Wednesday, July 17, 2024 Welcome to Atlanta...
We had a weather delay out of JAX. While we were waiting, we made friends with a flight attendant named Kyle, who just happened to be in class with some of our friends back in the day. We finally got on the flight with barely enough time to make our connection.
We sent this picture to our friend who asked if the lady sitting next to Nancy was Nila Jean. No, it wasn't Nila Jean, her name was Shannon. She was a good sport and we enjoyed chatting with her while we took a further delay waiting to take off.
When we finally landed in Atlanta, we had missed our connection to Zurich. After stopping at 2 Sky Clubs to ask for assistance, we found our way to the rebooking desk.
Thankfully we were close to the front of the line of almost 100 people and got a great agent. She was able to rebook us on Air France through Paris the next day and comp'ed our hotel because we were so nice, even though they are not obligated when the issue is weather. We were kicking ourselves for not standing by for an earlier Jacksonville to Atlanta flight.
We enjoyed dinner and drinks at the E concourse Sky Club before heading to the Airport Hyatt Place for the night. Our friend David, already in Zurich, was able to cancel one of the hotel rooms we wouldn't be able to make.
Thursday, July 18. 2024 Still in Atlanta...
Our Air France flight was not scheduled to take off until mid-afternoon, so Nancy and BJ decided to walk over to the Delta General Offices to get their retiree ID's.
We headed back to the airport in plenty of time for the flight. BJ and Tony have a Clear membership and were able to get through the Security check quickly but Nancy got stuck in a very long TSA precheck line. There was another line for TSA Precheck with Digital ID that did not have anyone in line that would have been quicker for her, but no matter, we had plenty of time.
We had lunch and drinks in the F Concourse Sky Club. BJ wanted to try out the Centurion Lounge since we had plenty of time, so she went over to E Concourse to explore. She decided she prefers the Delta Sky Club.
We went to the gate for our Air France flight. Shortly before boarding we glanced out the window. Uh-oh. It was pouring rain. We were afraid we would be taking another delay but the gate information still showed an on-time departure.
Finally! We boarded the flight and waited for our welcome glass of sparkling wine!
Friday, July 19. 2024 The LONGEST Day!
Destination: St. Margrethen, Switzerland
We arrived in Paris after a short nap on the plane. Air France did not begin the meal service until 2 hours into the flight. We would have preferred to have our meal early and then get a nice long nap but it was not to be.
We passed through customs and made it to the Air France Lounge to wait for our connection to Zurich. It was there that we heard the news about the worldwide ground stop due to a software problem with some security software. CrowdStrike had rolled out a security update that caused Microsoft computers to get a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). We hurried to the gate and were relieved to find that our flight was still operating on time.
By the time we got to Zurich, things had escalated and we weren't able to get to the gate to get off of the plane because of all of the grounded aircraft. Thankfully it didn't take the 2 hours that the captain warned us it would take and we were only held on the taxiway for about 15 extra minutes.
We took the train to Konstanz, connecting in Weinfelden and met our friend David at the bike shop. We got our packs loaded on the bikes and set out for St. Margarethen. We had trouble getting out of the busy town, but after that it was a fairly easy ride with the exception of a couple of really steep hills.
Our first rest stop was 11 miles into the ride at the Seegasthof Schiff in Kesswil, Switzerland. We found a shady spot next to the marina to cool off from our hot ride! They were having unusually high temperatures for the area.
After some refreshing beverages, we rode on another 10 miles to our next stop at the Saurer Garten in Arbon, Switzerland. There was a museum on site with old embroidery machines but we didn't take time to tour it.
Our next 12 miles had a couple of significant hills making Nancy & BJ rethink their bicycle choices. The boys on their e-bikes cruised up the hills with minimal effort while BJ and Nancy struggled up a 230 foot climb over the course of 3 miles, occasionally getting off & pushing the bikes.
We made it to our destination of the Ibis Styles in St. Margrethen, Switzerland at 7:45PM. We got checked in, took much needed showers and barely made it to the Ristorante Pizzeria Da Franco before the kitchen closed. Our first meal of the day tasted SO GOOD! The owner brought us limoncello to toast our success! Tony's GPS said we rode 34 miles.
Saturday, July 20. 2024
Destination Friedrichshafen, Germany
We woke up early and hit the shop at the train station for a cappuccino from the Starbucks machine and a pastry.
We decided to get started early before it got hot. We made good time and only stopped once for a beer and French fries at Zum Stachus Restaurant in Wasserburg, Germany.
We encountered a detour where the bike path was closed, but didn't have to ride in much traffic. Being Saturday, everyone was enjoying walking, biking and swimming near the lake.
We found our hotel, the Hotel Hellers Twenty Four II in (or near) Friedrichshafen. It was a little further from town than we hoped. We shared a 3 bedroom 1 bath apartment. It was nice enough, but with the heat wave and no air conditioning, these Americans were suffering. The hotel was a bit of a disappointment as it was almost 2 miles from the town of Friedrichshafen. That doesn't sound like much, but after riding our bikes all morning in the heat, we weren't up for another 2 mile ride or walk.
The closest bistro was the Bistro Eulenspiegel, a 15 minute walk.
Dinner was at the hotel's Greek restaurant, the Poseidon, where we all agreed, we ordered WAY too much food. The best dish was the stuffed grape leaves.
Tony's GPS registered 32 miles on the bikes today.
Sunday, July 21. 2024
Destination Uberlingen, Germany
We had coffee and pastries at the hotel and then packed up and headed out. It was a nice cool morning. The GPS led us into a muddy field that led us to an unpassable puddle so we had to turn around and walk our bikes back to the main path and reroute. We found our way back to the path next to the lake.
After about an hour, we came to a festival in Unteruhldingen. They were having Mass and people were cooking sausages over open fires.
We passed some beautiful sunflower fields along our route.
Another few miles and we were in Uberlingen, Germany at the Hotel Le Fleur. We were confused about where to put our bikes. The hotel check in desk directed us to their garage, but it was only a 2 car garage. We took a picture to show her to make sure we put them in the right place.
We found a spot at Cafe Pizzeria Allegretto overlooking the lake for lunch.
After lunch, we made our way back past the town's interesting fountain.
A shower and a short nap were in order before we found our way to the Schneiger Restaurant for some afternoon refreshments.
We found another shady spot to relax at the Gasthaus Engel.
The town was quite crowded because of the Uberlinger Promenadenfest, with booths and music everywhere.
Uberlingen has beautiful gardens that were a bit difficult to appreciate because of all of the festival booths that were set up in front of the flowers.
We had one last glass of wine at Gasthaus Zur Krone before heading back to the hotel to eat our leftover lunch pizza for dinner in the room while it rained. We rode 18 miles today.
Monday, July 22. 2024 - Tony's Birthday
Destination Radolfzell, Germany
We found a coffee shop in the front section of the grocery store and got cappuccino and pastries. After breakfast, we set out to try to beat the rain to our next destination. We didn't quite make it. There was a little confusion because Tony had the wrong hotel programmed as the destination in his phone. We got that straightened out and only had a couple of hills to climb. Google Maps routing function was a bit disappointing. We selected bicycles for the routing but it kept directing us to roads instead of bike paths.
There was a section of the bike path near Sipplingen where the path narrowed and it was difficult to pass the bikers coming in the opposite direction without walking the bikes.
Just outside of Radolfzell, we stopped to watch some beautiful cranes coming in for a landing.
We got just enough rain to cool us off. It has stopped by the time we got to our hotel, the Gastof Seerose. We set out to explore the town.
We had lunch at the Boothaus Bistro located right on the lake! The restaurant was just across the tracks from our hotel, but to get there, we had to walk to town, take the tunnel under the railroad station and double back. We asked the cute server to take our picture.
We did some more exploring.
There was a nice park where the children could cool off in the shade next to the lake.
The Gasthaus Kreuz was closing for their break between lunch and dinner but they let us stay long enough for a beer.
Nancy and David arrived and we ordered several Pizzellas and more wine. A German couple who had lived in Florida came over to talk to us. Everyone found out that it was Tony's birthday so there were shots all around!
BJ and Nancy decided to run across the street to the Aldi and get some candy for dessert.
It was a fun day! We only did 16 miles on the bike today.
Tuesday, July 23. 2024
Destination Steckborn, Switzerland
After breakfast at the hotel, we set out for Stein Am Rhein, at the recommendation of our friend Rita Brutsch who grew up there. We missed the entrance to the bike path and ended up on a busy road where we were quite unwelcome as indicated by all of the horn honking. Both sides of the narrow road had guard rails so we couldn't get back to the path for awhile.
We finally got back on the path where we saw more beautiful sunflowers!
Stein Am Rhein Altstadt was a beautiful little walking town with lots of shops and restaurants.
We had a refreshing prosecco at Rhein River Bike while we enjoyed a little people watching.
The bike path had us riding along the lake again near Mammern.
The bike path crossed the railroad tracks several times, and we were happy about the safety bars that drop when a train is approaching. Those trains go FAST!!!
Our destination for the evening was Steckborn and the Hotel Feldbach, a beautiful hotel right on the lake! Our rooms weren't ready yet so we had a snack at the hotel restaurant.
After lunch, we walked along the lake.
We had lunch at US-Mex Terrazza.
Nancy and BJ went for a walk to check out the town of Steckborn.
There wasn't much to see. We stopped by the Coop Supermarket and then Tony and David for a relaxing afternoon and evening at the hotel patio.
We did 20 miles on the bikes today.
Wednesday, July 24. 2024
Destination Zurich, Switzerland
We had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then started our final ride of the trip. The ride was lovely and thankfully uneventful.
Our plan would have us spending the evening at the airport hotel, so we decided rather than hurry back, we would spend some in Konstanz before taking the train back to Zurich. We had a snack of the most delicious french fries at Konzilgastaten.
We barely had time for a pizza at La Piazza before our train. Our adorable server from Albania had his masters degree but with no opportunities in Albania, had come to Germany.
We only did 12 miles on the bikes today.
Thursday, July 25. 2024
Destination Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
Time to head home. We woke up to find that the inbound flight equipment would be 2 hours late arriving. Apparently the lavatories weren't working to the plane had diverted to Boston for the repair. We were happy that they got them fixed and the flight wasn't cancelled! We missed our connection in Atlanta, but were able to stand by for the next flight and made it home before midnight! Lucy was happy to see us!
Our 132 mile bicycle trip took us through 3 countries, Austria, Switzerland and Germany. It was really nice to see the countryside and the little towns surrounding the lake. Yet another great trip with great friends!
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