Another Year has Passed: Rob's 32nd Birthday

Eva prepared a great birthday breakfast spread - with candle, fresh coffee, and juice in wine glasses. It was the second best way to start the day.


Since my birthday was a few days before the start of the World Cup, Eva made sure that I would have the right accessories of the true German Soccer Fan.

...she also made sure she got a hat as well...


We had a 'Memorial Day / Birthday Barbeque' with some of our friends. I'm the bald guy up front.

Tanja is a few days from her due date, and Kaya is nestled in Betty's arms. Oh...how the parties have changed in the last 10+ years.

...kids are always welcome...

 

Lost in Translation - May 2006

If you have seen some of the other posts, I love foreign signs that just seem a bit 'odd' in English. I think this was no mistake...it is a bit obvious, even to a non native English speaker.


We ran into this at 'Blaue Nacht' in Nürnberg - an event where much of the city is lit up in blue lights and most of the churches, museums, shops, and cultural sights are open past midnight (very late, since most everything closes at 8pm). There are all sorts of live bands, dancing, and general glee.

This year's Blaue Nacht had a World Cup theme. 

Britta and Christoph get married - 13 May 06

After a few years of dating, Britta and Christoph decide to tie the knot. Christoph proposed when they were on vacation in Brazil, where Christoph had worked for a while.

For those of you with us on the trip before our wedding from Frankfurt to Munich, you will possibly see the resemblance of the surroundings: the ceremony was held at the same castle where we had lunch on our way to Munich.


The girls with the bride.


The guys with the groom. Britta wasn't really sold on the idea of having us hold her for this pose.


Britta, Eva, and Anna Westerholt. Eva was totally intrigued by Ana, and they had fun playing together.

Our future is now set in stone...

 

Spring has finally sprung! May 2005

After a winter that never seemed to end, springtime finally hit Germany in May. The year before, we planted a hundred or so tulips in our yard, and it was painfully exciting watching them grow.

It was really pretty when they were all in bloom...and I'm planning on buying a couple of hundred more this fall to try to get that 'Pearl Street in April' look. With Holland being so close, tulips are reasonable to buy.


With it being much warmer, the grill season is now in full force. The 'Grillmeister' is at work.

 

Back in Germany: Alpine Tour 2006

We took a small road to get into Germany. Technically, we weren't allowed to cross the border there, but we did it anyway. There was no border patrol, and the steep climb in the forest was a great final climb. At points we had over 23% grade.

...and once we reached Bavaria, there was snow...


We spent the night at a hostel in Berchtesgaden - a wonderful ski and outdoor village - with lots of history, including Hitler's Eagle's Nest.

At the time, there was an antique car rally...and I couldn't help taking a pic of this Jägermeister Porsche.


As with the previous year, we had a very unhealthy final meal: lots of meat and sausage, washed down with more than enough beer, capped off with some schnapps.


For those of you that don't believe that I really did duct tape my tire...here's the proof of my 'operation'. The duct tape really did hold out well, and it definitely saved me the last 40km of the Tour.


While the weather wasn't particularly the best, it was still a great week. It is hard to beat being in the saddle for a full week with a good friend, being so close to nature. We didn't have as many long climbs as the previous year in Switzerland, but we covered a lot more distance - all in all we rode almost 1000 km over the 6 full days riding.

Before this year's tour was even finished, we started talking about 'next year's ride': we're going to do the classic Tour de France climbs in the Alps.

Slovenia was simply beautiful. We're heading there for vacation this summer, so there will be more pics to come.

'...if you can't Duck it...': Alpine Tour 2006

After crossing into Italy, we had a reasonable amount of kilometers to go to reach Germany. So, on this particular day, we rode through 4 countries: starting in Slovenia, then Italy, Austria, and Germany.

Another one of those interestingly located churches is below. I can't remember the name of the mountain in the background (Großglockner??).


As we got in the lower valley, the weather got really nice - downright warm and sunny. Things were going great as we were winding up our Alpine Tour.


We had talked about getting home via the Großglockner pass in Austria, which is the highest passes in Austria, but it had just opened up to traffic. Taking into account that it would be over a 2000+ meter vertical climb for the day and that there was still 2+ meters of snow on the ground, we talked ourselves out of it.


The ride in the valley was amazing - warm, sunny, and flat...then got a flat. It was my second of the tour and it was a blowout. Not only did I blow my tube, but my tire sidewall also blew out. I had about a half inch rip in my tire.

Thankfully, I always carry duct tape with me. I literally had to tape my tire to the rim to keep the tube inside the tire. It was sort of an anti 'tube hernia' operation.

...if you can't duct it...

Thankfully, we had only about 40 more km to go, but it was still a bit sketchy riding on such a tire.

Italia! Alpine Tour 2006

On our way back from Kranska Gora, we had to do a small climb through Italy. We weren't long in Italy, but it was pretty cool for me to say that I rode through Italy. The ride itself was, like many of the ones before, very cool.


During the climb, there was a very cool tunnel, pretty long, and very curvy - and unique to many tunnels: no light. It was pretty sketchy. As we approached the peak, we found ourselves in snow once again. At the top, it was really windy.

During the climb, the temperature is less of an issue (hence my t-shirt), but the second you get to the top, you've got to change into warmer gear to prevent getting ice cold.


On the Austrian / Italian border. It is nice being back in a German speaking country. My Slovenian is practically zero (I still can't remember the word for hotel) and my Italian is limited to 'Prego' and 'Grazi'.

No Asphalt: Alpine Tour 2006

After Bled, we headed to the ski town of Kranska Gora, where the women's downhill world cup often takes place. Like many ski villages, it was small, quaint, and pretty empty in early May.

On the way, we could see Triglav pretty clearly - as you can see from the range taken from the valley in Triglav national park below.


We had a great ride from Bled to Kranska Gora - partially through a forest path. We learned the hard way on a downhill that Konec Asfalta means 'no asphalt'. See, learning Slovenian can be easy.


In Kranska Gora, we had a great dinner for meat eaters. This huge meat platter was enough for the both of us and cost only 12 EUR.

Bled-Man - Alpine Tour 2006

After Ljubljana, we headed north to the tourist town of Bled. It was a bit stressful getting out of the city, as there was tons of traffic and no really good, quiet roads to ride on. After about an hour of fighting the traffic, we were finally back in the countryside.


We had a few nice climbs before we could roll downhill to Bled. It is still amazing to me where people decide to put churches, and the one below is no exception. This small chapel is on the side of one of the larger climbs. The views were amazing. On the left in the clouds is Triglav - the highest mountain in Slovenia.


Speaking of churches, here is the picturesque church on a small island in Bled. On the right are all sorts of cafes and hotels, and on the left is Triglav.


You can get right up to the banks of lake Bled. It was really cool to get this close to the stereotypical tourist site. Rene and I joked thereafter that we were now 'Bled-Men', which is a play on the word 'Blödmann'. It's kinda hard to translate blöd, but it is something that Eva would call me when I do something stupid. Maybe it doesn't translate well...but it was funny (and still is) to Rene and I.

The Joys of a Big City: Ljubljana - Alpine Tour 2006

After we crossed into Slovenia, we weren't planning on heading to the capital city, Ljubljana. It was a bit out of the way, and even though it was relatively small at about 500,000 inhabitants, large cities really break the peacefulness of riding in the mountains.

Needless to say, we couldn't find a hotel before Ljubljana - mostly due to the national holiday, many hotels were closed. The fact that we didn't know the word for hotel didn't help much.

We had to press to Ljubljana to find a place to stay. We ended up riding almost 190km, the last 50 or so in rain. We found a hostel right in the city. It was a bit sketchy, but we were tired, hungry, and thirsty. We were stoked that we got a double room...until we saw it.


Yes, that is a picture of Rene and our two single beds - right next to each other. The walls were so close, there was no way to separate the beds. There wasn't much room at the foot of the beds either.

This hostel was probably the 'lowlight'...at least we were tired and we wouldn't stay too long.

Ljubljana itself is a wonderful city - very cute and very European. The center has all sorts of musicians and terrace cafes.


We found an Italian restaurant, our staple during the tour. We split the pizza below - it cost us about 6 Euros. The beer was less than 2 Euros each. After such a long day, we had more beer than pizza.


Getting ready for the next day...making sure everything is in order and well greased.

Finally in Slovenia - Alpine Tour April/May 2006

We finally crossed into Slovenia after a few days in Austria. We basically rode across the whole of Austria - at least one of the skinnier parts.

Regardless, we had some tough luck in Austria. It rained a fair amount, and we had already had 3 flats total. We didn't have any more spare tubes and only had a patch kit. From this standpoint, it wouldn't get any easier in Slovenia. We arrived on the 2nd of May - a national holiday and everything - even many hotels - were closed.

Below a pic of me on top of Radlpaß: we are now about to leave Austria and enter Slovenia.


We had some fun at the border crossing. The guard didn't really do anything as we approached, so Rene started crossing the border. The guard then ran outside (he was like 60) and told us that the border wasn't open 'yet' (Slovenia has been voted into the EU and becomes a member in 2007), and that we had to show our passports.

I said OK...but I wanted a stamp in the passport. This delayed us a bit...it has probably been 5 years since he used the stamp, and it took him a while to find it.


Reality: Now we can't understand a single word. Navigation becomes more difficult. We don't even know the word for hotel. After all, how do you pronouncd Crna?!?


The countryside is extremely beautiful in Slovenia. Many of the trees were in bloom, and there are mountains everywhere. The people were extremely helpful and friendly.

Let it Snow: Alpine Tour April/May 2006

As we continued to go deeper into Austria, we had a few more, tougher passes to climb. We were still in the low hills, and since climbing is not my strength, it was still a challenge.

As we got to the peak, we could still see the winter snow.

A few days earlier, we had to turn around from one path because there was just too much snow, and there would be no way that we could make it through. Late April in the Alps definitely adds a different weather challenge.


After the downhill, we had some nice flats before we had to climb again. This time, it was a pretty challenging climb. If I remember correctly, it was about 10km at about 5%.

We decided to stop at a bakery at the base of the climb and get some calories and caffeine in us before the climb. As you can see below, I'm really looking forward to the climb.


Rene having his cake and eating it too!


Atop the pass we climbed the following day. I think this turned out to be one of the longer and more challenging climbs of the tour. The downhill was awesome! But, then again, I don't think I've met a downhill I didn't like. We were close to our goal for the day, which lay just after the downhill. It was a small town called Deutschlandsberg (funny name for a town in Austria). We were going to stay at the hostel in town.

Little did we know that the hostel was basically brand new. For 30 EUR per person, we got our own room with a bathroom, including an amazing breakfast with eggs, sausage, and just about everything else you could possible want for breakfast.


If you've ever stayed at hostels in Europe, they can really vary. This one was basically brand new. They had a self serve bar and a Kegel hall (a German version of bowling). Our accommodations the next day would prove to be a bit different as compared to this posh hostel.