Day 89: Ladenbrug to Oppenheim: Happy Birthday Avi and Violet

July 27, 2014

Avi and Violet are our twin bicycling partners, gearing up for a trip on the Willamette River next month. But today is their birthday. They are six! We wish we could have been at their party, not least because we hear there was decorate your own - cake! Anyway, we will celebrate tomorrow, by cycling into Mainz and getting a birthday ice cream at our favourite spot - the Dom Cafe. Avi and Violet - we will post a photo from there, for you.

It is late now - too much cycling today - but I will post as much of the story as I can, and the rest tomorrow morning (our time, of course).

Our cruise around Ladenburg showed it to be a really beautiful spot, really something to note, between Heidelberg and Mannheim. Mainly, it was that everywhere you turned there seemed to be a beautiful composition made up of fachwerk houses, stone walls, churches, ivy, and cobbles. On top of this, Ladenburg had a long history as a Roman town, and there are documented ruins all about. Finally, we feel good about the place because as we paused in the market square, in front of the bakery, a girl approached Dodie (I was in the bakery, of course) with the Usual Questions. However, we also learned that she was here for dragon boat races, and that she was from Trier. We really enjoyed feeling welcomed and learning something of why others are in this town. Very soon after, we passed the large Dragon Boat race encampment by the river, and were glad that we knew something about it.

The next few shots are images of Ladenburg, a beautiful spot before the 50 km of plain city stuff coming up.

Roman ruins can be seen all around Ladenburg. There is apparently a tour that one can organize as well.

The market square, where people - many here for the Dragon Boats - were eating breakfast. Though our hotel was good, I admired their overflowing baskets of buns and big piles of cheese.

Ladenburg, with Dragon Boat venue from the bridge leading out.

From Ladenberg we headed for Mannheim, along the way we would have taken had we dutifully gone to the camping we had used in 2012. We passed that camping, and the spot where our tent had been, but without much regret, it seems!

Now we took a kind of varied path toward the city - wending beside housing and by roads. At one point we went down a long pathway lined with Plane trees. Dodie said -"Aha, you photographed this last time". "Photographed what?" "The Plane tree bark". Ok, having done it before, I suggested maybe I could skip it this time. Not so, most readers will not remember that one page, one photo, from two years ago. So you should see another shot of a plane tree somewhere on this page. Anyway, we love these trees. There were thousands and thousands planted along the Canal du Midi, that we visited last year.

Goose family of the day. These again are the Egyptian geese.

The path of Plane trees. We never see these at home, but they are often planted in long rows here.

The bark of each Plane tree is unique and beautiful.

Some other things from our passage through Mannheim, over the Rhine, and through Ludwigshafen are also reproduced. There is a street in Mannheim that the radweg goes down, that has a combination of stores selling frothy wedding dresses, Turkish restaurants, and a Turkish bakery. When we came to the first dress store this time, there was an illustration of a model wearing one of the creations. What came to mind (my sick mind) immediately was an old old record album cover, of Herb Alpert maybe, with a model wearing whipped cream. I was wondering why they had a whipped cream couture store here, when I realized it was chiffon, and that there were ten stores like that. Almost at the same time, we whipped by the bakery, and regrettably, failed to stop. Now I am wondering what we missed. We will have to return, or cycle in Turkey to find out.

We crossed the Rhine, always seemingly a big event, and in so doing completed our (re)cycle of the Neckar. Now we have to let the experience settle for one day, and then write the summary of what we thought of it.

The street of the Turkish restaurants and chiffon dresses.

Pretty much immediately, over the Rhine, we were plunged into another golden oldie experience for us - the 10 km long BASF chemical city. It's a bit boring going through it - a hodge podge of all kinds of buildings, plus much refinery type plumbing - while thinking about all they produce and how they are managing a thing this big. The most evident bit of management is the hundreds, maybe thousands, of red bikes parked everywhere. Clearly they allow employees to move efficiently around the "city". The fact that they are all parked here, on a Sunday, shows that the people do not own or take them home. Yet each is locked, so someone is remembering where among the thousands their particular bike is!

BASF has many gates and buildings and goes on for kms

Once out of BASF we could sort of return to the shore of the Rhine. However, the idyllic bike path by the Rhine, with glorious towns every fw km and boats majestically cruising up and down, is not yet here. Rather there is industrial stuff, followed by farmland, maybe for a bit, and then you come to Worms.

Worms has a famous and ancient history, and a magnificent Dom, so you kind of expect it to be maybe like Oxford. In fact, it has a confusing road network, and mostly fairly blah buildings, no pedestrian area, and only one eis cafe (that we could easily spot.) The Tourist Information (in a blah building) was, naturally, closed. But near it is the Dreifaltigkeit Church. This is the one, we think, to which Martin Luther nailed his manifesto, in 1522.

As we stood outside, some more touring cyclists pulled up. These were on a tandem, towing a trailer containing a toddler. Here in Germany, with so many cyclists around, while most will say hi as they pass, almost none stop to talk. This can be a necessity - like Crocodile Dundee in New York, you can't engage with everyone. But these folks did stop to tell us what they were up to, and to find out about us. They are on their way to the Bodensee, and will be cutting, tandem and trailer and all, through the Black Forest! They are serious cyclists, though. Before getting the new baby they cycled from Germany to China!

Leaving Dodie to talk UQs for a bit, I ducked into the church. It was quite plain, and with stained glass that was modern and rather crudely executed. I came out with my report. But Dodie, who had already been in, asked if I had seen the photos. No. So back I went. The photos showed the church before 1945, and what happened to it in 1945. Now I say it is a miracle it looks as good as it does, because in 1945 there was almost nothing left.

This no doubt also explains the very plain buildings that surround the Dom. In excusable, though, is how close and how plain the buildings are, to the great structure. We went in and were impressed by how very long it is. What a place. And the stained glass is nice!

Last time in Worms, we spent 2 hours trying to figure out how to get around the roads and leave the place. This time we are smarter, (and equipped with better GPS!). We passed the Liebfrauen church, with its vineyards all around. I think Liebfraumilch white wine comes from here.

Beyond Worms, the idyllic Rhine with the great paved bike path by the river, joining intresting towns every 10 km, does not begin. Not yet. Rather there is industrial stuff, followed by farmland, followed by some kind of woods, followed by farmland, probably all the way to Mainz. But we left Worms around 5, and needed to find camping to the north but before Mainz.

A bit of a misunderstanding, maybe, about how far we were going,had us leaving Worms with little water and no readily eatable food. We did fill up with water, though, at McDonalds (the only thing worth getting there - from the washroom). By the time we reached camping, here at Oppenheim, I had had it. This is strange, because that position is usually reserved by Dodie. The restaurant at the camping was closing, but they whipped up some bratwurst and grilled pork steak and pommes for me. This was at an outdoor grill, run by the chef - Michael. Michael had to keep reassuring me that it would be ready in a moment, since I was very antsy - both due to hunger, and to the fact that Dodie (back setting up the tent) had thought I was only going to register. When, quite quickly, I got back with my treasured food, the surprisingly not whacked out Dodie protested that she was just about to start cooking our regular supper. She also turned up her nose at Michael's food, at first. Then she choked it down, and collapsed - fast asleep in the tent.

I came back to the restaurant, and sat at an outdoor table. I had hoped they could still bring some cake and coffee, but no, the place really was closing. Michael brought me some coke and some ice cream, and invited me to sit with him as he finished his beer. A thoughtful and considerate young man, Michael has worked here part time for six years. Otherwise, he is studying law in Mainz.

Michael set me up with power at the table for the tablet, and was interested to get the link for the blog. He s such a sweet boy, I wished I could get to know him better. But, the restaurant only opens at 12 tomorrow, and he starts at 11. Definitely we will belong gone on the way to Mainz by then.

So here I am left alone, by Dodie and by Michael, out in the dark with the mosquitoes and with a headlight to help see the keyboard, typing this. It's way too late to upload and caption the photos. So I will quit until tomorrow. Maybe by the time most people get around to reading this, it will all be done!

This structure is part of one of thebridges into Worms.

A tandem and toddler - brave people Nicole, Tobias, and little Charlotte.

Sort of crude modern stained glass in the "Martin Luther" church

Martin Luther was quite unattractive, if this bust is accurate.

I like photograhing stained glass because of all the colour, because is is most expressive of what a church is about, and not least, becasue the lighted glass comes out well with the camera

The Dom, partly in a baggie, and with modern ugly buildings too close

Look at the burger prices, remembering that a Euro is worth more than $1.55 Canadian!

The idyllic part of the Rhine route does not start until Mainz. So Worms to Mainz pretty much sucks.

Some examples of our roads north of Worms

This rough gravel really took it out of us

Michael, a chef at the Rhein Restaurant at the camping, law student at Mainz, and really thoughtful person.

Today's ride: 80 km (50 miles)
Total: 4,610 km (2,863 miles)

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