The Mainz youth hostel stay includes breakfast. Most hostels, if not all do. I'm usually at breakfast promptly when they open because I prefer to ride early before it warms up. Today I sat at a sunny table set for four. As far as I could tell, they were all set for four. Well this didn't set well with the hostel frau who promptly ordered me to the other side of the room because this side was reserved for multiple folks. No matter I was the only one there. So I dutifully moved over to the dark side of the room where she showed me to a seat with a stack of chairs behind me. In my haste to move my coffee and helpfully reset the place I vacated, I lifted a cup from the table. As happens, the saucer remained attached until it was over the concrete floor when the bond ended. Thankfully she ignored the racket. I cleaned the mess up, finished breakfast and got the hell out of there. Just can't win for losing.
There is a funny noise the bike tires make occasionally when going over loose masonry blocks. Kind of a tinkling noise. Reminds me of the time I spent in Belgium as a kid. I'd pretty much always have a bike and this noise happened there too. These interlocking pavers apparently aren't used much in the US so the sound is probably unknown there.
I decided not to take the river boat from Koblenz because I could ride the distance in better time. It's not a race, but I have places to go and things to do.
I'd rather get to town, clean up, and go exploring which is what I did today here in Manheim. This is a heavily industrial area with reactors, refineries, a port of entry, a large BASF works and many other facilities, large and small. While this area is built up, small towns along the Rhine often have some industry. It makes tons of sense to locate jobs in the country rather than concentrating them all in cities.
I met a fellow cyclist from North Carolina today who's lived for the past 10 years in Wiesbaden working as a bass player in the Wiesbaden city orchestra. He started out this morning headed for France and hoped to get there tomorrow. Then to train back to Wiesbaden to wife and three kids. We spoke about the difference between east and west and north/south. The weather is apparently crummy most of the time, winter being particularly gloomy. We rode together for a couple of hours and went our separate ways.
I promised a picture of the inner tube vending machine.. Here it is.
After seeing what I could of Manheim, I took a 20 minute ride to Heidelberg. It is a beautiful area and I have to wonder how it avoided destruction in the bombing of WWII. I need to do a little research to understand this better.
Was anxious to see how they handled bikes on the train. The system works well and you aren't separated from the bike.
I presume this sign prohibits locking your bike to the fence. They don't always follow all the rules.
When you need to retrofit a bike ramp to existing stairs, this is how you do it. Of course, you push or lower the bike. You can't ride it like this!
And another statue of this Bismarck dude. I wonder if they mass produced this statue.
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