Nathan’s stats: 72.72km, 538m climbing, 3:32 riding time

After another big breakfast, we did a few final preparations with the bikes and got ready to ride.

We left the hotel in a big group, 27 riders, just after 9am. We rode through Munich for the first 9-10 km, through many traffic lights, with the group always getting separated. Finally we got on the official München-Venezia bike path and it was easier to keep together.

The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold, with no threat of rain. Everyone was in a good mood as we cruised, mostly on bike paths, some paved, some gravel and even a short rooty mountain bike section through a forest. We rode alongside a river, very scenic. At some point a number of us went ahead and found our wonderful support driver, Miriam, at the promised spot, about 1/3 of the way along. She told us to go check out a nearby castle and it turned out to be a very peaceful place for a first lunch stop. We ate our sandwiches and snacked on cherries and blueberries under shade trees.

After lunch, Nathan ended up riding ahead with John and the two of us just kept cranking along, riding tiny country roads and bike paths until we were at an outdoor beer café, just down a short hill from the destination hotel in Bad Tölz. We had a couple of rounds of cold beer that really hit the spot. As we chatted, we saw most of the other riders pass by and climb up to the hotel.

After lunch, Katie rode with the larger group, often separating and reforming in different groupings. People all helped each other sharing directions and coping with/trying out various GPS systems that were sometimes non-functional.

We headed up and checked in, had showers, then headed out for a walk around the quaint town.

After a couple of hours it was dinner time; we all ate in the hotel dining room. The room was large but very loud, especially as the wine and beer flowed.

We didn’t hear anyone having other than positive experiences on this first day of riding and look forward to many more ahead.

It was fun going down to breakfast and seeing many of our friends from California and other places. We had a good solid breakfast then headed downtown. We came out at the Marienplatz S-Bahn stop as the day before, then walked 20 minutes to the Bavarian National Museum. On the way we came across surfers on the Eisbachwelle which has been quite a thing in Munich for over 40 years. The river has been adjusted so there’s a permanent, half-meter high standing wave that can be continually surfed. The riders were so skilled, jetting across the narrow but quick running river. One guy did a bunch of tricks then flipped into a headstand as he was pushed over the wave.

We walked around some of the museum exhibits, concentrating on the Baroque and Rococo rooms. There were English translations on the descriptions but the audio guide didn’t help much as it covered too much. They have a bunch of amazing old stuff there, that’s for sure, plus at least one piece of Lactation Art!

Soon it was time to head back toward the S-Bahn and to our station. We had lunch in an Italian café by the station, then made it to the hotel by 13:00, the bicycle group meeting time. Down in the basement we had the critical bike fitting session. We rode around and adjusted seats etc. until we were all happy with our bikes.

There was a bit of a nap session after, at least for Nathan. Then it was time to head back downtown, in a group of about 30. We arrived in Marienplatz right at 5pm when the famous marionette show takes place. We had watched it previously on YouTube but here’s our favorite part.

This started a 2 hour walking tour of Munch, with a very good Italian guide, Simone. He explained tons of history.

After seeing lots, we ended up at a restaurant for a group dinner. 7 or 8 of us stopped for gelato on the way back to the station, and before 10pm we were back at the hotel. It’s exciting to think we get to start riding tomorrow. We had a couple of rain showers today but the forecast for tomorrow is good.

July 4 started with gray weather, and it was clear it was not the day to go paragliding as we had hoped. So after breakfast we hit the road, driving our little Golf for the last time. It took a couple of hours to get to the Munich Airport where we gassed up and dropped off the car. Then we had an easy ride on the S-Bahn to town and a short walk to our hotel where we would meet all the other riders.

After showers we set out to see downtown, quickly running into Greg, Mary Ann and Fabio on the street. We joined up with Fabio and took the S-Bahn a few more stops to Marienplatz, in the heart of the old town. It was past lunch time so we sat down at the first restaurant at the top of the stairs from the station, which was right next to the famous Rathaus. We each had Heffeweisen with lunch and it was nice to just sit down a while and relax, watching people going in all directions.

After lunch, we walked around the old town for an hour taking in sights – here are a few pictures, courtesy of our team photographer, Katie.

After a little relaxation back at the hotel, we successfully accomplished two missions: We found euros for Katie (in an ATM machine) and we went with Jim and found ice-cream. It was a pretty low-key day, but we’re both really excited to meet up with the rest of the group tomorrow and start riding the day after.

After a nice German breakfast featuring bread and cheese, we worked on the blog, then headed up the hill to the Honenschwangau Castle where we had a 11:25 tour booked. We took the steeper route up, then hung out until precisely at 11:25:00 (this is Germany after all). Then the machine let 15 of us scan our QR codes and pass into the castle. We got to walk through 10 rooms with a guide, checking out the original furnishings and decorations. Indoor photos were not allowed.

We took a roundabout route back, on small trails with a lunch stop. We even walked down part of the route Nathan and Beau had unicycled in 2005 along the Alpsee.

Next up was Castle Neuschwanstein, maybe the most famous castle in the world. We hiked up quite a bit to get behind and above it for some incredible views. There’s a bridge which was so crowded it had a video sign telling how many people were on it and how many more could fit (max of 200, always full). It’s crowded because the view from it is just amazing. We took the obligatory selfie, then headed up the trail for some higher up views of the two castles and the surrounding ex-fiefdoms.

The crowds thinned out immediately as we climbed. A trail sign said that the trail went to Tegelberg and the hike took 3 1/4 hours. From the map we could see a cable car going back down from the summit so decided to try and make it all the way up. We switchbacked up and up and up, with occasional view stops and a couple of snack stops.

On top, we first checked the schedule for the cable car and found we had time for a beer! We sat out on the deck in the sun, loving the view in all directions.

We took the cable car down, ears popping, dropping 1000m in no time. At the bottom, we were going to hike back home but it was only 4:45 which left 15 more minutes to enjoy the Rodelbahn! It was Katie’s first time enjoying these crazy little curvy tracks where you ride a toboggan-like sled and go as fast as you dare – super fun!! But it was too fast for taking a video.

After a nice 2 km walk home through fields of flowers, we took showers and had a little rest before dinner. We found a second restaurant that was open, a beer garden, and this one advertised vegetarian and vegan food. We both had quinoa bowls with falafel – very tasty.

Instead of just heading home we walked to the lake shore, where we watched some ducks, soaked our feet, then heard a strange horn-like sound. Maybe it was a brass band practicing in a boathouse across the lake? We heard several short “songs” and we applauded with everyone else but didn’t know what we were applauding or where it was coming from. We walked around the lake and up the trail a bit to find out. We soon found three guys in lederhosen in the forest, with giant alpenhorns! After a couple of songs, they changed positions pointing across the lake to the tall mountains for the final number and the echo was so long and amazing! Then they carried the horns down the road and set up in front of the museum, now with a crowd of over 100. It was magical. What a lucky encounter to end an amazing day!

We woke up a little sore from the last days of hiking, but were looking forward to more adventures. After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and walked up to the cable car station. We rode down to Gimmelwald and got to see a little bit of the Via Ferrata route we missed this time – a great reason to return someday! The second cable car took us down to the Lauterbrunen valley at the Stechelberg parking lot where we had parked.

We drove down the valley a little and stopped at Trümmelbach Falls, an amazing river that has cut deeply into the limestone cliffs so far that the waterfalls are actually inside the mountain.

From Trümmelbach it was a bit under 3 hours drive to the town of Trimmis, where we met Nathan’s unicycle friend, Florian Schlumpf, in his new and updated workshop. Besides the world’s best shiftable unicycle hubs, Florian makes kinetic art, clockworks etc. He calls them Time Machines. Check out his website. He gave us a wonderful tour, then we sat on his second floor deck, enjoying drinks and delicious snacks, chatting until about 5pm.

After we said good-bye, we had a 2 hour drive through the tiny country of Liechtenstein and a corner of Austria, to Füssen, Germany. At one point in Germany, the little speed limit sign on our dashboard just showed a circle with a slash, meaning we were on an autobahn with no speed limit. We kept our speed to mostly under 100 mph but were passed at one point by someone going at least 150 mph.

It was about 7pm when we arrived at the “Romantic Pension Albrecht” and checked in. Right from our balcony we had a view of the famous Neuschwanstein Castle which was exciting. We walked downtown and found the one open restaurant and had a giant, filling dinner including pasta with lots of local chanterelles. Nathan ordered a beer Maß (one liter) and Katie ordered a small beer and was surprised when hers was 500 ml. After we ate our fill, we walked back and settled in for the night.

It was a first for us: we got up and took off WITHOUT any breakfast! It was really exciting to see blue sky and the best views yet. We walked the 5 minutes up to the cable car station and took a 15 minute ride up two cable cars through the clouds to the summit of the Schilthorn (2970m).

We went outside and marveled at the view in all directions. It was a chilly 4°C with some wind.

There is a rotating restaurant on top of the Schilthorn called the Piz Gloria. This is the place where the James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was filmed. We went inside where we had a reservation for the special “James Bond Brunch”, courtesy of our hotel. As we ate, the restaurant rotated almost all the way around. While it was luxurious and lovely, we were both a little disappointed with the emphasis everywhere on 007, rather than the mountains themselves. It has changed a lot since Nathan was here in 2012.

It required conversations with four different employees to get directions to start the walk down, but once we were on the route and through the construction zone, it was great.

There were some flowers, even at the top, but there were more and more as we went forward in the season by descending. There were snow patches, some hand rails, a river to cross, but mostly pretty easy walking on the 4200′ descent.

We wound our way down to town and had a snack at the hotel, then a short nap before a yummy pizza dinner. All during our time here, we looked and looked for Swiss Ibex but only saw one stuffed in the Piz Gloria. But here are a couple of wildlife shots from today…

We had seen the weather forecast for Friday June 30 in Mürren remain terrible since a week ago: rain all day long, 25 mm. Sure enough it was sprinkling a little in the morning as we ate breakfast. Then it stopped, so we decided to do a hike where we could bail back to town when it got really wet. The route right above town started steeply – it was a bike route but I would hate to try and ride this. There were flowers out everywhere and the view across the valley kept changing and generally getting better. There were lots of happy Swiss cows with bells.

After an hour we had climbed 300m to Allmendhubel. There was the most amazing flower themed playground there, plus a carefully laid out “Alpine Flowers Interpretive Trail”. We played around on the swings, the labyrinth, narrow underground pipe tunnels, and a zip line. The labyrinth has a button you press – it starts a timer and water jets – then you run through avoiding the water jets to hit the other button to stop the timer. Why doesn’t the US have playgrounds like this?

The rain still was holding off so we headed down the backside in order to make a loop back. Due to the weather it was so uncrowded with only one family with kids at the playground and very few people on the trails. The flowers were just amazing, everywhere, so many types and so beautiful.

Eventually we were back down in Mürren. We thought a nice place for lunch would be at the start of the famous Via Ferrata so we started down it and the sun came out! It was warm and we saw another couple decked out with climbing gear starting out. So a new plan was made: back up to town to rent harnesses asap! We got to the store but it was a sad story: much too dangerous to rent gear on a day like this – you could be fried by lightening strikes. And it takes 3 hours, blah blah blah, no luck.

So we had a picnic in town, then picked out another loop trail, this time down to Gimmelwald, about 300m lower, also a carless town. The rain still held off as we cruised down the steep mountain trail and came out in the little village where Nathan stayed 11 years ago. We each had a beer in the beer garden, delicious IPA.

But as we finished, the rain did finally start. So back up to Mürren, walking the main route Nathan had done with Geoff before. There were lots of slugs and snails out here and with our umbrellas we didn’t get super wet.

We were back at the hotel and it was just after 3pm so we hung out, watched the original Heidi movie from 1937 (highly recommended). You can watch the original black & white high res version here. We wrote in the blog and then some hours later went out for a nice dinner close by. Nathan had raclette, the classic Swiss cheese/potato/pickle/onion dish. We considered the whole day a success – the hike was certainly a bonus since it was supposed to rain hard all day.

Nine hours of time difference and a short night with only 1-2 hours sleep will catch up with you. We both slept like stones for a long time. We woke up, had breakfast, checked out of the AirBnB and headed downtown on the S18 train.

We walked around and visited a couple of churches including the famous one I had never seen, the Fraumünster, with its famous Chagall windows.

Looking closely, Katie was delighted to see her first Swiss lactation art.

Looking further, Nathan found the ultimate church window: Father Jerry Garcia playing a harp.

We walked around more, saw some interesting pasta for sale, bought groceries then headed back to our car in Zolikon by train.

The drive to the Lauterbrunen Valley took about 2 1/2 hours, a familiar route for me, a gorgeous drive. Katie got the car GPS going, and more importantly, the AC – it was sunny and kind of warm. The views got better and better as we climbed and finally we got to the famous town of Lauterbrunen. Just as we drove in the rain started. We headed up to the end of the road for the view, then parked at the cable car parking lot. The tramway to Mürren looked just as I remembered it from 2012 and soon we were heading up, in light rain.

From the top, It was a short walk to our hotel and we checked in. After a minute we looked out the window and were shocked to see a view of the Eiger north face.

We finished the day watching the Eiger Sanction movie. Livin’ large!

The flight to Zurich ended up being full but worked fine and got us there early – 10:20am. From the airport, we took the train for an hour to Konstanz, Germany and walked along the water front through town to the rental car office.

We got a VW Golf and some snacks, then drove back to Zurich. We met Christof by the lake and I had a nice reunion. The two of us have unicycled and sailed together in many countries for over 15 years, but due to Covid, hadn’t seen each other in person since Portugal in 2019.

We walked down to an outdoor café where Katie opted for Cappuccino but we had a couple of beers each. The temperature was perfect and it was super enjoyable. We walked back to near the car and decided we had to stay a little longer for a swim. We went in and the clean cool water was so so nice.

Christof took the bus up the long hill with his bike while we followed in the car. We drove over to our AirBnB in the neighboring town and unloaded luggage, then Christof drove us back to his house for dinner, stopping off for a few groceries. It was one of those perfect long evenings, out on the deck, relaxed and fun. We had all kinds of yummy breads and cheeses, beers, berries and more.

After dinner Christof showed us some of his unicycle stuff including a couple of the latest generation Schlumpf geared hubs. We plan to visit the creator, Florian Schlumpf himself, next weekend.

Christof noticed we were both really tired from sleeping only 1-2 hours on the plane so kindly drove us home. We said good-bye and settled in for some really deep sleep.

Thanks to brother-in-law Chris, we made it easily to the gate at SFO where a plane is soon going to take us magically to Zürich, Switzerland. We raced through security, me TSA-pre and Katie normal – it was a tie and neither of us had to take off shoes or unpack anything. So it seems like it’s easier than usual so far.

Well, maybe not that easy. First the flight was delayed 30 minutes, then another 90 minutes, leaving us only 15 minutes to change in Boston. But United had our back and gave us seats on the direct flight SFO to Zürich that leaves a little later but arrives a little earlier. That’s the plan. And it included nice free lunch vouchers for “disrupted passengers”.