We set the alarm a half hour late today. This was our last easy riding day for this section. Breakfast had a good selection of food, although the yogurt came prepackaged. That's a criteria of mine. The croissants were good. Jacinto is caffeine fueled with three cups of coffee. He hasn't had 12 persons worth of coffee recently.
We had a delayed start. I had two errands. I wanted to mail postcards, and I needed to touch base with the bike shop in Erding (Munich) to make sure they could box our bikes for the flight home. My contact, Sebastian was not in. The man answering the phone spoke only German. I ended up asking the nice reception lady if she spoke German and if she would call for me. She would. That was kind. But Sebastian was the only one who could make that decision, so I had to call back in an hour. In the meanwhile Jacinto went to the post office and waited in line. He did not have to take a number. Postcards are mailed. 2 E each.
Finally we were on our way out of town. It's a good thing the weather remains temperate with little wind. We had little country riding today, and far too much city/round about/ semi truck riding for me. When I reported that to Jacinto later, he disagreed. I think perhaps I've reached the point of the tour where I'm in get it done mode. Jim Fitch pointed that out to me years ago - that on a long trip there comes a point where the fun factor gets too low and the goal is the goal, as opposed to seeing sights and enjoying the ride. Although I certainly did enjoy last night's dinner and stay.
We are approaching the Claudia Augusta route, with going into Munich. That was a must ride for me. I hope it lives up to its hype. We are headed into the mountains and should see some amazing scenery.
Two miles from our lodging, Jacinto lobbied for a McDonald's. I was sucked in by the idea of a cold drink with ice. Jacinto said if we ate lunch now, we could eat seafood leftovers from last night for dinner. We did that. No delicious lemon pasta for me tonight.
We have vegged in the room all afternoon, watched a movie, and eaten our leftovers. I hope we are ready for the climb tomorrow. There are some nasty little peaks at miles 14-16 that say 15% and better. I might be walking. Perhaps that will wake me up out of my doldrums.
side note that all of the Italy hotels have included breakfast and they have been very good with hot and cold options. The roads were rough for a couple of days, but have been of good quality recently.
I don't expect to sleep in tomorrow. There are mountains to climb!
Rachael AndersonThose are my favorite kind of coffee machines. I’m really good at mixing different combinations of coffee to fill the cup. And you can get your own refills. Reply to this comment 2 weeks ago
