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Rest Day and Relief on the way!

For 15 days we have ridden hard. We have been in mostly remote areas and slept in small towns. We are almost at the halfway point in the tour.
But now we are in the magical and romantic city of Salzburg for rest. And for me some much needed physiotherapy. If I can’t be home on Canada Day, I can’t think of a nicer place to spend it!

in our hotel lobby

Sadly, our one guide Enrico, is leaving us today to travel to Strasbourg France to guide another bike trip before returning to his home in Venice. He worked tirelessly with the problems we have had; flight delays, missing luggage, missing bikes, Covid isolation, shuttling between the separated Covid/nonCovid groups, my interpreter(he speaks 6 languages) in the different clinics and hospital with me. This all while co-guiding with Sam. Enrico is a true professional and great guy, look forward to seeing him again in Istanbul next May. I must also reiterate that Sam has also done a yeoman’s job with this awesome tour of his!
So Enrico is gone and taking his place is Marjolein who I had the pleasure of meeting on Bike Odyssey’s Hannibal in 2019. She is a licensed physiotherapist with a successful practice in Girona Spain and is our designated soigneur and guide. She could not have arrived at a better time for me!
Also joining us is Luis, hailing from South Florida to guide the remainder of the trip and he is a great mechanic to boot. I look forward to riding with him!

What can be said about Salzburg that hasn’t been described for centuries? …just a delightful city. Cathy and I first experienced Salzburg on our honeymoon almost 45 years ago this month. We fell in love with it then and subsequently 30 years later. Along with Vienna, our two favourite European cities.

Dinner was at a restaurant on one of the surrounding hills, with a super  view of the city below and the impressive and imposing fortress.

Taking our eyes off the scenery to enjoy this feast!…

As the evening progressed, so did the view of the fortress.

Translated Salzburg means ‘Salt Castle’ due to barges paying tolls to carry salt on the Salzach river, and the city dates back to the Neolithic Age.

The old city or Alstadt is the birthplace Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose music in many people’s opinion including mine, is the gold standard of all music in any genre that has been composed since. A true genius who wrote his first symphony at age 5.

Astroll through the Alstadt…

a wall of cheese 
o   The Alstadt is designated as a UNESCO protected historic/cultural site. I had time to fit in a fundraising marathon…I bet Richard never did that!

  
The birthplace of Mozart below

Can’t go to Salzburg without a visit to the Steigl brewery biergarten, on the hill  just in the shadow of the fortress. At one end you can look down, while hoisting a pint, on the fields that Julie Andrews ran through in The Sound of Music!

l  our lederhosen clad waiter took part in our Canada Day celebration, friend and fellow rider Perry thinks this was the best pretzel he has ever had!  interesting use at the end of WW II
Mozart’s residence across the square from our hotel below outside our hotel, the Bristol Hotel.

And of course Salzburg is where the 1964 Academy award winning film, The Sound of Music was filmed. I didn’t see the last remaining von Trapp family member but the hills are still alive in Salzburg!

Later this afternoon I had my first session with physiotherapist Marjolein. She identified the strained muscles in my right leg near the hip and worked on those, then did a taping of the leg. From there onto the stationary bike for 10 minutes with varying degrees of tension in and out of the saddle. Still a little touchy but now painkiller free if I watch how I move….but she green lighted me for riding tomorrow, at least to the first climb, which tomorrow has  a 20% grade…stay tuned on that one. For you cycling fans, Marjolein works with a lot of the Tour pro riders who train in Girona, I am so fortunate to have her with us!

Dinner on our own tonight, we found a busy Italian restaurant, some of us ordered ‘personal size pizza…when the pies arrived they were so large they overlapped each other. I used my arm as a frame of reference! Carb load for tomorrow?

On our walk back to the hotel, a full rainbow, hopefully a good omen for tomorrow.

Life is good in Salzburg….we(I) ride tomorrow! It will be great!