What made you happy today?

[think positive]

Just did a 1/2 day downhill bike trip. Only 2 others (a young Dutch couple): we were driven to a coffee place where we given a brief tour, sampled some coffee while having a pre-prepared rice flour pancake with banana. Drove to the top or thereabouts of a volcano then driven a bit further. On our (ill - fitting) but fine mountain bikes for 26 km’s downhill: along narrow winding roads, stopping at a local village house, visiting a relatively new apiarist of local bee species set in beautiful garden allotment ( bought some local honey), then ride thru narrow paths slicing thru rice paddies: spectacular. Finished close to where we are staying and had a massive lunch if magnificent Balinese food.

There was: indonesian fried chicken pieces; fish on skewers; a salad of peanuts, green chilli, garlic and onion; a water-spinach dish, corn fritters, a vegetable stew / curry; fried tempeh; rice and noodles. There were two large bowls of sauce: a peanut satay sauce and a chilli sambal sauce. Magnificent: all you could eat. This was followed by some sliced local mango.

A great trip.

Tomorrow I’m doing a 90 km or thereabouts road bike trip with a 1.5 km ascent with a much longer descent. I have my own helmet, gloves, shoes (cleats) & jersey for the ride.

What does your wife do while you do this?
Man that sounds hard in the wet heat there! Good on you though!

Our day: After another amazing traditional German brekky, we headed off to the Nurburgring, thankfully I accidentally booked parking right under the main entrance! Or it would have been a loooooonnnnngggg walk!
Amazing day, ! Lots of fabulous old cars and some fun racing. We had to take the scenic route home as the cars Navman refuses to acknowledge the main road to town is closed right now! Drove up a very narrow windy road, to find a cute little colourful village at the top!
Had a rest while the rain stopped and headed up a very big steep hill to some castle ruins at the top, it was already getting dark, but we made it! Got down in one piece too!
Then we found a pop up bar, band and food van. Had so,e amazing beef in a very rich sauce with chips and sour cream, so good, with a glass of red while we listened to the band.
Germany is simply fabulous, so much fun!
Drive back to Cologne tomorrow, and hop on a train to Stuttgart, but I could stay here a while longer! Cheers!
Stay warm and safe guys!

[watt price tully]

Rode 90 km is a pretty decent ride with two others. We left Ubud ( a mum and her 19 yr old daughter) who are from Sydney via Seminyak. Lots of uphill grind, some killer sharp up hills to get to the astonishing UNESCO noted Jutaluwi. Then the descent which is harder in some respects because a lot of the time ur gripping the brakes for long periods of time.

My bike was way too small 58 rather than a 60 I need but a classy Italian bike.

Great experience

[think positive]

Por he and Mercedes Museums in Stuttgart today, the Porsche one was mind blowing, but I’ve always loved Porches! The Mercedes has history lessons down the halls, it was really interesting, especially the coverage of the wars, it wasn’t glazed over or denied, more it mentioned Hilter and the Nazis as if they were a distant relative. It was really well done.

In a gorgeous little town called Tubergen tonight, hoping to take some long exposures but got rained out, I’ll try again in the morning, it’s 27 here, loving it!

[think positive]

Eating Black Forest cake in the Black Forest!

Got some awesome waterfall long exposures today! And a squirrel!

SAR a shirt for WPT! 8am coffee 9-6 bike 6 beer - repeat!

Man Germany is awesome!

[watt price tully]

Just did a 1/2 day downhill bike trip. Only 2 others (a young Dutch couple): we were driven to a coffee place where we given a brief tour, sampled some coffee while having a pre-prepared rice flour pancake with banana. Drove to the top or thereabouts of a volcano then driven a bit further. On our (ill - fitting) but fine mountain bikes for 26 km’s downhill: along narrow winding roads, stopping at a local village house, visiting a relatively new apiarist of local bee species set in beautiful garden allotment ( bought some local honey), then ride thru narrow paths slicing thru rice paddies: spectacular. Finished close to where we are staying and had a massive lunch if magnificent Balinese food.

There was: indonesian fried chicken pieces; fish on skewers; a salad of peanuts, green chilli, garlic and onion; a water-spinach dish, corn fritters, a vegetable stew / curry; fried tempeh; rice and noodles. There were two large bowls of sauce: a peanut satay sauce and a chilli sambal sauce. Magnificent: all you could eat. This was followed by some sliced local mango.

A great trip.

Tomorrow I’m doing a 90 km or thereabouts road bike trip with a 1.5 km ascent with a much longer descent. I have my own helmet, gloves, shoes (cleats) & jersey for the ride.

What does your wife do while you do this? ....

She waits for me, has to teapot ready, burns a candle in the window and asks if there is anything more she can do?

Ah shit, I just copped smack in the chops

Not too much, she read about 10-15 books on the the iPad- (I kid you not), got massages, saw things, went & explored: she worked till the last minute & has a bung knee so she is in a lot of pain which the holiday helped.

The day I left to go for the bike ride I left at 0630. At 0645 a mother monkey and her two baby monkeys came onto the balcony of our holiday villa - we stayed about a 30 minute walk from central Ubud which was remarkable!!

https://www.booking.com/searchresults.e ... gKPs_D_BwE&


Great place: a bit pricey and you needed to take taxis in & out most of the time (unless you walked - very tough walk which I did twice) or had motor scooters etc). Breakfasts weren't a highlight

[think positive]

Hehe, much deserved smack in the chops! You’d love it here, the bike tracks are amazing, in fact we thought on was a road, I wanted to take pics in a sunflower paddock, and it wasn’t til we drove up it we realised it was a bike path! It was in the middle of nowhere, so luckily no riders around. Or cops!

So many cycliststhough, makes Melbourne look empty Ofer!

We drove down to the bottom of Germany today, tomorrow off to Austria for a couple of nights, I’ll be sad to leave, the sights, the Greeness, the amazing wild flowers, the wonderful people and food, I won’t miss the ciggies though! They actually sell them in something that looks like a paint can! And a normal size pack is only $9. Ugly warnings on them but they are not hidden. Not as many smokers here as in Paris, which was putrid with them, and just in general the Germans are much better mannered! I’d recommend a visit to anyone, I reckon you’d love a cycling holiday here! Cheers hopethe missus knee is ok,

[K]

Which German cities & towns did you visit?

I was still on the Tower of London when you started talking about the Eiffel Tower, so I knew things were moving fast!

[think positive]

Hehe!

London 2 nights, Devon 2 nights, Bedford 1 night, Paris 2 nights, Cologne 1 night got some amazing shots I’ll post when I get back, then 2 nights near Nurburgring, 1 night Stuttgart, went to the Porsche and Mercedes Museums, the Porsche one was mind blowing, 1 night in Tübingen, 1 night Triberg in the heart of the Black Forest, and tonight we are in Reichenbach, we went to the massive lake that borders the bottom of Germany and Switzerland today, just beautiful, but drove a bit further so we don’t have to drive too far tomorrow to get to the station, off to Innsbruck Austria for 2 nights, then train to Venice for 2 nights, and leave Venice for a 7 night cruise to Bari, Katakolon, Santorini, Piraeus, Corfu and Kotor, then to Dubai for a 2 night stop over on the way home. Seems a bit whistle stop but each move is only a couple of hours driving or by train. I didn’t even want to go to Paris, but I’m glad I did, but still 36 hours was enough there as was 48 hours in London. Not a big city fan! It doesn’t get dark until 9 - 9.30 and I’ve felt perfectly safe walking at night every where we have been. I’ve loved Germany, could spend a lot longer her, but I also want to get back home to my kids!

[Skids]

There's 1 more sleep to go... Been a swing from hell, can't wait to get out a here!

[swoop42]

Eating Black Forest cake in the Black Forest!

Got some awesome waterfall long exposures today! And a squirrel!

SAR a shirt for WPT! 8am coffee 9-6 bike 6 beer - repeat!

Man Germany is awesome!

May I suggest you head to the German town of Weener next.

[Morrigu]

We drove down to the bottom of Germany today, tomorrow off to Austria for a couple of nights, I’ll be sad to leave, the sights, the Greeness, the amazing wild flowers, the wonderful people and food, I won’t miss the ciggies though! They actually sell them in something that looks like a paint can! And a normal size pack is only $9. Ugly warnings on them but they are not hidden. Not as many smokers here as in Paris, which was putrid with them, and just in general the Germans are much better mannered! I’d recommend a visit to anyone,

Glad you are enjoying - if you think Germany is good which it is and Austria is just fabulous then you should consider Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia cause they are even better!! People always seem to say that about the French - never had a problem in 6 visits to France - but then I speak pretty basic French and they sorta like people to speak their language in their country and they don't like poms - maybe they could smell you pommy genes

And can imagine how you hate it but Europe how I love that you have not become a nanny state and you can still have a ciggie

[think positive]

Actually I seemed to speak enough rudimentary French to keep them happy! Just found then a bit snooty and the city grotty . Except at our hotel, glad I lashed out, was fabulous. Could be the size of the city, I just find big cities a tad unfriendly, too much hurrying. My German is pretty good serving me well in Austria too! Germany was simply amazing, very laid back like the majority of Australia. Australia is certainly the nanny state when it comes to driving, but then you see the road toll, although I’ll not waste my holiday on closely checking the stats. England the most sensible when it comes to uniform speed limits and rules, the roads are wide and in fantastic condition, and hey they drive on the correct side! In Germany there are no old cars and the trucks are immaculate, the rules for trucks in every country I’ve been to except Bali are better than ours, drive slower and stay in the slower lanes, common sense. Innsbruck is simply beautiful, we are right up the top of the housing part before the ski section. I can’t believe how many people are riding bikes up the mountain like it’s nothing! Sitting on the balcony with a red and shaking my head in disbelief! I wish I had their energy!

As for smoking laws in oz, right up there with gun control for me, perfect! I have no problems with anyone choosing to pollute their body with all those chemicals, but don’t pollute mine or ruin my dinner!

[think positive]

Hello Venice!

[stui magpie]

^

Good stuff. I'm still unconvinced about Europe, I might see it one day.

Did a flying trip up to toc and back. Went up yesterday, was overcast, cold and drizzly, couldn't do much except put a bit of water into some of the garden.

This morning, cold but clear blue sky and sunny.

Got the whippersnipper out, cleaned up a bit, layed some roundup on some of the weeds and some seasol on the plants getting frostbite, then came home. Washing almost done and about to watch the Pies at 4:30.

this time next week I'll be enjoying the Darwin sunshine.

[think positive]

I’m glad we came, but I dont think I’ll be back, I loved Germany but its just too far! Everyone raves about Venice, but much like Paristo me it’s very grotty, old, butts everywhere, plus here the added graffiti, and Vegas style hawkers! if they cleaned it up it would be so much better! New York is far cleaner!
Funnily enough it’s made me want to travel around Tassie and New Zealand, I just love the lush green and plants everywhere.
I can’t wait to get on the ship, while everything turned out great, I was stressed over picking the right hotels, car hire, and just being in the right places! The names in Germany are a foot long! It will be lovely to be looked after for a week! It’s been a real experience though!

Cheers