05 July - Bad Dürkheim to Germersheim

Thanks for reading! We've recieved a lot of email from folks, but we can't reply to each one.. but thanks for thinking of us and reading our blog. Also, we only can get to the internet from time-to-time, so posts might not happen that frequently. Also, we've figured out how to upload pics but it only seems to work in Firefox, not Internet Explorer which tends to be standard on these machines. So we'll upload a bunch when we get to more friendly machines.

After our restful night we had our frühstück in the hotel restaurant (we think that it is "not possible" to not have breakfast in this country*) we headed out of town, back into the vineyards. This time, however, it was straight UP and in gravel too. Then cobblestones next, then more gravel. I (Robby) said at one point "Gotta earn my schnitzel" to which Lynne merely grumbled. Again, though, after each one of these grueling hills comes a great vista of grape vines with castles perched on green forested hills in the background. Even Lynne felt the hills were worth it, after we got to the top, that is. We would ride down similar cobblestone, gravel, and sandy paths through vineyard after vineyard. We got to Neustadt and rode down into town after a particularly grueling hill, and after each bend in the path we would say "WOW! This is beautiful" or another exclaimation (hee hee).

We were starving after a full morning of hills and dirt roads so we got some pastries in Neustadt and then headed back into the lowlands of the Pfalz. Our cue sheets worked pretty good today (or actually, Lynne had them down to a science... being a scientist helps I guess). We rode through beautiful forests on our way to Speyer, past fields and meadows and over small brooks and streams. Some of the forests were pretty dark, we talked about how easy it would be for Hansel and Gretel to get lost in these mysterious woods.

Since it was flat by the streambeds, we made good time and got to Speyer by 2pm. We ate a nice lunch of Würstsalat and some coffee at the Hindenburg Cafe (Lynne said "This might be a worrysome title of restaurant"). After that we visited the Speyer cathedral, a beautiful romanesque cathedral that was originally built in 1000 AD. This cathedral is one of Robby's Mother's favorite places in the world. It looked sort of weird because it has just undergone a very lengthy renovation in which ALL of the stone was cleaned. All the stone inside was cream and rose colored and looked almost new, nothing like the blackened age of its sister cathedral in Worms. Gorgeous.

We rode south of Speyer along the Rhein and the marshlands, finally reaching Germersheim around 7pm. We rode close to 80 km today, so we're pretty tired... we cleaned up and walked to town, had a nice meal at Dal Pazzo Restaurant, along with 2 'gross' hefeweisen.

Tomorrow we ride to Bad Bergzabern, our cue sheets say "Anschliessend führt die Strecke durch Hügliges Gelände"... and from my limited German, it seems it might be "hilly..."

-- L and R

*once we heard a German airport security worker tell some Americans sitting on the floor of the Frankfurt Airport that "It is not possible to sit there!"

Hotel Germersheimer Hof
Josef-Propst-Str. 15a
76726 Germersheim
Tel 0049-7274-5050

Traveling through Speyer on our way, check out the Speyer webcam here!
More photos of Speyer

Description from Bike Tours Direct:

Day 4 - Bad Dürkheim – Germersheim (approx 52 km, 31 miles)
Vineyards, Rhine-plains
You leave the vineyards and cycle through the Rhine-plains to Speyer. Enjoy the old town visit the dome and maybe also the technical museum. On the banks of the Rhine you travel through the nature-reserve of the Old Rhine to Germersheim, the historical fortification.