One small revolution for man - back to France

That's it.  The circle of Europe by bike is complete and so is our cycle adventure.  Since the last installment we finished off Luxembourg by buying a diamond, then headed on to celebrate at the home of Champagne in Epernay.  The section between was largely chosen as it was the shortest route from Germany to Paris, and although largely boring its directness meant that we were not the first to choose this path.  We had seen precious little to remind of the World Wars on our journey but this region appeared to be pretty hard hit in both.  There were a number of cemeteries, their eerie white crosses stretching off into the distance, many memorials to American liberators, and towns that seemed to have been rebuilt in a hurry without too much thought for aesthetics.         

Upon arrival in Epernay we shunned inferior pretenders Moet, we headed straight for what could only be a superior bubble at Mercier.  After taking photos of anything baring the moniker (and the Bentley in the parking lot) we headed into an extremely flashy tour of the brewery (or 'Champagne House', la de da).  Our pin stripped guide took us in a glass sided lift 30m underground into the cellars - carved from the chalk by hand into 18km of tunnels for this brand alone; there are over 200 million bottles aging away under the streets of the town.  A laser guided train crept its way between the dusty bottles as we learnt about the two stages of fermentation and that, who knew??, Champagne is made from a combination of three grapes, two of which are black.  They have white juice however, so by removing the skins the wine is also white.  

Paris was the final stop and apt to be finishing in the town where the most famous tour of them all comes to an end.  We followed a cycle path along a canal lined with kilometers of graffiti before bursting forth into the heart of the city.  In a hectic afternoon we madly sought a hotel (which took 10 attempts all over town), and sent our bikes off on the train to London which didn't give us a chance to be too sad about the end of an era.  

The next day was a trip out to the Palace of Versailles, which as expected showed why the locals were revolted when starving to death under the watchful eye of those in such opulence.  Hasan, one of Claud's friends, joined us for the weekend.  We took a 4 hour walking tour of the city with highlights such as a urine soaked bridge baring the carved heads of 300 of the King's drunken mates whose sketches were taken at a party, many tales of decapitation and stake burnings, and an endless stream of art that Parisians 'ated' and wanted to take down.  This of course included the glass pyramid of the Louvre, the Eiffel tower, and anything else commissioned after the Renaissance.  

Every night we made our way up to Sacre Coeur - the highest point in the city on land and an amazing basilica overlooking the city.  Surrounded by restaurants, tourist shops and hawkers it still manages to carry off a fantastic atmosphere.  Buskers play in turns on the steps with the whole of Paris as a backdrop, and people sit above listening and drinking in that completely unNZ way of using the booze to enhance rather than obliterate the moment.  

A tour of the Louvre was high on every ones' priorities.  First we elbowed our way towards the Mona Lisa to tick that one off the list, then onwards to see things we actually wanted to but no doubt Parisians 'ated and wanted taken down.  Italians clearly had the edge in old school oil painting and sculpting, Pannini's paintings of paintings a favourite.  A re-creation of Napoleon's apartments were all red patterned cloth walls, deathly large chandeliers, and gilt everything else that were even more extravagant than the Palace of Versailles.  Not a surprise from the man that proclaimed the Pope, God's man on the ground, unworthy of crowning him emperor (so he did it himself).  

So that's that.  Over ten months of biking has come to an end.  We covered 13,731km over 814 hours of riding.  Any poignant musings or lessons on how to improve your lives? you may ask.  Of course there are many but unfortunately none of that will be discovered in this forum.  Tickets on sale soon for the lecture tour... 

Now its time for a real holiday so we're off to Turkey for 2 weeks after packing up and seeing friends in London.  Then on to Aussie for more visiting before finally touching down in NZ again on 8 October.  Thanks for reading if you have been thus far.  We'll send an update on how those turkeys in Turkey do it when we find out.

Love C & D                                        

Luxembourg

We sit in Luxembourg City, having our first day off the bike for 2 weeks, hence the lack of contact. Tonight will be our 4th night in Luxembourg, not bad considering its only 80km long. Its a great country for cycling, with cycle paths all over, quiet backroads, and of course everything is just so close together.

The first night we spent in Vianden, a little village on a river, with a castle above on forrested slopes. Our jealousy for Euros that speak multiple languages hit a high when we asked our English speaking camp owner what the main language is here. They have their own national language, but offical forms etc are in French, while German is widely spoken as a second language. Language hogs.

After that we biked to Ettelbrück and dumped our panniers for a day of exploring the hilly north. First was a massive 1000 year old castle that has been under restoration for the last 30. An hour and a half was spent wandering the ruins and not so ruined, while admiring the stunning views of a twisting river valley on three sides below. A ride through a wind farm, which was conspicuously quiet compared to our own, took us to Esch-sur-Sure. This village was described in our guidebook as one of the prettiest in Europe so we had high expectations. Unfortunately it was not quite so, and we were left wondering if this was another instance of the author not visiting the country concerned (see Columbian Lonely Planet story from earlier this year in papers). No excuses if so, as you could whip around this country in a quick day.

First glimpses of the capital look promising, so off to discover that and report back soon.

Much love
C&D

Germany

We entered the Fatherland having already covered the Mother Country and Hastings` sister city, so all we need is a trip to the Bronx to hang with the brothers and we`ll have the whole family.

A torrent from the sky had us arriving in the Black Forrest bedraggled and glad to be visiting friend Paul in Kandern, who has a roof, and chairs. Paul and his partner Sarah, along with thier twin girls Sonne and Lucy, live at a community for mentally handicapped people, where the residents live a highly productive life manufacturing various products in workshops of a non-sweaty nature. Paul landed charge of the bakery when the baker "miester" left after some deep political intrigue, so we spent an evening making bread. Only a small batch using 15kgs of flour was required as it was holidays at the community. Much fun was had using all the industrial machinery and house sized ovens.

From there we have follwed the Rhine from its pristine clarity at Lake Constance, through days of industrialism that has us reminiscing of China and turning the river a murky Waikato colour. The Germans have along the way rivaled the Chinese also in terms of helpfulness, and on one day it seemed every time we pulled out the map a local was on hand to give advice based on his or her intimate knowledge of the regional cycle paths.

Our route took us to Freiburg, and onto Schiltach, which was an extremely atmospheric place of half timbered buildings crammed together around various platzes. After the Black Forest had literally taken us by storm - it rained the whole way - we stopped in at Baden Baden, a place Clinton described as "so nice you had to name it twice". It really was worthy of a double naming and could be the flashest place in the world. Without our white linen trousers or pearls we felt a little underdone in sun bleached shirts and jandels. The town centres on two sets of baths, one built on the site of a Roman bathhouse where nudity remains compulsory. Crys of "Is that a house?!" rang out as we came in along a river lined with mansions more like a grand hotel or cathedral. Even the info centre is in a columned building with 14 frescoes on the facade.

Sauerkraut, beer and wurst were had in the Schloss (castle) of Heidelberg. Claud said of the sauerkraut "that was one of the worst things I have ever eaten" and mused that perhaps it was some torture technique perfected in (dont mention the war). Back on the Rhine, it was the aforementioned industrial hell for 2 days before hitting wine and castles between Mainz and Koblenz. Apparently the highest concentration of castles anywhere in the world and a UNESCO World Heratige site. We saw 13 in one day, and that was only between the spear tipped raindrops lancing us in the eyeballs.

Then it was up the Moselle valley for more vineyards, and to Trier, home of Karl Marx and a popular visit for hordes of Chinese. The parallels just keep on coming.