To the Tour de France

Zurch was surprisingly easy to make our way out, we used the tram lines to follow most of the way and were able to find bike paths here and there. As we got close to the German border on the bike path we saw a large bike shop which we of course had to swing by. We saw several Niner bikes outside, the same brand of 29er bike Andrew is riding. After talking to the store manager he explained that they carry so many Niner’s because they are the distributor for the entire country of Switzerland.

Shortly after we crossed the Rhine river and stopped for some food and enjoy the view. We followed the river all the way to Waldshut, a famous small city recommended to us.

We rode through the city and tried to find a campground on the other side, but we had to turn around to one we saw near the river on the way into town. While riding there, we met a Swiss family on their own bike tour. They have been living in Central America for the past few years and wanted to return to Europe for a visit so their children could experience their roots. We shared dinner together and provided sauerkraut, which the youngest child had for the first time since it is hard to find in Central America.

The next morning the rain started as we climbed into Germany’s Black Forest. After several stops to warm up and dry out a little we rode to a small town past Tittisee which is a tourist spot known for their Cookoo clocks. We found a hostel that was 26 euro, a bit expensive but after finding out that the price included a buffet dinner and breakfast we were pleased with the price even though we had no other option to warm up and dry out.

The next morning it was cool but with only a few light showers we made our way to Frieburg pretty quickly and followed the canal and bike paths over the Rhein river again to cross into France.

We finished the day riding to Colmar France, another small city with a great old fashion city center. We stopped occasionally to think about the history that took place in this region not too long ago, strange large banks in the flat farmland where gardens now inhabit once could have been a wall to slow down enemies entering France. We also noticed an old bunker beside the road from WWII.

The next morning we left the campground to tour around Colmar where older typical French buildings still remained from the wars.

We spent a few hours site seeing then made our way to the train station to buy tickets to Grenoble to watch the Tour de France.