2008-04-28 05:08 PDT
A short ride to Donauworth, a very rich city in Bavaria according to our unreliable guide book (done by an English Cyclist).  

The roads here made us remember the roads in Palo Alto. Ours are an embarassment!   The German roads are almost perfect asphalt: no potholes, no asphalt fillings, no metal plates, no dirt (we saw a farmer cleaning the road in front of his farm), nothing but smooth good asphalt.  Off road in the forests or along the Danube the dirt is hard packed, clean, without potholes ( the  few larger  potholes were filled in very well with either hard pack or cement made to match the road color).  The pebbly roads, not much fun, are clean and of mostly uniform pebbles- good walking and maybe jogging surface but not designed for biking. many shrines(?) on the roadside, mainly crucifixes.

One picture might be labeled "A better class of dirt".

Brought to you by Tip Top Tea (The Tea of Record). Try the Monday Special, our Donau blend, continual flavor turns and bends.

Second day in a row that we could not take our bikes into the room; they were appalled by the idea. Usually in the US we have no problem and larger hotels seem more flexible here.  Owner operated ones are unable to imagine bringing dirt into the rooms.

View down the largish uphill in Donnauworth would be spectacular if we had not seen so many before, took picture (pic) anyway.

Menu tonight at the local restaurant included Pigs Foot Monday (very good value at Euro 6,90, although we failed to order any). The menu is included (pic), as well as our meals, good and generous.  No way would the Swabians dare to say that American portions are large.  Finished with some possibly local Schnappes or Grappa, made of pears;  head clearing. Watched a guy eat the pigs foot, methodically clearing the meat and fat from the bone, adding potatoes to the plate, then slowly consuming everything but the bone. Two beers to wash it down.

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