Set Them Free

    6+ Months
    Hasta Luego

    Days 122-157
    Western sunrise

    Days 85-122
    Gaudi was right

    Days 72-85
    Barcelona rises

    Days 59-71
    Anchovies and Kitty Cats

    Days 47-58
    Patrino means paradise

    Days 39-46
    Alp d'Hamish

    Days 24-38
    French Laundry

    Days 18-23
    Conquering Britain!

    Days 10-17
    Made it to Mosjoen!

    Days 6-9
    Arrival in Frankfurt

    Days 1-5
    SF - Vancouver

    - Email Leslie
    - Email Sasha

July 25, 2004, Sasha
Hello from Germany! We finally made it across the seas after a long day of traveling. A 7am flight from Vancouver meant watching the beautiful sunrise on our way out of Canada's finest. A quick stop-over in Dallas (cheap tickets, dont' ask) and hot damn we're in Frankfurt faster than you can say 'Don't mess with Texas!'

Sobering reminders of America's misguided foreign policy meant plenty of military personel on our plane. Frankfurt appears to be a staging point for incoming recruits to Iraq. One of the young faces next to me on the plane couldn't have been more than 18. And as he sipped coca-cola and watched cartoons on the airplane, he might very well be in battle the very next day fighting in the hell of war. I wish these kids safety, they certainly have earned our respect.

Once we arrived in Frankfurt, we had a lenghty trial-and-error session with the most bizarre pay phones this side of Taiwan. Finally learning the bike was to arrive at 3pm, so off to the hotel. This was no ordinary hotel. First it was on the edge of town, the opposite edge, proven by a $50 cab ride. As we quickly realized, the internet is not always the best judge of a hotel. Let's just say it was clean.

As we quickly learned, everything in Germany has a rigid system, although sometimes a bit of abstract thought must go into figuring out exactly what that system is. The subway to the Airport took some of this abstract thought. Then the taxi to the airport cargo area took the driver pulling over 3 times for directions. Finally arriving to a dimly lit office, we began our journey through 5 different shipping/customs offices which took about 3 hours, 2 stamped papers and 1 thunderous rain storm that appeared all of a sudden. The highlight being a stroll through a parking lot filled with 4 inches of water carrying our gear. The 5th office was the jackpot and finally our precious Hamish appeared on a fork-lift. He seemed about as eager to see us as we were to see him. The exit involved riding through a flooded road with water up to the cylinders.

Back at the hotel, we hit the only restaurant open, a pizza joint filled a bizarre spoken language somewhere between German, Italian and something from the middle east. Our pizza accompanied a large bottle of very strong wheat beer. Now I understand why a lemon wedge is provided with this stuff.

The next day involved a very beautiful ride out to Heidelberg via many small country villages. The roads were almost as beautiful as the scenery and we found ourselves in the storybook town where a gigantic castle on the hill overlooks tiny cobblestone streets. It was as if we entered some kind of storybook attraction at Disneyland.

Last night we spent at the home of Stefan Knopf, who runs a motorcycle B&B just south of Heidelberg. Stefan's a very nice and busy guy, running 4 businesses and 5 children. He can't decide which one takes more effort.

Off to a late start to the Mosel region, apparently the most beautiful region in Germany. Wine country, gorgeous hillsides and villages, a gigantic meandering river, and terrible terrible wine. We found a small B&B run by a nice older couple who didn't speak a word of English in a tiny winemaking town called Ernst. There was a summer festival going on which included a marching band of piccolos, lots of good beer and even more bad wine.

Norway is calling and all we ask is for some sun to light the way.

-Your treking newlyweds.