WANDERN IM BAD EMS June 10, 2011

52.5km





WANDERN IM BAD EMS
June 10, 2011

We had a very comfortable first night at our new fowo, so we decided to stay for the rest of our last week in Germany. It is two large rooms with a nice, modern TV and plenty of space for computers, and a huge sauna. A steal at 33 euros a night.

The first night Don fell asleep watching the German version of American Idol, with all performers competing in a yodeling fest. Later he opened one eye to watch 30 seconds of the Lemans 24 hour race before he fell back to sleep.

The weather was partly sunny, partly cloudy, so we packed up our rain jackets and some lunch, set up the bikes and headed out for a ride along the River Lahn.

Right off the bat we had some mechanical problems with my bike and found that my shift cable was crimped beyond repair, so Don took my front derailleur off and now I can use the middle 7 gears, which is good enough for riding along the river.

There is good bike path along the river and we easily made it to the town of Bad Ems. This is a big tourist attraction because of the thermal waters. Lots of big hotels and convalescent hospitals, blue-haired tourists and walkers here.

We continued through the town and along the river path on to where the Lahn feeds into the Rhine, This came out just across the Rhine from the Hotel Kripps.

We stopped at the junction of the rivers for photos and then turned back, through Bad Ems again.

In the square a quartet was set up on the bandstand playing lovely classical music. We stopped and sat for awhile enjoying the lovely music. The fellow sitting in front of us was enjoying the performance, humming along and waving his hands, happily serving as informal conductor for the musicians. As we sat there enjoying the music I could imagine beautiful debutantes and their beaux swirling around a dance floor at a cotillion. It was that kind of music. Really lovely.
When the band stopped for a break we put some money in the yellow piggy bank discretely placed in the middle of the bandstand steps, and got back on our bikes for the ride back to Nassau.

We stopped at the tourist info center to get the code for their internet, and then home for a shower and some dinner.

Later that night we went back to the tourist info center to log on and get our email, but we had to sit outside and it began to drizzle, so we made short work of our computer time and returned home for the evening. I couldn’t keep my eyes open, so I went to bed by 9pm.