I want to ride my bicycle......

One of the many benefits to living in Europe is the bike scene.  There are hundreds of bike trails in almost every country which is probably why it is such a popular activity.  For over a year now we have been "working" on joining in the fun. The search is somewhat of an exhausting, long story....so here is the short version: our bikes in the states, packed tightly in the shipping boxes, are too big for the US Postal Service to ship (by like 8 inches), so our options were to either pay big bucks to ship them from the states, pay for them to be shipped as extra luggage on our flight, or pick up bikes over in Europe.  The cheapest option turned out to be buying bikes in Europe.....but not by much.  Months of looking and researching paid off as we both found great bikes that we feel will be worthy of shipping back to the states when all this fun and games comes to an end.  Here are the new additions:

The first ride was more of a test ride than anything else, so we selected a route that is not too difficult and one that we could access from our house.  The route we chose ran parallel to the local train tracks for quite a few kilometers.  This was intentional......in case one of us got a flat tire, we could simply hop on the train to return back to our village. 

It was good to see the trains running today, even if it did come out of nowhere to scare the living life out of us.

There were many great finds on our ride, including this eclectic mix of statues and pottery.

One of the many train stations found along the route.

Our destination was a small village called Speicher...mainly because there is an excellent ice cream shop in the village.  The route to get there was going to take some effort, but the views were worth it.

Finally.....we reached our destination and ultimate reward.....two scoops of Gelato. 

The views on the return trip were just as rewarding as those climbing up to the village. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a great first ride and since this inaugural trip, we have officially introduced the weekly tradition of going for a ride every weekend.  No traffic to contend with, plenty of bike paths to choose from, and easy access.......I think it is safe to assume that most of our weekends this upcoming summer will be spent on the bicycles.