Exploring Tübingen

Today was our first full day in Tübingen, and offered our first chance to really look around. The weather cooperated as well, and for the first time in nearly a week the rain subsided and the sun came out.

The view from the balcony of Csaba and Emese's flat. You can see some of the University buildings on the ridge across the valley.

Adrian has a cold, so I put my bike together and struck out on my own to investigate the city. The downtown is at the bottom of the valley, on the Neckar River, and there are other pockets of buildings scattered around the on the hills, at the top, and in various little draws.

Another balcony view, looking in the direction of the downtown. It may appear idyllic, but it's actually damn cold. The sun is a welcome change though.

Csaba and Emese live nearly at the top of the hill, which makes for a brutally steep ride back up after forays into the city. Probably the most fun in Tübingen is hopping from one little area of the city to another. One part will look very new and industrial, but turn a corner, and you find a handful of roads like this:

Winding, cobblestone, and confusing. At least they almost all dump out onto a few main roads.

Fun to ride on, albeit challenging.

Adrian opted not to bring a road bike on the trip, instead just bringing some training wheels and a front brake. Up to this point, it seems like a great plan, as traveling with just one bike is a lot easier than two. But now that 45 x 20 gear combination is going to be tough. I guess we'll see just how tough he really is. To his credit, one afternoon in Munich when we went to train at the track, he forgot shorts. Not one to be sidelined by such problems, he safety-pinned his leg warmers to the bottoms of his underwear and took to the track. A bit of thigh flashing ensued, but by and large it worked out. It takes a real man to ride a velodrome, in a stadium, in Europe, in your underwear.

This makes me proud to be an American.