Translated by SFT
It’struly an enjoyable leisure activity biking along the river banks ofthe Rhein River. First, the trail surface is smooth, so it’s easyfor the young and the old. Secondly, the landscape is picturesquewith a winding river and great views. Thirdly, the largest producingarea for red and white wine lies in the Rhein basin. Lastly, thereare lots of historical monuments, especially between Mainz andCologne. From the hilltops, you can see numerous of castles and oldtowns, which are rarely seen on the lowlands.
Let’stour together along our way to Düsseldorf
Auniquely designed garden in Bingen am Rhein
Florian oftenrides a bicycle here to enjoy various blossoms after he recoveredfrom his surgery.
There are total of 10 small gardens. Hereare some of the views.
Castles on the hill
Cologne isregularly affected by flooding from the Rhein. In addition, manybuildings were destroyed during World War II.
The CologneCathedral survived. It’s the most famous monument in the city.
Exteriorof the church
Interior of the church
Now, it’s timefor German Word of the Day.
Guess what does the sign ‘KeinTrinkwasser’ mean?
Let’sdissect the words:
Kein = cannot
Trink = drink
wasser =water
Goodness! I wish I had understood the meaning before I filled up 5 liters ofwater. I think my stomach hurts… :o(
Let’s take a look atother tour spots in Cologne from the bike trail
CityArk
Weather was so nice that even a random shot became a greatphoto.
The bridge across the church is hung with innumerablelocks.
Wecould not spend too much time in Cologne.
We hurried to Düsseldorfto meet Hardy and Lena. WeGoogled to get the information before we left for Hardy and Lena’shome. It’s about 40km by driving on the road and about 55km byriding along the winding Rhein River. We were now not only late, butalso got lost again.
Getting lost has almost become ourroutine. We were late and no where could we find a public telephone.What were we going to do? We went to a gas station and asked thestore clerk for help. Shelet us to use the store phone and we reached Lena.
Lenaasked, “Where are you?” “I don’t know,” I responded, andthen handed over the phone to the store clerk. Shecameto our rescue, speaking German to Lena to let her know about ourlocation. Fortunately, their place was not far from the gas station.Hardy and Lena rode their bikes to meet us. Besides doing a big favorto let us make a phone call, the clerk did not want us to pay for thecall. German people are really warmhearted even though they mayappear ‘cold’.
Beforeheading to Hardy’s place, we all went to the river banks, touringaround the street. This is a place to spend money if you are rich;however, all four of us, poor cyclists, might just use our eyes,browsing only．
Hardytold us, “This is a very famous lawyer in Düsseldorf,but I don’t remember his name. He is a very important person andthis is why his statue is placed at the center of the city.”
Ihave a reputation of being forgetful. Hardy has just joined my club. Please heads up and forgive us if we forget something in the future.
Thebench in the park is shiny clean. I could feel the sun’s warmthsitting on it.
“The park is a good place to wander in winter,” Iimagined.
Wednesday is a special day in Düsseldorf.It’s a ‘beer day.’ Everyone is out for beer, chatting andrelaxing on that day. Today happened to be Wednesday; Streets werecrowded with people. Walking with our bikes, we could hardly make itto the other side of the street.
It’s better for us to avoid the crowd, celebrating the ‘beer day’at home.
Hardyand Lena werein preparation of the dinner.
Cheers!
It’san unforgettable night. Because Hardy and Lend had to get up earlythe following day, they did not want to disturb us when we weresleeping, thus they let us sleep in their master bed; they wouldsleep in the living room instead. We accepted the offer; we could notturn down their good will.
Hardyand Lena live in a small apartment to save the expense so that theycan pursue their dream of biking around the world. They also buy theparts to assemble their own bicycles. They work hard to make andsave the money. We wish their dream come true and hope they willcycle to Taiwan for us to gather and share our biking stories.
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