Feels Like November in New York

Greetings from Krippen and Bad Schandau, Germany.

The days get mixed up.  Where are we now?  (Near Bad Schandau, Germany).  But where were we two nights ago when I last wrote to you? I have to look it up... Litomerice in the Czech Republic.  

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First The Dogs

Before I begin about our rides I want to let you know about the dogs here.  In the big city I was very impressed with the well behaved dogs.  The dogs never barked at us, never lunged at us, never came toward us wanting to be petted.  Dogs were just not paying us any attention. As someone who has been bitten by a friendly looking dog I never reached for, I found it relaxing.  I was really impressed with this culture of well behaved dogs.  

In Amsterdam I read that they don't have stray dogs because the government closed down all the pet shops and if you want a pet you adopt one from their version of the humane society.  I expect as part of the adoption process, the owners and dogs get extensive training.

When we started bikeing outside of the Netherlands and in the countryside or outskirts of big cities, there was a noticable difference.   Dogs began to bark at us as we passed their yards.  They began to lunge at us if they were on a leash.  Still, I dont think we have had any dog dash toward us, tail wagging, wanting to be petted. 

The cultural difference of what is acceptable dog behavior has been eye opening.   I am sure if you have a loveable pet you are bristling a bit at my assessment.  I do have dogs in my circle that I trust and love to greet, do t get me wrong.  Arky, Cricket, Luna, and Max are among them.  I am amazed to learn what is possible.

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Now, onto stories from the bike path and towns along the way.

We rode from there to Decin.  But we had to push the bike up and down a few stairs due to some detours and a side trip to take a cable car to an overlook.

One of the sets of stairs was up to and down from a bridge across the river Elb.

Once across the river we found our way to a cable car to take us up the steep hill.

Where we got a hot chai tea and a beautiful view.

By the third or fourth set of stairs, I finally figured out, with some tutoring from Steve, how to get my bike up and down.  I used my e-assist booster and brakes on the way up and lots of brake-pumping on the way down. 

We got stopped twice by people frantically looking for a 95 year old woman with dementia.  So sorry for them and her.  Later we heard sirens and wondered if they enlisted the police in their search.

Steve pointed out some bunkers left over from the war along the trail.  We stopped to inspect one.

I put my phone up over my head to take a picture to see if there was ever something like a gun mounted to the top.  When I checked the picture I took, there was Steve!  He had climbed up the other side.

He reported there were no signs that anything had been mounted on top.

 

Our route stayed along the river.  We had lots of pretty sites and another day of lovely weather.

We were seeing some decorated polls. "Are they left over from May Day?" I wondered.

This one had bras on it.  A Czech bra tree like the Inverness, FL bra tree!

In Decin our hotel was right on the square.  The key to the bicycle storage had a bike pedal attached to it!  Cool!

We packed up a cart with our bike bags and luggage.  Our room was on the third floor.

In the USA, when you enter a building you usually are on the first floor... the ground floor.  But here, the ground floor is Zero.  Our third floor room was on the fourth floor from our USA perspective.

The elevator only holds two people and two suitcases.  It is like a small closet.  The door is the same as going into a room.  

We made two trips.  Once on the fourth, I mean third floor, we still had a few stairs.  ADA rules have not been embraced in the Czech Republic.  Though I will say, most pedestrian crossing areas have a ramp and not a curb.  

Beside the stairs, we rode some hills.  Even with e-assist I was pushing the pedals and pulling on the handle bars.  My sciatica was not happy with me.  

I can't complain, it has been pretty good most of this trip.  Even with the slow walking and standing we did in many museums.

After dinner, we went for a walk and ended up walking up to the town castle without knowing it.

Below is a picture looking down over some buildings on our walk up the hillside.

Peacocks were calling to each other when we arrived at the top of the path.

We walked into a courtyard with lovely gardens and more peacocks.

A sign said you could make an appointment for a tour and to meet Prince Thun... or Thune.

Before we left Decin in the morning, we looked around for a place to exchange our Czech Kroners back to US dollars.  We struck out three places, but then I saw a sign for Western Union.  I was in and out in a minute.  Easy.

We got to go back by a 15th century bridge that I didn't take pictures of the day before because I was tired and hungry.

It is right next to a modern day auto bridge with artwork and graffiti. 

It was then, looking back at Decin that we realized that the courtyard we were in the night before belonged to the castle that overlooks the Elb river that we has seen in brochures.

This was our first really cool and windy day of our trip!  The wind was at 14 mph in our face most of the way.  There was a threat of scattered showers. 

The river flowed faster.

We crossed into Germany!  Yay!  I noticed a lot more people are speaking German here.  It seems more understandable and recognizable than Czech.

There was an interesting looking place across the river.  And there was a ferry running.  We locked our bikes and we rode the ferry across with a bunch of railroad workers.

There were shops with lots of clothes and bird feeders.  A shop attendant enticed me in with a cute raincoat.  I ended up buying it.  Afterward I told Steve, "I can't believe I just bought yet another rain coat."

"It is a nice raincoat," he said.

I agreed.

The interesting place turned out to be an entrance into a National Park with a big sand-stone arch and lots of hiking.  A creek had cut a gorge and there were motels and restaurants tucked into both sides of the creek. 

We were cold and only walked the streets.  We didn't go into the park.  

We were both anxious to get to our hotel and warm up.  We were grateful that today was a low-mileage day.

Steve is carrying the bag with my new raincoat in the picture below.  The clerk handed it to him as if she new that was the way it was supposed to be.  Was it the Rolling Stones who sang, "I will be your beast of burden..."?

The flowers here are magnificent! 

A little train was running to take hikers and sightseers up to the park and closer to the sights.

This stone hotel and restaurant was tucked into a cavern behind other buildings.  It started out as a place to harvest gas to light the gas lamps.  But it went out of business as lighting technology changed.  It was neglected until 2002 or so when someone bought it and restored it.

There were several shops with lots of yard art.  We thought these garden trolls were cute and creative.

Our reception clerk at the Hotel Erbgericht speaks English well.  The last two hotels that was not the case.  I am ashamed I didnt learn any Czech before coming here.  My German is so limited I have only used Danke, Gutentag, and Tusch.  

Some of the hotels want to see your passport and record your number.  One hotel we checked into, we were given a code to get in and instructions on where to lock our bikes.  We never saw an owner or clerk until morning breakfast when a worker was preparing food for us guests.

The reception at this hotel has a display of snacks to purchase.

After we got settled in our room I went for a walk around town.  It was lovely and reminded me of ski towns in Colorado.  The temperature added to the feeling of being way up in the mountains.

I saw a Little Free Library in an old phone booth!  I love it!

This statue appeared to be a monument to someone who invented a machine to do with paper processing or manufacture?  If you know some German, comment below what this was about.

The picture below is in front of a deli.  Finally,  some writing in German I can understand.

Our lodging for tonight is in this big yellow building.  We made reservations for dinner in the restaurant in the building.  We can rest and stay warm.

The spring flowers like the climate here.

Another view of our hotel from closer to the river.  

Though it feels and looks like an Alpine village, we are only about 900 meters (or was that feet) above sea level.  About the lowest spot in the Czech Republic... only tonight we are in Germany once more.

Some of the houses and buildings in town have signs out front to tell visitors about the buildings.  This one was built in the 16th century!

Dinner was great.  We agreed we have not had a bad meal here.  Finding vegetarian meals has been pretty easy compared to traveling in the rural western USA.

I am still coughing, but not as much.  Steve is still suffering.  

We have decided that tomorrow we will take a train or boat to Dresden, the last stop on our Bike tour.  It is going to be windy again tomorrow and we want to see some of the sights in Dresden before we leave Europe.

Thanks 

Thanks to Ann, Kathi, Charlotte, Beth and Jim for continuing to let me know you are with us in spirit.  It was also good to hear from Audrey, a fellow former caregiver and former neighbor.  

And we got a good chuckle from the emails.  Especially one from my Wisconsin friends Mark and Jane.  Each of them wrote a separate letter.  They told of meeting many fellow riders on their self guided ride in Holland.  Mark wrote, "So a little bike advice if you're looking to bike in Italy next year, I would suggest that you look at the Giro Italia big bike races. Italy has a lot of rolling hills, mountains, etc. so I suggest that you move up to Wisconsin to start riding in the driftless area to get your muscles in your legs ready for all those hills if you plan to go to Italy."

Love it!

Thanks again to all of you traveling with us virtually.