Prague, Czech Republic

Howdy all! I could not login to the blog at the cafe last night for some reason, but at least managed an email home! No major adventure getting to Prague from Munich, but because I am traveling with a bike it took 7.5 hrs to get there, instead of 6. That is my only complaint about riding the rails with the bike, it's not always the most direct. And I could go on and on about how all of the "bike cars" (the one car of the whole train that is "designated" for bikes) are not the same. One will have practically a WHOLE car for bikes, and another will have standing room only with your bike. I also have a 1st class Eurorail pass that I don't get to use all of the time because my bike is at the tail end of the train, and 1st class is at the front. So my advice, if cycle touring, is to not get a Eurorail pass. I may have made a mistake there, but it wouldn't be my first one, or last in life! I was glad to have 1st class going through Prague. I hate to say it, but it is a rather poor country. Not third world, but I guess second, if that is the proper term. Just getting on the trains and seeing the stations along the way you know that these people have been repressed for many years. I saw quite a bit of ore mining. Not sure what type of ore, maybe coal, or kryptonite for all I know! Also lots of lumber as felled trees were lined up ready to be loaded on the trains. That was once music to my ears, as long as they came in 2x4 or 2x something, but that was another time...... Once I arrived in Prague, or Praha as it is known here, it become an almost different world. It is much more thriving and beautiful. Although the sky's are grey and overcast right now, it is still a historic city with much of it's original structures dating back before 1300. Officially I believe it became a city in 900. My other history tid bit is that it was under Austrian and Hungarian rule for the majority of it's "life". With the capital being Vienna. Many moons ago it became a country and in the 1940's it was given as a present to Hitler from France. Sissy's. The good news is that meant he didn't demolish it like all of the other cities in his wake. After WWII, Russia came in to "save the day" and help pick the country back up and on it's feet again. This went well until the people realized the Communism wasn't the way to run a country. They were nice and free people once before, and things started changing around 1968. But 1989 they were again a free, liberal country, but not without their share of bloodshed.

Ok, enough about the history books, although I find it more fascinating now. My lovely friend, and Rick Masta's girlfriend, Petra Sehnalikova showed up after my arrival and we met for drinks last night. It is so great to see her, and it's hard to believe that it has only been 3 months since she came back to Czech. I know she misses you Rick, so you better hurry up and get over here. By the way, she looks great, and I've given her a big hug from me and the Brunner's! But Rick will be over here in just a couple of weeks, so I'm not too worried about someone snatching her up before he gets here! (But you might want to hurry bro!) I would blog about the actual city of Prague, but I am really tired and it's late. We walked most of the city today and my legs are so tired. I will meet Princess (Rick's nickname for Petra, not mine!) at the station tomorrow morning to walk the city a little more, then she will return to her home east of here by noon. I am going to stick around the city one more night and see if I can find some trouble! Then head to Berlin to find even more :) I hope to post some pictures tomorrow, so check back then. Otherwise I'll just blog from Germany. Ok, g'night!

The astronomical clock.

One of the characters in the clock!

If you notice, there are "newer" buildings in front of the old church. This was what they did everywhere, including the Royal Palace. Land was valuable, so they just built in front of these landmarks without thinking of the future and the people that would come back to view them for decades later.

Inside of one of the churches.

A view of the Royal Palace and Cathedral.

The Charles Bridge.

Petra and I on the Charles Bridge.

Inside the Royal Cathedral.

The King of Czech beer, and a hell of a lot better than the American brand!

The Princess and the Pauper.

Munich, um......

So, what can I blog about today? Not much I guess, sorry. It.s raining here, imagine that, and the forecast is going to follow me to Prague tomorrow as well.... Hopefully next week in Berlin will be good. Umm, I guess I should have planned to be here for more than 1.5 days because there really is a lot to see. I walked the "Red Shirt" free tour that starts at Marienplatz at 11. I highly recommend taking this tour, as it was also recommened to me. They are in numerous cities, with Berlin being my next visit with them. They of course only ask for tips. But one of the things I learned (although maybe I learned in my UCHS edumacation...) was that Munich was the starting point for the Nazi regeme. Hitler gave one of his first speeches above what is now the Hofbrau Haus, trying to rally troops and government of Bavaria. He said it was time to over throw the government in Berlin (which moved to Bonn, now back to Berlin...) Since Munich was all but totally destroyed in WWII, pretty much everything here is less than 70 years old, although rebuilt to look as it was. Nymphenburg sounds like an interesting place, wonder what I might find there.... :) I have an all day subway pass, so I think I will go back into town. I am my father.s son, I like figuring the train/bus/subway/bike paths, etc. out! The hardest things is getting your bearings once you come out of the ground. Having even a small map of the city should help if you can figure out the cross streets. Well like I said, not much to report. Just come over here and see it for yourself and tell me what I missed! Will report back when I can from Prague. C-ya!

The clock tower in Marianplatz.
I can.t remember the name of this church....
The infamous Hofbräuhaus! Mmmmm, bier!
What can I say? I like their S.O.B. (hamburger)! I had a great time talking with some EMC type guys that were in town on business. Gotta keep the electric on somehow!

Rain, trains, and automobiles - Scuol to Munich

I thought I was here during summer, not winter. I was talking to my buddy Matt on the phone last night and I looked out the window to watch it dumping the fluffy stuff. It didn.t stick, but it was purty! I guess I should have gone further yesterday to get away from the rain and snow, but the spa was nice and Scuol isn.t a bad town. Note to anyone planning to take the train out of Scuol to Innsbruck, Austria (east of town), it CAN.T be done without getting on a bus. Herding livestock comes to mind when riding a bus. And putting your life into the herders´hands is another. Don.t take the bus unless you have to because the dumb fÖ§ßer will drop your bike off at a point along the way. Yes that.s right, somewhere between Oompaloompaville and Landeck he took my bike off the back of the bus (which I did not see of course) and handed the bike to the closest tree to take for a spin. I don.t know what he was thinking. But I was calm and didn.t get pissed and my psychiatrist would be proud! So I got to wait an extra hour, and miss the train, so that I could wait for my bike to arrive. Fortunately it did and I made my way without any other incidents to Munich, or Munchen, depending on what you read or how you say it. I think a full day of sight seeing will be enough for me, but if anyone reads this and has a recommendation of places to go or sights to see please email me. I will be going to Prague on Friday and Berlin next week, so any of you travel guides can tell me what to do and more importantly, what NOT to do. Ok, I need food, time to go.

SKOAL, er, Scuol

I had heard the other day that the weather forecast was for snow above 1300 meters, which meant St. Moritz. I thought the guy was full of shit, until this morning. SNOW! It was above probably 2000 meters, and St. Moritz is at 1700, but there was a little bit of the fluffy stuff falling when I left. This made it easy for me to decide to take the ole' train today to Scuol. Even if it was only 70 km, I really didn.t feel like riding in below freezing temps with only arm/knee warmers and a rain jacket. Oh, I guess the assless chaps could help, but you get the picture, it was cold enough. I got here and noticed many runners coming into town, like there was an event going on. Such is the case, the Trans Alp Challenge, or something like that. 8 days, 240 km, starting in Germany and ending in Italy. No thanks, I like the bike too much. But I did go to the spa, and it was worth it! 25 CHF for 2.5 hours, but I was only there for about 1.5 hours. Too much water causes prunage, and I no likeage. So now I.m at the internet cafe for 16 CHF per hour, OUCH, and about to upload pics for my loyal zealots that are following me on this epic journey. I think tomorrow is about a 50k ride to Landeck, Austria. Although it may get cold again and I.ll wuss out and take the train. Like I care at this point! I will be in Munich on Thursday, or maybe tomorrow.... Hell, I don.t know. But I will be in Prague on Friday to meet up with Petra. Ok, time to upload pics. Hope you all enjoy, now get the hell off my page.

Stage 20 - Menaggio to St. Moritz, Switzerland - 106 km

I think I will have to call this the Queen Stage. Although it was "only" one pass, it was a mother! Kilometers 0-28 were along Lake Como and quite intoxicating. I will pass on a hint though, if there is a tunnel, DON.T go through it. The old road is next to it and will get you by without a problem, although not always 100% paved. KM 29-55 were mostly flat to Chiavanne (spelling?), but busy. I was hoping that today wouldn.t be as bad as the weekend traffic, but it wasn.t great. Along the lake was more 1.5 lane roads, and afterwards the roads weren.t wide enough to have a shoulder either..... I don.t think this is cycling country, but that.s just me (sorry Foti). KM 56-90 was climb, climb, climb. Kind of like Neal.s Gap because it wasn.t too hard and their are "flat" spots, but basically it was the longest climb I.ve ever been on! The last 3k were the best, or worst, depending on how you look at it. I hope the pics will do the climb justice, but there were 13 switchbacks over this short distance and at least 1000' of elevation gain, but my guesstimate. The top is called Malojapass and the sign says it is 1815 meters above sea level (5955 feet). I started the day at 200 meters, so there was over 5000 feet gained today! KM 91-106 were along a couple of Alpine lakes with a flat to downhill grade, thank goodness, and the tailwind didn.t hurt either! I booked it to the hostel here in St. Moritz and as I type this it has started raining. Dad gave me the weather forecast via email this morning, and it doesn.t look good for the next few days... I still have 2 days of train to use, so tomorrow may be one of them. Fine by me, this was the last hard day in the mountains, as far as I can see that is! The gang from last night told me about a bath/spa in Scuol that is inexpensive and worth checking out, so I think I will go soak my bones there! Happy Labor Day to all of you back in the States. Keep laboring, and send money!

One of my last views of Lake Como.

Not Lake Como, but the lake just before Chiavenna.

In America we would put a red line / through it saying, NO BIKES ALLOWED. Beware, they don.t do that over here.... And this one says don.t go through the tunnel. Or so I was told....

What.s up Doc?

A view of the 13 switchbacks and final 3k climb up to Malojapass.

Sorry, have to edit later.... But this is at switchback number 5.

It.s an ok town, I don.t have to come back, unless the skiing is really good. But I doubt it.s better than West coast baby!

This was the following moring and the small amount of snow that had accumulated above St. Moritz.

Stage 18 & 19 - Gersau to Menaggio, Italy - 226 km total

Stage 18 - Gersau to Biasca - 131 km

I will try and make this quick, I don.t have much time now to recap.... Today was a busy day, and by that, I mean traffic. The first 30k were mostly flat and decent roads, not too much traffic. But after that it got busier and started to climb. The first "section" was about 40k and it was the first time that I had backtracked on any roads I had been on before. Rolf and I were on the downhill section from Andermatt to Mussen two weeks ago, but now I was going up the mother. It.s funny how you remember a decent to be pretty quick when you fly down it without any effort. But going back up it is another story. I will upload pics as soon as I can, but it was a tight, curvy road with a lot of cars. Oh yeah, I recall it to be somewhat steep, but a few days and a couple of hundred kilometers later, you forget these things! From Andermatt there is about a 4k section that is flat, then it goes back up 9k to the top of Gotthardpass. Not a bad climb, but still quite a few cars. I guess that.s what happens on the weekends around here.... The decent on the other side was crazy. The first 12k were cobblestones, not the big chunky ones, but they still aren.t smooth. So I had to brake the entire decent. It finally turned to another 35+ km of downhill on smooth roads. So the finish was nice into Biasca, I wish I could say the same for the town. No need to stay there for scenic reasons... My advice is to NOT cycle up the side I just decended, if anyone is reading this and taking notes. I think the last 12k of cobbles would be a killer. Just my 2 Swiss Francs....

I got my days messed up when uploading, this is Biasca to Mennagio, will fix later...

Bellaggio is the peninsula off in the distance, aka High Rent District!

A hostel with a great view of Lake Como!

View part deux.

Mark, Al, mule eating briars, Ed and Bob. A fine crowd, great wine and a really good lamb steak. Gimmie some protein!

Stage 19 - Biasca to Menaggio, Italy - 95 km

Today was truly Italian with Ferrari, Porsche & motorcycles wizzing by & passing in the corners. Glad this is the only day in Italy! The ride was mostly uneventful, except for the one climb of about 10k close to Lugano. I didn.t go into Lugano, but heard it.s a nice town. I traveled the north side of the lake towards Menaggio, and it was a bit hairy riding on roads 1.5 lanes wide! And then you add crazy Italians to it, and you have a bad combination. The scenery was nice though, so there was something good to come from it all! I made it to the hostel and met up with 9 American cycle tourists from Ohio and Wisconsin. A very nice group which reminded me of the Tufts, Andre, Kaye, Jerry and Donna crowd. I think most of them had been to Europe cycle touring before, but they were on a 2 & 3 week journey around Switzerland and Italy. We talked about my trip and experiences, and also theirs. They were very kind and invited me to dinner where we got to talk more about everything, including that thing I used to do, work. Thanks to the gang for being so kind and welcoming, like most Americans are I have determined. Regardless of what the French may say (about everyone), I think we have the kindest nation of folks! The Swiss are really..... different. Most of them, but once you learn it.s their nature, it doesn.t bother you as much. Read the book, Ticking with the Swiss, you.ll understand and it.s a pretty good read. Becky and Jeff get to learn a lot from it, I did!