Day 8: Cycling to Freiburg

We leave Colmar this morning on a bright, sunny warm morning. All is quiet since it is Sunday. The landscape has changed drastically. It is flat and we are back to cornfields. No more charming Alsace wine towns. Our ride today is flat except for one short, steep hill and is just 44 km. The last city we go through  in France is Neuf Brisach, a fortified town from 1698. The city's layout was that of an "ideal city" with a regular square grid street pattern inside an octagonal fortification giving it a star shape. We pass through two,of its large gateways in its principal curtain walls. As we ride through town, we come upon some kind of celebration. People are dressed in medieval garb and some are on horses. Guess this is the end of a week long celebration of victory in a battle with the Germans which occurred some 200 years ago.

We cross the mighty Rhine River into Germany leaving France behind. The Rhine is Germany's longest river and, with the Danube, one of Europe's most important commercial rivers. Along with the Danube, the Rhine formed the northernmost border of the Roman Empire. The Rhine rises in Switzerland and flows 820 miles to empty into,the North Sea in the Netherlands. 

As we reach the edge of Freiburg, we stop for lunch at a small place off the bike path where we are riding. There are no other places around and we are hungry. Philipp, Frank and Jeannie, Billy, and a couple of others are with us. We are the only ones there. The proprietor seems happy to have us. Several of us have pizza. It has really gotten warm and it feels hot when we start again after lunch. Beautiful community gardens can be seen just off the bike path. People take great pride in these small garden plots. They may be given, or rented? to people who come out from the city proper to garden. We continue our ride into Freiburg, mostly on bike paths. These paths are well used and well maintained. They are a major means of transportation for people. We arrive at our hotel which is very nice. Don't know if it is the warm weather or we are just tired, but Dave and I zonk out immediately after getting to our room.

Freiburg is considered to be one of Germany's most beautiful cities and many people would like to live here. It has beautiful colorful, houses, a big cathedral, and good shopping. Everywhere, you see the old "Bächle," an unusual system of gutters, or little canals, that run throughout its center. They are narrow troughs of water that run on both sides of the street. They were once used to provide water to fight fires and feed livestock. They were never intended to carry sewage and, even in the Middle Ages, such use would result in heavy penalties.

Dinner is on our own tonight and we join Linda and Chas, Jeannie and Frank and Kathy and John to go to a very nice German restaurant just around the corner from our hotel. It has been an enjoyable day of riding and we are glad to see John back on his bike though still not feeling quite up to par. Philipp seems to be feeling better, too, and we enjoy having him ride as sweep today.

Tomorrow is a rest day and we will explore Freiburg further so I'm sure I will write more about it tomorrow.

                             One of the gate of Neuf Briasch

                                Celebration in Neuf Briasch

                                           Crossing the Rhine River