They all seem to about 8 to 10 kms apart. Village hopping is fun. At one village two young lads give me a shortcut to the next village and I rode through some very beautiful fields. Saw some vineyards along the way.
Saturday, August 31st 2002
Woke up at 8:00 am. Returned key to housing and had the last of, my now regular, breakfast at McDonald's (McMorning sale avec expresso). Couriered some paperwork to school and finally started off at 10:30 am.
Got lost looking for N74 out of Nancy, was lost for about 20 minutes. The terrain was varied so could average only 8-10 kmph.
Had 2 cokes. Planned to reach Bitche today but it was a bad plan. The distance from Nancy to Bitche seems to be more like 150 kms and not the 100 kms I had thought.
At 6:00 pm decided to call it a day. Luckily met a motorhome group who told me that there was a camping ground nearby. At Mannheim bought bread, croissant, packed salad and a set of ingenious plastic forks that doubled as spoons.
Set up camp at Mannheim and had a shower. Ate dinner by the tent and called home. Read a bit of Pickwick papers and slept.
Today's scenery basically consisted of undulating terrain but most of the time was spent thinking about how tired I was and that I would have to redo my plan. The countryside, as usual, was very nice and clean and it was a pleasure to see people take so good care of their houses, keeping it clean and well decorated.
Distance: 75 kms Time: 7 hrs 30 mins
Sunday, September 1st 2002
Last night some idiots had an all night party at the campsite with blaring loudspeakers. The noise finally stopped around 3:30 am. Woke up at 6:30 am and by 7:45 am was in front of the campsite office to pay. At 8:05 am the manager comes in and does not charge me for the stay and bids me bon voyage ... nice man.
Today around 2:00 pm I finally decided to skip Heidelberg. The terrain was very hilly. Basically I made two mistakes in planning (a) Did not take terrain into account and (b) under-estimated distances.
Had a nice expresso and chocolate something for breakfasta at a local roadside cafe, where as usual, people stare at you.
Nature is unfair to France/Germany. It is all just too beautiful. Every house is out of a postcard. The only people I saw outside (it is a Sunday) are those working in their garden. It takes a lot of work and they do it.
When you get tired, you get delirious. I whistled a lot and sang.
In the evening it started getting quite cold and there was no camping site around. Checked into Hotel HansSoch at Prinsene (Euro 49 with breakfast). The people on the French side seem to speak a very strange German+French mix (Caveat: I do not speak or understand either, but when you spend 2 months in France you get a feel for the language).
Saw 2 camels outside Bitche.
Distance: 85 kms Time: 10 hrs 40 mins
Monday, September 2nd 2002
Had a nice restful sleep and woke up to a nice breakfast. Breakfast had an array of meats, bread and juices. Made myself a nice sandwich. The lady bought me coffee and a half boiled egg in a egg holder !!. I remember the old days when we used to have such eggs at home.
Leaving Piramasens was full off climbs and drops. By afternoon was very tired. Filled air using a borrowed pump. It is amazing to see young girls smoke in Germany. Today did not take the usual afternoon break. Just biked on and on. There seem to be many villages spread all over the countryside. They all seem to about 8 to 10 kms apart. Village hopping is fun. At one village two young lads give me a shortcut to the next village and I rode through some very beautiful fields. Saw some vineyards along the way.
After a lot of looking found hotel Kraft (Euro 27 with breakfast). It is a truckers hotel but very clean. Tried calling home but could not. Bought a cake/bread and a can of cold meat (sausage filling kind). Quite tasty. Ate in room.
Distance: 110 kms Time: 11 hrs
Tuesday, September 3rd 2002
Woke up at 7:00 am, every muscle and bone in body aching. Had nice breakfast, as usual (sandwich, OJ, coffee and eggs) and hit the road. After about 5 minutes on the bike all the aches and pains were gone except for a nasty pain in my left knee (right side). That pain continued all the way to Frankfurt. Today was a much easier ride with (almost) no hilly sections. 
Finally gave in to temptation and stopped by a roadside vineyard and ate a few grapes. Sweet but seedy. The farmers employ a very ingenious device that, every minute to so, produces a loud gunshot-like noise. It is obviously pneumatic and the low thuds seem to scare away the birds from the grapes. On a downhill load lost my beloved water bottle (the one with the holder in its cap).
Crossed the Rhine on a boat (Euro 1.50). The crossing was about 3 minutes. There seem to be a lot of motorbikes in Germany.
Reached Frankfurt youth hostel around 4:30 pm, put stuff in room, bike in garage and crashed into bed. Woke up at 7:30 pm and had a nice shower. Went out to look for a phone card. Bought card from a Punjabi cybercafe and called home. Had a falafel/kabab for dinner. It had too much "pudina". Walked around a bit. After Paris no other city seems good enough. Maybe tomorrow will get to see more of Frankfurt.
Wednesday, September 3rd 2002
Had a fairly comfortable sleep. It was a very warm night. Woke up around 7:00 am, dressed, unpacked my bag and went down for breakfast. Breakfast was okay. Feeling very very tired. Really bad stomach ache. Left the hostel around 9:30 am for the airport. At the airport the ticket change took about 30 seconds. I could had easily done this on the day I was flying, but the useless people at American Airlines first insisted that I get a new paper ticket and then the customer service said that I should not try to get it changed on the day I fly. No amount of technology was beat human callousness (at least not AAs callousness).
The Frankfurt airport website says that they have a professional packing service, FGS, who will pack your bike for you. So I went looking for them. It turns out that FGS is located in Terminal 1 Hall B arrival. If I want my bike packed, I am obviously departing. Even after getting to them, they turned out to be just interested in selling the box (for Euro 30), no packing. I later got the box for free from a bike store. I had enough of bureaucratic moronocity for the day.
The only highlight of this airport trip was a security alert due to an unclaimed baggage. It was cool to see a portable X-Ray machine take a snap of the bag without touching it in any way. Also got the rail ticket from Essen to airport for self and bike.
Returned from the airport to Frankfurt city and went looking for a bookstore to buy maps. Bought 3 maps after falling asleep on the bookstore sofa. To pass time went to a shopping mall. It was a pathetic little place but they had some kind of a promotion on and there were gymnasts all over. Had a bratwurst and bun for lunch and went into a IMAX theater. I think it was some film on Egypt, I slept through the whole film. Walked back to hostel, had shower and went out to get some dinner. Had chicken, rice, potato. Came back and started speaking with a roommate, David. David was returning to Charlotte, N.C, the next day after a 19 month world trip.
Planned (if there is such a thing) the remaining 4 days, read a bit and slept.
Thursday, September 5th 2002
Stomach is very upset. It took 1.5 hours to get out of Frankfurt, but I finally made it out and straight into the hills. Somewhere in Frankfurt in all the jerky getting on and off pavements and riding though potholes, I lost my food pack. It had the plastic forks/spoons and a bottle of water. Had to buy water from a restaurant. Paid Euro 9 for a bottle of water and coke. After that it was uphill all the way. When I reached Smitten had a nice big slice of apple pie with cream for lunch. Then it was downhill for the most part. The road was very dusty with grit spread over the road. Saw a sign for a youth hostel (DJH) near weilburg. It was on the top of a mountain. Trekked to the top only to find they had no room. The hostel manager recommended a pension hotel, which turned out to be completely inhabited. Then after 2 more false leads found a small hotel at Lohnberg, "Bit Klein" (Euro 40).
Left knee was worse today. It is fine if I walk or bend, but pains if I apply direct pressure. Applied "Mineral Ice".
Today a lady gave me directions, which within 50 meters ended in a smelly dead end. I was really pissed.
Friday, September 6th 2002
Starting distance: 426.8 kms
Left at 10:00 am. Stomach still very upset. Joined the officially advertised R7/Lahn cycling route and within minutes crossed hoards of tourists all in the opposite direction (never found out why !!). This route is for cyclists/pedestrians only and though it bypassed all traffic it is also very non-scenic. I could not see as many views as I did from the regular roads. Also, when inside cities/towns the routers are not well marked and it is very easy to get lost. Finally around afternoon decided to give up this route and joined regular traffic. Had a slice of pizza and some drink for lunch. After lunch progress was slow and the bike seemed heavier then usual. Stayed night at Park hotel (Euro 52), expensive but spectacular view of the mountains. 2 more days to go !!. Crossed 500 kms mark today.
Sign in Park hotel reception: "Should the reception not be open, please turn the restaurant". They probably meant turn in the key in the restaurant.
Saturday, September 7th 2002
Starting distance: 530.1 kms
Had a nice, big breakfast at Park hotel. Stomach still upset. Left hotel at 10:30. It was downhill for a while. By afternoon reached a mega mountain. It probably took more than an hour to reach the top, but the views along the way were breathtaking. There were many rolling hills and picture perfect villages and all houses with whitewashed walls and dark brown roofs. If someone painted a picture of such a setting you would appreciate the picture but wonder if such places could exist. They do in this part of the world.
Reached top of mountain and had a coke at a mountain restaurant. 
That place was filled with leather-jacket wearing, Yamaha ridings couples. In my mind, I said to them, "You twisted your accelerator to get here ... I busted my ass, I earned this awfully expensive coke". From then on it was downhill all the way. Around 5 pm bought two croissants. One turned out to be filled with chocolate and the other with meat. Very tasty. Reached youth hostel at 6:30 pm but sign on door said "Will return at 7:00". When no one showed up till 7:15 pm, I left and luckily there was another youth hostel (Haggen) open just 2 kms away. Here I was told that the previous hostel was run by a "artist woman" and the sign on the door was probably a couple of months old !!
There seems to be plenty of public transport in these places. There are also lots and lots of trains. I guess since the villages are close enough, public transportation is feasible. Again saw lots of motorcyclists, always traveling in a group. A few vintage cars and a few mods. Saw a guy using something like mini-skis with wheels on the road. He was "skating" uphill.
Sunday, September 8th 2002
Had breakfast at the youth hostel. Bad stomach, think it is due to an overload of bread in the past week. Today after a very uphill morning, the afternoon and evening were very nice. I did not have too much time to notice the scenery because I was too worried about getting to Essen on time. Got completely lost about 20 kms from Essen. Then a nice couple took me inside their home and explained the way to Essen. Due to lack to time had to turn down their offer of coffee. I did not feel lost anymore. Finally reached Essen. Finding the hotel was a nightmare. Met a lot of rude people who would not give directions, but also met a few who did. Reached hotel at 7:50 pm. Dr. Conrad was already checked in.
Had a big steak dinner and went to sleep. I had no problem with the bike throughout the trip. It was a great trip.
Total distance: 724.7 kms.
| Bike on train to Frankfurt. |  |
| Camping on a overnight trip from Nancy. |  |
| INRIA-Lorraine lab, |  |
| Paris from top of Notre Dame. |  |
| Typical village street. |  |
| Tour-de-France. |  |