Bare Bottom Bike Break

To Hamburg, Germany -- 43.9 miles, 12.2 mph, 1075 ft

This morning we had a good laugh about our new family book, The Trumpeter of Kraków.  At the end of the first chapter, the trumpeter is shot in the chest with an arrow, dying as he blows the final note of his song. Hmm, not sure we need the next 200 pages.

The first half of the day was on a trail meandering along the side of the highway. Meg and Dex seemed particularly enchanted with its snake like path. Kylie’s head was more into times tables today; I also quizzed her a little on the places we’ve been -- European countries, capital cities, where we’re going next.... Although the Eiffel Tower is not in Brazil, and the capital of England is not Paris, it is true the next country we’ll come to is Denmark (yeah). We may need to focus a little more on European geography.

For lunch today we stopped (again) at a McDonald’s that just happened to present itself a mile from our targeted grocery store. Meg was craving a Coke Light (with ice), the kids wanted Happy Meals, and I wasn’t going to say no to a McCafe cup of coffee, especially since there was no coffee at the campground this morning. I know, we’re pathetic.

Happy Meal toys

One nice thing about the frequent stretches of farmland and countryside between towns is there are always plenty of opportunities for potty breaks.  If Kylie didn’t actually sleep through the night without peeing, I'd be really concerned, cause she seems to need to stop every 10 miles. A few weeks ago, I made the mistake of handing Dex the camera at one of the stops that I initiated, and ended up deleting a suspect photo afterwards. During one of today's stops the camera somehow accidentally went off in Meg's direction. The kids and I agreed the blog title “Bare Bottom Bike Break” would be really good (sans photo).

Komoot did its usual thing as we got into Hamburg and directed us along a series of back roads, walking paths and cycle ways. The Arena Hostel, situated a few miles away from the old town and in a business park next to an equipment rental office, wasn't much to look at, but would do the trick for a couple nights. Our one major complaint, however, was the almost complete lack of ventilation. The anemic floor fan would have to do.

One of the best parts of the day occurred at dinner. We had our sites set on a Mexican restaurant, Dos Amigos, just a few train stops away. When that failed, we walked a few more blocks through the quiet neighborhood coming upon the Little Buddha Restaurant.  As we were waiting to order, the young couple next to us heard us speaking English and asked where we were from. We ended up having a wonderful conversation with Thomas and Julie, regulars at the restaurant. He is a social worker helping refugees in town and she is a civil engineer managing construction projects. They love to travel and seemed envious of our one year tour. Thomas promised to read the blog everyday, though I’m pretty sure he'll be getting more than he bargained for. Today marks the end of our 7th week since Barcelona -- 1631 miles, 140 hours of pedaling, and 57,000 feet of climbing. Not a bad ride so far.