August 13th Heidelberg to Konstanz

The train ride from Heidelberg to Konstanz was relatively simple. The first train to Karlsruhe was quite full and we had to stand with our bikes. Luckily this was only about a 40 minute ride. We were struck by how unhelpful people were in general. There were a number of backls in the bike area. Which meant that our tandems were a tight squeeze. A couple of the seats along the side of the car were being used by regular passengers. They could have easily moved to other seats in the car but decided not to do this. They watched us struggle with the tandem as the train started and stopped and did nothing.

We had 30 minutes to complete the connection in Karlsruhe so there was no drama. The second train was full but didn't have as many bicyclist as the first. We were able to secure the tandem and after a few stops find four seats together. I wrote a number of blog entries and rest of the family read. Three hours went by quickly and soon we were exiting the train in Konstanz.

The Konstanz train station was under construction and there were no elevators. We lifted the tandems up the stairs and were suddenly in the middle of the city. Konstanz was quite a bit different than other cities in Germany. First there was a significant amount of Italian being spoken and it definitely had more of a Southern European feel.

McDonald's has be undertaking a smart strategy in Europe. Each of their stores has a cafe in it, which really reminded us of Starbucks, and all have intenet access of some sort (free internet access or T-Moblie hotspot). Since we are often in need of internet access we find ourselves at McDonald's frequently. While we are completing our internet tasks, we often have a coffee or eat a bit of food. All the McDonald's that we have visited have been absolutely packed. In Heidelberg, I expected it to be all tourists but this was not the case. The Konstanz McDonald's was also filled with locals.

We eventually found a place to stay and started on our short journey to our room. We rolled across the border from Germany to Switzerland without stopping. There was a border crossing but like all the other cyclists we just rolled on through.

It is very common in Europe to have a few rooms above a restaurant. The restaurant was in a small city close to Konstanz. It was a nice clean room. The restaurant was also very nice but was expensive. Switzerland is living up to its reputation. Since there was really no other place to eat, we had a fantastic and expensive meal at the restaurant.