Nice is Nice (another bad pun)

I got to Nice, determined to have a swim. I got that, and also some heartburn from trying to find a place to stay. I finally found a place on top of a HUGE hill overlooking Nice. Not fun getting there on the bicycle. I made some pals, lazed about, and then left for Toulon, bypassing Cannes which was overrated I think.



War memorial, Nice



Nice Square



View from the Hostel



Cannes Beach

Ventimiglia, the border (and Monaco)

Almost in France! Here is Ventimiglia, the last Italian town I was in, and a view of the French coast. I have a lot more pics, it just takes a lot of time, therefore money, to upload them!



Ventimiglia from my tent!



View of the French coast



Walk in Rich Rich Monaco

More on Riomaggiero

Heres some more shots from Riomaggiero, and the Village just beyond, Levanto, where I stayed for the night. Not much to report on the cycling, except its HARD, and Malik is behaving.







Levanto Beach

The Sea and Ventimiglia

I finally made it to the sea, and cycled some of the Riviera. The Belgians had gone home and I was alone again. I took a break at a cliffside village called Riomaggiero, breaktaking!



Not Riomagierro, but still nice



This and all the others are Riomaggiero

Too much lean on that...

Arriving at Pisa



Broken Malik (now fixed)



Sunset in Pisa



Have a guess what this is

When my Belgian biking mates finally made it to Pisa we thought our troubles were over, nay, they had only begun. OK, it wasnt that big of a deal, but I had a hefty crash and destroyed yet another front wheel. Pisa was nice, by the way. The computer I am using won't upload my photos, so you'll just have to wait a little while before you see what I see.

Kyle

Under the Tuscan sun

Some of the scenery in Italy is fantastic, while some is monotonous, heres some of the nicer shots



Me and my companions on the road



Typical Italian scenery



Halfway up the Appenines



Panorama

Sunset in Padua

This is the city of Padua, just west of Venice. This night I met a couple of Canadians and we spent the better part of three hours searching for a Pizzeria in Padua. Imagine that, a pizza shop in Italy...

Fear and loathing in La Mestra

I'll update this with more words later, but I left Venice this morning and I'm in Pdua at the moment.



Very Hunter. S, sans Aviators



Venice Plaza



Old building



Typical canal

Auf Wiedersehen,Vienna

I am now preparing to depart this historic city...

Here another video, no cycling in it, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7Y9J1W8ZCA

You'll have to tilt your head...

Statue




Malik and a fountain



A hearty dinner with the Oirish

'If it aint baroque then don't fix it'
Austrian Saying

"It could only happen to that dork"

Here's another one of my 'yeah right' stories. Early in the morning I went roving thorough Vienna on my push-bike, only to discover when I returned to the hostel, to my utmost horror, that my room key and dummy wallet were missing. I recoiled violently upon learning that the lost key fee was $60AUS.

With the utmost haste I set off, retracing my steps though this most labyrinthine of cities. When I neared the police station I passed on my earlier jaunt, I enquired as to whether anyone had handed them in. Here's where the plot thickens, and you may struggle to believe me.

My keys and dummy wallet were pickpocketed from my person, but another bystander apparently witnessed this action. He called after me, but I was well off on the bicycle. He summmoned the nearest policeman, who promtly chased down and arrested the pickpocket, and found my lost keys. I just happened to return to the right police station, and quote the number on my keys, ending my dilemma.

Unbelievable.

(Well, this is what I could make out what happened, as my grasp of the German and german/english languages is quite poor.)



Random Streetcorner



Road Bridge near town centre



Stephansdom, the most incredible church



Stephansdom outside

The mighty Goethe

Typical Viennese vista

Cafe Central, a historic coffeehouse where I had my (expensive) lunch

A clever man commits no minor blunders.

-Goethe

And now something completely different...

Everything is going fine with my health, the physical aspect that is. On the road I tend to talk to myself in a monty-python style english accent, but enough about that.

But it's not all spring chicken. I seem to be following a pattern. I wake up at 7:00am feeling like death, mainly because of my frankly crap closed-cell foam mattress. I stretch and have breakfast, and feel slightly less dead. Once I'm on the bike and in the zone, everything levels out. The next 90-100 km are fantastic, and I love it. Lunch comes and goes, most probably in the main square of the town closest to 12:00 noon.

However, recently, this is where things have turned pear-shaped. My goal of the day is usually a substantial town where I can find a campground or a place where I can stock up on food. The final 10km approach to these towns are horrifying. I end up getting lost, circling the town, and adding another 15km onto the total.

Repeat cycle.

However, the good outweighs the bad tenfold. I love the feeling that I dont know exactly where I'll be tomorrow, only that it will be within a couple hundred km's. I arrived in Vienna yesterday after a hard 3 1/2 day's ride from Prague. The city is equally as marvellous in architecture, but for some reason I feel more at home here. Too bad my pocketbook doesn't think the same way.

There's never a spanner when you need one, but there's always one in the works...

Yet another 'lounging by the water' shot



Rosenburg Castle



Rosenburg, my favourite town so far

Typical Austrian countryside

Breakfast on a park bench in my first substantial Austrian town

Into Austria. That's the Czech border post in the background

A touch Czech bastard

Road in Czech Republic

Hilltop Castle

Just a few pics...

I'm about 1.5 km from the Austrian border, the Czech Republic was incredible to cycle through, but alot more hilly than the previous countries. Here's a couple of pics...



Rest by a lake



Forest path

One of the hundreds of lakes

Hotel window in Jindrichuv Hradec

Typical Cycle road

Another road