Making our way through Germany continues to be a challenge with the heat and humidity. We have been getting used to getting up at 5 am and cycling for 5 hours then taking a three hour nap in the afternoon in the shade. We are still cycling long days, which I hope will change when we get to Holland and Denmark, but until then we will continue to build up our cycling muscles!
On July 3 we made our way to our warmshowers hosts outside of Saarbruken. On the way we stopped at the Berghohlen Caves in Homburg. These caves were man-made to make glass. In WWII it was used as an air raid shelter for hundreds of people. During the Cold War it was used as an emergency shelter for the president of France, but he never needed it.
Of course we stopped in Saarbruken for a three hour nap before meeting our hosts. They made us a full meal and we shared stories of past trips.
Luxembourg! I was so excited to pass the border into Luxembourg, but was soon disappointed by the lack of bike lanes, terribly fast drivers, and the number of hills it took us to get to Luxembourg city. On the way to the city my spoke broke on my back wheel, which isn't a big deal of you have the tool to fix it, but we didn't. So, in Luxembourg City, late on a Saturday afternoon it took what seemed like forever to find a bike shop, and when we did, they were rude and not helpful. They said we'd need to wait a week to get one spoke fixed. We asked to borrow their tools and we'd do it for ourselves, but they refused. This was our first impression of Luxembourg, and it wasn't good. Finally, we talked ( I begged) to the mechanic and he had no issues fixing it for us. We've never had a problem fixing our bike at a bike shop in the past, and we needed it done that day because on Sunday, everything is closed.
We we're finally ready to eat and check out the city center after my bike was fixed, but we ran into another issue- there were no grocery stores. We still don't know how people eat in Luxembourg. They must just go out to eat because all we saw were restaurants. We ate in city center and had a beer at the oldest pub. The city center was beautiful and the old town is set in a canyon. If you like high end shopping, this is the place to be. There are a lot of designer stores with hefty price tags.
After Luxembourg I thought our hills were done. Boy, was I wrong. The Ardennes in Belgium are nothing but hills. One. After. The. Other. We made it across the border to Belgium on July 5. Martin and I weren't feeling so hot, so we only cycled 48 km this day. We were thinking it was the food in Luxembourg. We stopped in a weird little campground and woke up to cool weather!
Yesterday we cycled 133km up and down, and up, and down the hills into Namur. We cycles through Bastogne, where the Battle of the Bulge took place. We didn't spend much time there, just went to city center and took some photos. My grandpa was in the Battle of the Bulge, so he was in my thoughts most of the day.
After finally stopping for the day in Namur, we were ready for a famous Belgium beer and chocolate. Our guidebook suggested a small bar tucked away on a side street. We found the bar and we're happy to be trying the Trappist beers from the region. They were excellent, much more hoppy than the German and Polish beers, and a lot more alcohol content. The chocolate, too, is amazing. Simple ingredients, but so tasty!
Our host in Namur informed us yesterday that Tour De France is arriving this afternoon (7/7) through the city center and the Citadel. We are so lucky to be here just in time, and totally not planned, to see the Tour de France today! So we are taking an easy day today to sample more beer and chocolate.
The Trappist beers are tasty!
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