Alps 2024 — The Arrival

Long flight, not much sleep, but that’s a distant memory. We were on our way to Welzheim by 10am after breezing through customs and baggage claim. Like Madison. Stuttgart is also a nice, smallish airport that doesn’t overwhelm.

We arrived at Harald’s boyhood home and chatted for awhile with his lovely parents. His mother, in particular, enjoys the opportunity to speak English and she has many tales to tell!

Eventually we got down to business building my bike, which went well.

Once the bikes were built, we went on a brief tour of Welzheim, checking out the ancient Roman ruins and some other town sites. Welzheim is built on top of the hills in an area that is sort of like hill/valley.

A quick stop at Edeka (grocery store) gave me a chance to scout out for next time on the trip.

Finally, I checked in at my hotel and decompressed a bit. A quick nap and some unpacking left me feeling fresher.

Around 4:30 we decided to head to Schorndorf’s biergarden where there was some tasty vegan food along with some non alcoholic beer on tap. Of course, this meant biking down the hill which was about a 250m descent on various types of road, including gravel and country paved bike paths. Harald’s parents drove down to meet us, but we beat them there.

After dinner (I had delicious schnitzel and fries), we headed back up the hill which was easier said than done. Altogether our ride time was about two hours with some pretty big climbing for a jet lag day.

Went back to my hotel and hit the hay. Set my alarm for 4:45 am!