19 June 2007

Leipheim, Germany to Biberach, Germany

The plan for today was to get an early start because we had a big day ahead of us. We pulled it off and enjoyed a fairly uneventful 20 kms into Ulm, arriving at 10:00. Since our warm showers hosts said they would be home after 6:00, we planned a leisurely 4 hours to see the sights in Ulm. This time went fairly quickly. The main attraction here is the Ulm cathedral which has the world's tallest church spire at 181 meters. We took the opportunity to climb the 768 step spiral staircase up to the top for a wonderful view of the surrounding area including a glimpse of the Alps way off on the horizon. By the time we got down all of those stairs we were pretty dizzy. It was lunchtime, so we sat down and shared an overpriced, mediocre plate of kase spatzel and a small salad. Then we walked around the old town enjoying all of the classic half timber buildings that most Americans probably picture when thinking of a German town. Marie commented that the town looked like a movi!
e set for an oldtime German movie.
We left at 2:00 after looking at some maps in a bookstore to try to find a bike route down to Biberach. We followed the Danube a few kms and managed to find the signed bikeway we were looking for. There were a few problem spots where the signs were not as clear as we needed, but by about 6:00 we landed in Biberach. We followed the signs to the train station as Joerg, our host, suggested. He told us to call him from there. We had his address and, with the help of a stranger, located a city map with a street index, found their house, drew ourselves a rough map and headed up the biggest hills we had ridden in a week.
As we turned down their street, we saw Joerg and his wife, Giovanna from Peru, sitting on the porch of their second floor flat watching for us. They greeted us and pointed the way into the back yard. We unloaded the bikes, locked them in the cellar and settled in. Our wonderful hosts gave us a tour of their place, showed us how everything worked and where to find the food, glasses, cutlery, pots and pans, etc. This is truly the sign of a good host.
Later on as we enjoyed the huge, wonderful dinner that Giovanna prepared for us, we learned that we were their first warm showers visitors and they had bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate. So we sipped the bubbly and talked the night away, exchanging travel stories and much more.

Kms 64.39
Time 4:19:50
Avg 14.8
Max ?
Total 2126.6