice of him. It took us a while to find the hole, but we patched it up and the glue is drying so I'll put it all back together tomorrow.

Nora and I planned out my next few days of adventure. She helped me pick out the best way to bike around The Bodensee and see Rhine Falls. We're going to take the train into Schaffhausen, Switzerland then bike to Rhine Falls, then take the ferry to Rhine Am.., then bike to Konstanz, Germany and stay overnight. Then the next day we will bike to Friedrichshafen, Germany and stay overnight there, then bike to Bregenz, Austria and take the ferry to Rohrspitz to go swimming. We'll bike or take the ferry back to Bregenz and then go home. We'll be starting in Germany, then going to Switzerland, then back to Germany, and then to Austria! What fun!

Apparently it is quite a popular holiday spot and we had to search and modify quite a bit to find an available hostel. We pushed it out a day so that we booked one for Sunday night and one for Monday night because weekends were all just full. I'll just work on my research on Saturday a bit to make up for not being here on Monday and Tuesday :)

Today we went to the bike store and got bike shorts because we left ours at home. I also got some spare inner tubes and a map of the bike paths around the lake. Tomorrow I'll make another batch of my health bars to take with us. We'll set off on Sunday morning. I can hardly wait!

6 August - Belay

Today we went climbing again. I notice I enjoy it a lot more when I go more often. When we only go every couple weeks, I get discouraged because so much strength seems to be lost in such a short amount of time. However, it feels good to know that it is still in me and once I start going regularly again, it will get better. Michele is going on vacation though so I'll be back to square one in a couple weeks :(

Some guy told me I was belaying incorrectly. I told him that there may just be a different style because Mick said the same thing when he first saw it, but it was the way I was taught and it works. He insisted that there was only one way to belay, so I just politely said thanks for recommendation and turned away.

Skylar is doing great with his lead climbing. I still make him do the easy stuff until he is more comfortable with clipping, but he doesn't ever back clip and isn't afraid to take a fall... I am for him though. I haven't taught him lead belay because I am worried about the weight difference. If I weight him to the floor with sandbags, we won't be able to move around as a good lead belay needs to.

I talked with this woman who is setting up the trip to Frankenjura and she gave me a few more details. I still don't know cost, but camping usually isn't that much. Nora even offered to let us borrow either her father's or Bjorn's tent and luckily we brought our sleeping bags. Should be really cool.

5 August - Kindness of Strangers

Nora and Bjorn invited Skylar and I to ride with them to Neckersulm and go to the pool there. It was about a 10 mile bike ride. Not too intense except for a couple steep hills. Bjorn is an avid rider so he kept going up a head and Skylar tried with all his might to stay with him. At some point we may have ridden over some broken glass. Right before we got there, Skylar's tire went flat. We filled it with air and it went flat again, so there must have been a hole. Of course I didn't have the nifty kit Lael gave me with me. He rode it just another km to the pool. We locked the bike up and Bjorn gave us directions to the train station to get home after the pool.

Nora and Bjorn went off to the sauna and we didn't see them again. I still am not brave enough to try it. I was worried about the bike and just sat in the whirlpool and pouted for a while thinking if we should leave right away to find a bike store. I decided we were already there, so we might as well stay. I got over it and went on with Skylar to all the slides. There was this one that went down the four levels of the place like a rushing river. You'd be able to jump off at each level or get swept in the current around the next bend. Had to be at least 10 yrs old to go on it. It was pretty freaky at first, but after a few times you could expect when the possible drowning would occur and prepare for it. There was also like 7 different pools, one like a giant bathtub, a regular one, a playground one, a wave one, a couple whirlpools, a few slides, and some others.. the place was huge. The other big slide was a dark curving tunnel that was slower, but cool because it had all these light designs poking through along the way. There was also a tanning salon, a sauna, and a massage parlor. There was a bar outside and a big grassy area to lay out on. When it was nearly dark, I had to drag Skylar from the pools with promises to return.

When we left we tried following the directions that Bjorn gave us, but of course got lost. He said to turn into a park and go through to the other side to a roundabout, but the park ran along the side of the road, so we didn't know where he meant for us to cut across. We ended up going along this path and over a bridge and through a skate park and finally coming out in this neighborhood with no roundabout in site. I knew the general direction that Heilbronn was in, so we just started walking our bikes in that direction. After an hour or so we did finally come to a roundabout and I pulled the map back out. We must have looked pretty pathetic walking this bike with a flat tire and a map strewn over it. This guy stopped and asked us where we were trying to go and I named some streets and he didn't recognize any of them (probably because with my accent, no one understands me when I try saying German words) and he didn't know where the train station was. He just pointed us towards Heilbronn and went on his way.

As we were heading off this older man must have overheard us and walks up and asks us again where we are going and we explain it again and his English isn't very good, but he gets most of it and exclaims that Heilbronn is 10km away. I say I know, but the buses don't take bikes and we can't find the train station. So he says he'll take us and of course I argue that I can't let him do that and it would be too much. He waved his hand at me and said he just had to wait for his son who was closing u the store. So we go over to his car (luckily a station wagon). He had a netting thing set up for a dog maybe and started tearing it all down. His son came out and he was a teacher of some sort and he spoke perfect English. So they put the back seats down and managed to cram the bikes mostly in and just tie down the back hatch. Then he says the son can wait there while he takes us home so we can sit in the front. I was already feeling like they were being too nice and so Skylar and I managed to cram ourselves on the floor boards behind the front seat so the son didn't have to wait. I explained that we just got the bike last week and that I hoped they could fix it, so he took us to the place that we got the bike at first to see if they would fix it, but they were closed. I thought we could leave the bikes there and take the bus home and go back in the morning, but he said it wasn't a very nice neighborhood and we better not do that, so he took us all the way home. It was so nice of him! He wouldn't take any money for gas or anything. I just hugged him and said thank you over and over. His son laughed at me and I hugged him too :)

So, for the second time we must have looked so pitiful that we got rides from strangers and at least this time he wasn't covered in tattoos and smelling like beer :)

4 August - Unterländer Volksfest Again

Today we went to the Unterländer Volksfest again. There was going to be fireworks tonight, so we went back for more bumper cars and bad food. I guess Germany is known for their Bretzles and man are they good! Fresh out of the oven... soft and warm... mmm, mmm.

We discovered our favorite ride which was this thing that went up and down over small hills in a circle super fast while blaring music. We rode that one at least ten times. Of course we did the bumper cars a bunch more too. We even tried this submarine ride which basically encloses you in a submarine and plays on a screen deep sea adventures while it tells you about them (in German, of course). Definitely not a ride for the claustrophobic.

The man at the crepes stand we went to was deaf and seemed to be reading lips for orders. Well, even though crepe is crepe and nutella is nutella in both languages, he could not figure out what I was saying. I figure the mouth moves with an accent too and reading lips in German is probably pretty different than reading lips in American. Is sign language international? Must be hard enough to read lips without people talking funny. We finally pointed and got our order across.

At nearly 11pm, they started the fireworks. They were fairly short and didn't have much enthusiasm to them. We huddled in a small crowd to watch then over the pirate ride. Then Skylar and I hopped aboard our bikes and headed for home.

3 August - Wash this

Musings...

Things I miss:

My friends

My washing machine and dryer

My air conditioner

My car

My aveda salon

Mike, my hair dresser ( I desperately need a trim)

My bed

My dishwasher

Climbing

My animals

Whole Foods and the Coop

Pandora

Skylar misses:

His room

TV

His toys

Sticks

His friends

Things that I'll miss when I leave:

My friends (especially Nora)

The scenery

Traveling

Capoeira

Sleeping in

Climbing

Biking everywhere

Ice cream (this is obviously in no particular order)

The food (mostly the pizza)

Skylar will miss:

His new friends

New people

Spent more time than usual thinking about home and being generally homesick. Since we don't have Capoeira (tear), we rode our bikes to meet up with Michele at the gym to do some climbing tonight, but mostly a pretty low key day.

2 August - Unterländer Volksfest

Today we went to the Unterländer Volksfest. It was a fair with rides and food. It was a bit overcast with a drizzle now and then, but I actually prefer that than a hot sunny day because those rides are a little too much when your belly is full of grease and it's hotter than daylight. The difference to fairs that I've been to in the states is that you buy tokens per ride, you don't have to buy a book of tickets where you always end up with two left and have no where to use them unless you buy more tickets.

It wasn't very big so we circled it quite a few times. Skylar's favorite ride was the bumber cars, so we rode them over and over again. It only cost per car, not per passenger, so Skylar whipped the car around while I sat in the passenger seat. Definitely great fun. I thought the paintings on the wall were a bit strange. I mean, I know bumber cars has racy art sometimes, but she isn't even wearing underwear... this is still a kids ride, right?

We also went on the flying chair swing things and the river boat ride. We went in the funny house and the haunted tour, which may have been scarier if we knew what they were saying, but oh well. Skylar did that bouncing trampoline thing that he loves so much. Of course we ate crepes and those fried dough things (Langos are what they are called here). We went on spinny rides and got candy too. It was a great day to be a kid.

1 August - No more Capoeira

I got an email from Ricky this morning that said they will be gone on holiday for three weeks, which I found out last night, and that the classes that were going to be covered were only on Wednesday nights from 20-22hr. Wednesday night we don't go because it is just too late for Skylar and the trains run less frequently, so that we don't get home until 1. Didn't seem worth it to pay for the month when we can't even go to class. Hopefully I will pick it back up when I get home. I was pretty ticked off that they didn't tell us this sooner, but maybe they did and it was just in German. I tried to email, but got no response. I'm hoping to do some traveling in September, so I figured it was best to just quit now and save the money.

A few weeks ago, our neighbors complained that we slam the outside gate and it wakes them up. So we've been trying to be more quiet about it, even Skylar. Today Nora tells me that they are very upset about the gate and that we have to stop slamming it in the morning. Skylar hasn't had school and I surely am not up early in the morning, so I don't see how they could blame us, but whatever. With Capoeira one day after another, I've had to wash our uniforms when we get home at night so they would be clean for the next day and apparently our downstairs neighbors don't like that, so they put a 10pm curfew on the washing machine. I never say anything to them when they are outside drunk and carrying on at 1 in the morning.