Itinerary: On the bike, follow Swiss Regional Route 64 to Biel, stay overnight, come home by way of Sankt Peterinsel and Swiss National Route 8.
Looking for something close and easy, we chose Biel as our destination. Jon was able to put the routes into our GPS. And we decided to try a trip without the trailer, just a small pack, so no camping.
Cow Crossing on our way to Biel
Biel is downriver from Bern so the 45k ride to Biel was as expected a gentle downhill grade, through what now seems typical to us: constantly changing vista of small towns, farmland, and forests. No surprises, nothing amazing. Biel itself is mostly a modern city with bland buildings. We took a funicular to Magglingen—us and a few dozen heavily padded mountain bikers. They rode down; we walked. Looking at their trails, we understood the padding. The view from up top was amazing. The walk through the forest, delightful. Biel’s tiny bit of Oldtown, a couple blocks of medieval buildings, was unimpressive. After dinner, we strolled down by the harbor, picked up some ice cream to go with the cherries we’d gotten at a roadside stand and called it a night.
Sunday we felt quite capable of going the extra miles to see Sankt Peterinsel, a long narrow island at the southern end of the Bielersee. Apparently it’s a popular place for a stroll on a sunny Sunday morning, for we shared the path with lots of walkers, baby strollers, and other cyclists.
We knew our route back to Bern would be, on average, uphill since it was upriver. But the Swiss surprised us. The 8 is a National Route, yet there are spots where we passed through private property, carried the bike up and down stairs, and generally had a much harder time than we expected.
Bike Path Steps on our way home from Biel
We did have a fun lunch in Aarberg, a cute town with a wooden covered bridge leading to the Oldtown square. A group of Harley motorcycles rode up and parked beside our bike, then some of the riders politely asked if they could share our table as the others were all full. Jon often tells the story of carrying a sign on his van loaded with bikes “When we grow up we want to be Harleys”. So MC points to our tandem and tells this to the Harley folks, the one English speaker passing this along to the others in German. Good for a laugh all round.
Harleys alongside our tandem in Aarberg
The last stretch was through Bremgarten Forest, which should have felt idyllic, a carless road through cool green shade. But we were so exhausted, even this seemed a struggle. That’s how it is, in life or in life on a bike, you can’t always know where the tough stretches will be.
Thu. After meeting MC’s sisters and nephews in the airport, we were headed for the train, but we found ourselves by the taxi stands. We were approached to take a taxi, but of course said “No thanks, we’re taking the train.” “O, it’s only 20 Euro each, just a little more than the train and if you take the train, you still have to take a taxi from the train to your hotel and then you’ll be paying more.” “O, no we’ll walk, we’re strong and it’s not far.” “O, ha ha, I’m sure you are, but we’ll make a deal and give you a price on the return trip if you call us.” Well, it wasn’t quite that simple or straightforward, but it seemed with 6 of us, perhaps it would be easier, so we agreed.
This despite the research 3 of us had done, saying taxi rates from the airport to Rome have been set at 40 Euros flat. It was almost worth the extra just to share the thrill of riding in a car in Rome, which has been declared the most dangerous city to drive in.
On arrival at our hotel, neon signs gave us all the info we needed our first night: where to get pizza and gelato.
Fri. MC’s sister Margie was our tour guide and primary pre-researcher for Rome. She had purchased our tickets for the Vatican Museum online ahead of time so we avoided the block-long line for buying tickets and walked right in. Crowds were thick, far more than at the Louvre, so if you pass something, don’t plan on turning back to see it. Fortunately, like the Louvre, it is so dense with artwork, statuary, relics, and wall/ceiling/floor decoration that even those of us who had been there before enjoyed the visit. The Sistine Chapel was, for us, a letdown. You expect to be awed. Yes, the paintings are excellent and large–they cover the upper half of the 2-story-high walls and the entire ceiling. But this is a chapel and not awesome-sized, even compared to some of the rooms you have just walked through. Perhaps without the crowds and the guards standing on the altar to hush us and prevent pictures, it may have seemed less claustrophobic and dark. But I think there is simply too much build-up.
Vatican Hallway
St. Peter’s is free so we did have a long line to wait in, but it moved quickly. This cathedral definitely serves its purpose, assuming the builders wanted to display the power and wealth of the Catholic Church. Humongous. Tons of marble. Make sure you’ve seen it all before you step outside; the guards don’t let you back in. And don’t go on Sunday.
The line to get into St. Peter's
Castel di Angelo was something we had not heard of. Close to the Vatican, at one time an underground passage was dug between the two to provide an escape route for the pope in case anyone attacked the Vatican. Small fee, not crowded, nice views, lots of steps.
Castel di Angelo (with MC in hat, Nate in orange, Margie in backpack)
Sat. Again Margie’s research paid off, as she knew which entrance to the Forum complex would have a short line. MC rented the audio guide, but while it does provide some interesting stories, it’s hard to follow the map and orient yourself in the ruins. The book Anne had from DK Eyewitness Travel provided as much information on the Forum (and on all the other sites we visited). The Forum is a much larger, more complex, and more ruined place than we had expected. While we have information about what was here at various times, what we are left with now are a few columns, broken stones, and bits of wall, except where at some point buildings were re-cycled into churches. Do try to make your way into Santa Francesca Romana which has a lovely and peaceful interior. It was nearly empty but for us.
Santa Francesca Romana Courtyard
The Palatine Hill is another challenge for the imagination. Remnants of walls, reminders of gardens, a bit of mosaic are all that remain of the palaces of Augustus, Tiberius and Domitian. Seeing in person how the Romans constructed buildings was interesting. Walls were very thick piles of stones held by concrete (which the Romans invented). Then they were lined with thin red clay bricks which were next covered with slabs of marble.
Palatine Hill
Our Forum/Palatine ticket also included the Coliseum, so again, after lunch, we avoided the line and walked right in. While it is much in ruins, there is–as you have seen in pictures–much left and it is not hard to believe it held 75,000 people. With the floor gone, you can see the two stories below where animals and gladiators awaited their fate.
Coliseum Interior
Sun. Free day–we freely strolled the city seeing lots of free stuff. We chose a walking route which emphasized Bernini’s works, including the Fountain of the Triton and the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona. We were duly awed by the Trevi Fountain, climbed down the Spanish Steps (the better direction to go), gasped at the Pantheon’s dome, lunched on black truffles in the Piazza Navona, strolled beside the Tiber, wondered at the 300,000 people who could watch the games at the Circus Maximus (now just a grass field), and ended the day with Tiramisu and Profiteroles (the latter drowned in chocolate whipped cream sauce!). A lovely end to a lovely visit.
Margie, Toby, Nate, Anne and MC by the Trevi FountainTrevi Fountain
Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza NavonaPantheon
It felt like we were taking it easy. Yes, there were a few hills the first day. But we had so much time to cover not many kilometers (Schaffhausen to Basel in 3 days), that the pace seemed almost leisurely. Especially since through this area, the ambience is all lovely farmland, pretty little towns, and the swiftly flowing Rhine.
Schaffhausen is known for its oriels (bay windows above the ground floor). They were once a status symbol for the rich merchants in this town which was built up simply because shippers needed a place to off-load their goods in order to get around the falls.
Schaffhausen Oriels
Since the bikepath often took us along hiking paths through the woods along the river, we saw a few remains of cement bunkers, left from World War II. Often German territory is directly across the Rhine from Switzerland.
WWII Cement BunkerWild Roadside PoppiesMale Swan by Coot Nest
We stopped at Augusta Raurica a partially reconstructed Roman amphitheater, a little east of Basel. For another point of view, search on “Augusta Raurica, Augst, Switzerland” and zoom in on the satellite view.
Too perfect to be true, but it is. The plan (the dream?) was 4 days biking by the Bodensee with 3 nights camping. The reality was 4 glorious days biking by the Bodensee with 3 nights spent being completely coddled by friends. I had not realized that a couple whom we let park in our driveway in America while they were vacationing there lives close to the Bodensee. When Jon mentioned this, I emailed them to see if they might be at home for a hello. They invited us to stay in their house for as much of the holiday as we liked. AND every night and morning they fed us a mountain of wonderful food (see 5/15/12 to understand how important this was) and entertained us with their company. I am hereby extending my assumptions of warmth and graciousness which were earlier granted to the Swiss to all of Germany. (I do hope I’m correct in doing so.)
Hans on the Balcony
BODENSEE DAY 1 Mostly the path takes us by farmlands, orchards, small towns, and a number of typically German permanent campgrounds filled tightly with tiny trailers. It’s a bit cold with the constant breeze across the water, but as Jon said, it’s great to be finally really comfortable because we’re on the bike and for us, this is what Europe is. Almost always we have a view of the huge lake and an unusually clear view of the Alps, so rare in summer, with sail boats dotting the water in the foreground. Then our first major hill: we walked beside the old fortress/castle, up the steep narrow lane lined with tiny shops, touristy but not kitschy. Following Google’s directions to our friends’ home, we climb another very steep hill, wondering if we’ve lost the path. And then we are in their town, and face yet another, fortunately somewhat shorter, hill to our rest for the night.
Bodensee with Alps
BODENSEE DAY 2 At our hosts’ suggestion, we ride back to Meersburg, ferry to Konstanz, and visit the garden isle of Reichenau, rather than the garden isle of Mainau which is expensive and requires a full day to visit, better when they are at the height of their flowering season. Reichenau is peaceful, lovely, and free. We go through Stein am Rhein, which is famous for it’s painted houses. We end our ride at Radolfzell and train back to Bermatingen.
Stein am Rhein much photographed painted houses
BODENSEE DAY 3 With better instructions for avoiding the monster hill between Bermatingen and the lake, we slid down to Friedrichshafen to see the Zeppelin Museum. We were surprised to learn how very many of these airships had been built, how there were regular flights across the Atlantic (only four days to Brazil!), and how many were produced for military purposes. Then up along the coast to the cherry-sundae Birnau Cathedral, after pausing at a Middle Ages fair in Uhldingen.
The Path Less Traveled--Jon wanted to see if this path would get us to the Lake sooner
I love food. I enjoy eating tasty things that I believe are also good for me.
I hate waste. I don’t like spending oodles of money.
I like trying new foods, but I get confused looking at packages and not being able to decipher their contents.
After scrounging out of cans on Monday night (Jon said the tastes reminded him of his childhood in Iowa. Do you remember when fresh food was rarely available and we liked canned peas?), I walked through my fears and into Migros, the grocery store we were told has the lower prices. Thus our dinner tonight looked more like what we are used to. Yet it did not live up to my taste expectations: the rice was pasty, the tomatoes flavorless, even the organic carrots were remarkably lackluster. At least the “Pouletpaprika” (chicken legs seasoned with paprika) was a lively entertainer.
It was still fun: the shop is small and tightly packed, the clerks tolerant of my faux pas, and I did finally find the “Erdnusse” Jon wanted for our bike ride this weekend.
In fact overall the theme today seemed to be: do what you must and the Swiss will help you through it. The Migros checkout clerk, Sylvia at the Gumligen train station, and Susanne who handled our “inhabitant registration” at the town hall were all gracious and friendly, as well as Swiss-efficient, leading us through what we required.
We are finished packing!! What a challenge it was. We kept rearranging and re-deciding what to take until we had all the cases below the airline weight limits. My studio tenant, Elizabeth, came over and we had our last session together. I do hope I can find someone in Switzerland as talented in massage!
While I was finishing with her, Jon fetched the Swiss couple we’re exchanging homes with from the bus depot. What a joy they are! The wife, Melanie, is so consistently and gracefully considerate of our wishes with respect to the house, and keeps asking how WE want things done. We feel very secure in leaving our home in their hands.
No – we still don’t know when we are going – but we cannot wait until we do before we start packing. It now looks like we’re up against a wall, not knowing when we can go until 7 days before we must depart. This international travel, dealing with the red tape and slow governments, getting permits and visas, is all new to us. We’ve never travelled internationally without having our plane reservations months in advance.
Now we’re supposed to leave in less than two weeks, yet do not have visas or plane reservations yet. In fact, the Swiss Consulate took Jon’s passport for “3-5 days” to issue the visa. That was 9 days ago.
But we’re trying not to get nervous. We’re proceeding as if we may still actually leave on May 12th. So today Jon began doing our first major packing – the Tandem bicycle …
That's the Bike - and those are the suitcases it will go into
Our good friends Bob Friestad and Jim & Sandi Turner threw a going away party for us – even though we still don’t when, and even possibly if, we are going. We mentioned that – and the decision was that if we don’t go – we’ll just have to have another – welcome home party – in a few weeks.
The most common queston we got asked was, “are you excited?”. MC kept trying to come with different answers. Jon had to admit he’s more anxious than excited.
But we had a wonderful time. It was interesting being the center of attention, and not even needing to be hosts. We thank all our wonderful friends and will miss them all dearly (unless, of course, they follow through and come visit us in Switzerland).
Today we heard from Nathalie who has been ushering our visas through the bureaucratic slog. It is normal, when a couple is not legally married, that the partner’s visa takes 6 to 8 weeks longer to go through the canton’s process as the Federal authorities want to look over the file. With the hoped-for departure date so near (May 12), we felt once again thrown into a tizzy. We each went through a series of what-ifs and what-can-we-do-about-it-ifs. Knowing we have no solid answers, we went about our day, trying to get whatever pieces of preparation done that were possible. For me that meant working on irrigation plans; Jon, on tax data.
