One More Bike Ride

So this morning we realized that we bought the wrong train tickets to get to the Zurich airport this evening. We chose to go through Bulach instead of a town that starts with a "W" and unfortunately, the Bulach route doesn't run today or it runs much earlier than we need to leave. So we called the train information service, and they told us that we either need to go to the train station and exchange tickets (the ones we need are 1 franc more) or pay an 80 franc fine on the train. Hmmmm, as you can imagine that was not a difficult decision. However, the train station is in Schaffhausen, the town we biked to yesterday.

We decided only one of us would go get the tickets, and that ended up being Dan b/c he speaks a little German whereas I speak none. Then we had to decide whether to take the bus (about 8 francs round trip) or bike again. The logical choice would be the bus considering the pain of yesterday, but the problem is we are on the last day of our journey and only have enough francs to buy food and bus fare for tonight. We could take more francs out of the ATM, but then we're left with extra currency that we have to change. I told Dan that if I were going, I would just take the bus and that it doesn't really matter if we have to take money out of the ATM, but as you can just imagine, Dan liked the challenge of another bike ride AND the joy of saving some money at the end of a long trip. So as I write, he's biking up hellacious hills and probably, in some strange way, enjoying himself. I couldn't have asked for a better husband. :)

Crazy Biking, Beautiful Views

Today Dan and I rode our bikes to Schaffhausen and to the Rheinfalls, and I seriously almost died - not from getting hit by a car (although that almost happened) but more from biking (or walking my bike) up hills that nearly gave me heart failure. You can probably just picture Dan trying to cheer me on up these hills and me responding with loving glares. :)

Anyway, the falls were AMAZING! and we even had our packed sandwich lunch overlooking the thunderous, bubbling mass of water. Later we went for a little swim in the Rhine and walked around the town before we began the bike ride home. The ride home wasn't so bad because we had a lot more downhill, but I was still very happy to arrive in Lohningen and put the bikes back in the basement. I suggested to Dan that tomorrow for entertainment, we go hiking. :)

Rheinfall

Hey this is a picture of the largest waterfall in Europe. With an average flow of 25’000 cubic ft / sec (700 m3 / sec) the water cascades down the cataracts, which are 450 ft ( 150 m) wide and 75 ft (23 m) high. We will ride our bikes by it maybe this evening. We live about a 15 min bike ride from it. (From Rheinlands website)
Years ago the famous poet Eduard Mörike, overwhelmed by the unique performance of nature, described his feelings as follows:
oh traveller, be careful and hold your heart very firm in your hands - I nearly lost mine out of joy by watching the powerful play of huge masses of water thundering down the falls and breaking the surface below, causing a mist rising high...
Dan P

From Swiss

Hello all,
Juile and I are on our last week in Europe and we are both sad and glad to be coming home soon. We just left Rome yesterday after three days of crazy site seeing. Boy do we have stories. I hope to share some over the next couple of days as internet access is free here. After riding all day in a train we arrived in the area of Schaffhausen, Switzerland which is right near the German border. Currently, we are staying with the nephew of Inge and Roger Hendersen in a little town called Lohningen. He is a Dutch man married to a Swiss girl, who grew up in this same area. They have a small flat that we now occupy for the next 3 days as they left for a conference in Germany this morning. (He is the IT guy for Wicliff Bible Translators). Yesterday, we went to her brothers farm down the street and picked fresh strawberries to eat over the next couple days! The farm also has potatoes, sunflowers, and its own vineyard. We are truly blessed for this place of rest. We were also given a freshly bottled white wine and grape juice from their vineyards. The photo above is the town of Stein am Rhein that we will visit tomorrow via river boat. We will ride bikes into town and then take a 1 hour boat ride, stop in Stein, see an old town, castle, and then ride back home. Wed will be spent resting and reflecting and then we will take a late bus into Zurich Flughafen (airport) to spend the night there before our 710am flight to Chicago.
Dan and Julie P

Espana the Second

Hola,
Julie and I are in an air conditioned internet cafe in Sevilla because it is bloody hot. We have just one full day here before we fly to Milan, Italy so we went down to the big cathedral and Plaza de Espana which is this grand central square. It is prime siesta time right now so we will go rest from the heat soon in front of a fan. Tonight we get to go out with some new found friends to a Cuban restaurant and Julie just might find some European style skirt in a shop. We are currently staying in a Christian ministry center that is completely empty, maybe reflective of the influence of a vibrant faith life here in Europe? Actually, the people we came here to stay with are Christians who deliberately live in this neighborhood of artsy, alternative Spaniards for the purpose of building relationships and Christian community. They´re really great people! Interestingly enough, we found out today that the word evangelical here (like if you say I´m an evangelical) means that you´re in a cult to most Spaniards. Strange how that word can mean different things in different cultures. Well our hour is almost up. Writing next from Italy so look for it.
Dan and Julie

Espana

Hello friends,
Julie and I are enjoying our favorite time of day in Spain right now, siesta! It is a time in the afternoon about 2-4pm or 1:30 to 4pm in smaller coastal areas. In which almost all activity stops! Yup, a county wide rest time. Sure all you basic services stay running and all lunch places begin serving food. Yes, most people eat lunch during this time since work really doesn´t start till 830 or 930 for most and dinner isn´t 9 or 10 at night. Lunch is also considered the largest meal of the day. The rest period allows for most of the afternoon heat to dissapate both physically and from any stress from working in the morning. Although, it appears that stress and Spaniards really don´t mix well. Julie and I spent the morning at the beach and now are taking a rest before we go back to the beach again. I hope to post a picture of the beach and more pictures tonight from our Camino. We are staying with some friends of Kelly and April´s who have a house 5 min from a beach on the Atlantic coast of Spain. Right near Cadiz the oldest city in Europe and the place where Columbus sailed for his 2nd and 4th journey to the Americas. On Sunday we travel in land a bit to the city of Sevilla for a day where we will they head for Italy. Great fun this journey of traveling the Old World.
Dan P