Jim

Jim
Let the Adventure Begin

About Me

Las Vegas, NV, United States
This is my 2008 grand adventure...riding a bicycle with 35 international bikers across Europe, following the Danube River along the Orent Express route through eleven countries. The ride is 4000km over 50 days of which 39 are ride days with camping and 11 are rest days in hotels. Our tour group, TourdAfrique, provides a tour leader that provides directions and transposts our luggage, a mechanic, and a chef who promises gourmet local cuisines. We start out in Paris on June 1 and travel through France to Germany, where we pick up the Danube river. We then follow the Danube through Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. Then we ride cross country through Romania, Bulgaria, and finally Turkey, where we finish in Istanbul on July 20.

Jun 16, 2008

Day 16, Regensberg Rest Day






This is fabulous medieval town near the Austrian border. We are staying in the old downtown in a 700 year old hotel with our bikes locked up in their courtyard. The hotel is on a narrow alleyway. Last night Terry, Curt, Clare, and I ate at a 300 year old Bavarian restaurant/brewery. I must say there has been no bad German beer or food. We walked to the train station and found it is a part of a large two story modern shopping mall. McDonalds and Burger King are kept out of the old town, but are a prominent part of the new.
A passing observation is that we see lots of people in the restaurants and on the street, but have seen no really fat people…a stark difference from America.
The big event last night was soccer…Turkey came from behind and beat Portugal. There must be a lot of Turks in town because there whooping and hollering for several hours on the town square. Tonight it is Germany vs Austria. We expect the place to go crazy.

We had a two hour tour of the city and learned it is a World Heratige Site with one thousand old buildings...the largest medievel city. This is also Pope Benedict's home town, which the city is proud. Thirty years ago the old center was a slum where one could buy a home for nothing. Today it is quite expensive and trendy.

Tomorrow we are off for Vienna where we have five straight days of biking/camping.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Have a Blast!

It was great getting to know you.

Murray

Anonymous said...

Great hearing from you the other day! Looks like you are having a different adventure each day. Keep us posted! Its great hear your stories.