The Hennings: June 2009

Hi there,

Well this month we did a 7 day bike tour with our favorite bus company, Bender Royal Tours. This was our fourth time with Bender and as always, it was great. We took a bus from Geinsheim to our first Hotel in the Vinschgau area South Tyrol (Südtirol). Our hotel was way up the side of a mountain and in a 40 passenger bus pulling a trailer you did kind of hold on a little tighter.
Our hotel was fantastic.

HOTEL THAIRMÜHL, MARTELL

Wasn't kidding about the bus and trailer!

So we rode our bikes for 5 days. Each day was about 50 kilometers for a total of about 350 kilometers overall. What is that in miles you ask? Well 1 mile is 1.6 kilometers so about 220 miles. After riding each day, the bus would meet us and take us back to our hotel. We stayed 2 nights at the hotel Thairmühl and then balance of the trip at a hotel located in Auer.

HOTEL MARKUSHOF, AUER

Most of the ride was downhill or on flatland but the last day had a killer hill at the end. You would think I would be really skinny but all the fabulous food and red wine just cancelled it all out!

Our first day riding started in Glurns and took us to Naturns. Second Day Naturns to Eppan; third day Eppan to Auer; fourth day Auer to Trient; fifth day Trient to Gardasee. I think the best way to do this is to just show you pictures and hope you enjoy them as much as we did taking them. Northern Italy is incredibly beautiful and if you ever want to really enjoy a beautiful place in this world, plan a trip to South Tyrol.

The Zugspitz is the highest Mountain Germany

Wolfgang showing you all the trails and mountains he has climbed

Some pretty little lake we stopped at on our bus trip to Südtirol

For those of you that think spelling isn't important,
sometimes it can completely change the meaning!

This is a very famous church tower that is now located in the middle of a resevoir. The town was relocated when the dam was made with the exception of the church tower. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to say that I have stood at the bottom of the tower.

Unloading my bike from the trailer, thirty-five bikes in all.

Everyone getting started. Yes mom, I wear a helmet!

Just starting out.

Some monastery we rode past.
You know, it was those monks that invented beer and champagne!

Juval Castle.
This is the home of Reinhold Messner.
The only man that has ever climbed all 14 mountains over
8,000 meters (24,000 feet) without using oxygen tanks.

Wolfgang standing below the Castle Juval.

The northern Italian's way of letting you know that is a good idea to wear a helmet.

Every other day we had a picnic. Great food and always in a beautiful location.
This was next to a river with snow capped mountains all around.

The parks are filled with fantastic garden art.

This is part one of this art. A fountain would fill up his mouth and then....

Just a great deal of fun.

Südtirol is natually beautiful but there is always a human reminder of something from the past. This is one of three Bunkers from WWII that we saw along the way.

Südtirol is in Italy but pretty much everyone speaks German because it was originally German. Now the architecture is definitely Italian and if you look closely, you will see that some of the buildings are covered in paintings.

Again, if you look closely you will also see that German precision engineering was not a must when some of these buildings were made.

This is not a balcony I would want to stand on after drinking too much.

This building was on the last stretch of our journey. This clock is the biggest clock of its kind in the world. It is situated WAAAAAAY up on the side of a mountain. You may ask why and the answer because they wanted too. I don't know, maybe they knew that in a 100 years, it would be a tourist attraction for the area.

This was our highest point of the trip and it seemed like it was MUCH higher than what the sign says. Again, using that math stuff, this pass was about 861 feet over sea level. I was expecting snow by the time we got to the top but the ride down was fantastic because we ended the tour at Lake Garda. It was worth all the "if we aren't there soon, I think I am going to die!" thoughts on the way up.