It's approaching the end of this European holiday and it is time to head home. Roma and I had breakfast in the market in Innsbruck before we parted - her on a bus to Munich (to fly home), me - I was off to Heidelberg in Germany (440 kms). It was tough parting as we had just the best 12 days together.
I first went to the local Harley-Davidson Store in Innsbruck to get a souvenir t-shirt (which I managed to do despite their dreadfully small selection). Then it was turn around and head west towards the town of Motz which would be my signal to turn north. After a while I noticed that there was no signs for Motz yet, but I kept going because navigating the Tyrolean valleys is easy - or so I thought. Just when I begun to think I had made a wrong turn, I noticed a sign that I did not want to see: "Italia". I had somehow managed to ride directly south rather that west. I also had to pay €9 for the privilege of using this road, and €9 back. In all I lost about 1.5 hours and a lot of pride! Italy was the sixth of 8 countries I will travel through on this trip. Soon after crossing into Germany the rain came and stayed for the rest of the day. My rain gear is good, and just my gloves were wet.
In addition to the rain, roadworks and awesome traffic jams made the day a lot longer. At one stage I was stopped so long that I got off the bike to take photos of the traffic ahead and behind (see below).
I am staying at the Hotel am Schloss, a basic but comfortable hotel. The view from my window is the incredible ruins of Heidelberg Castle, which I plan to go up and see in the morning. I was in Heidelberg before on business (with SmartForce), but remember very little. Tomorrow it is on to Calais through Luxembourg and Belgium - two countries I have never been to.
Traffic jam forwards...
Traffic jam backwards...
The wonderful ruins of Heidelberg Castle in the evening...
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