BIKE RIDE

We went out for another bike ride this afternoon. The weather is absolutely perfect- in Farenheit its probably about 85 degrees and not a cloud in the Alpen skies. A few of our gears even worked on the bikes today too! We went the opposite way around the lake today (at least we attempted to). The Woerthesees (lake) is about 30K all around - and we've been from Krumpendorf to Velden and I've taken you with us on the leg of the journey last week. So today we were going to try to do it the other way- Krumpendorf to Velden only in the other direction which goes directly through Klagenfurt. We didn't make it- we did, however, make it somewhere- we're just not sure exactly where. I think we ended up north of Klagenfurt- the path in places was beautiful- and for awhile we were riding along wooded parts of the Lend canal- and it was fun cause we heard in the woods, like nymphs, people laughing and playing in water- you couldn't see them because the woods were so thick- but the clear running canal apparently ran parallel to the bike path- and the sounds of children playing, laughing, and adults talking in German could be heard as we whizzed along through the forest- we also went through great stretches were the sun was beating down on us and all around us was a panoramic view of the purple hued alps in a distant haze- you could see for MILES- and then after about an hour of riding- we saw the tops of a couple old ancient churches- and eventually the path became wooded again and we rode over about a 2 foot wide wooden bridge and came to the back of this church. It was a little unsettling at first because there was absolutely NO one in sight- and yet- a voice calling out commands and instructions in German was coming so clearly over a loudspeaker- and the closer that we got to the church, the closer and louder the voice over the loudspeaker sounded. It was sort of like an episode of LOST. We inched our bikes up closer and close to the right hand side of the church- and came across a very very old covered structure which held places to park hundreds and hundreds of bicycles- on there weren't any bicycles there-- and all the while the voice on the loudspeaker got louder.

I came around the bend of the church first- and I began to see people--- and a banner which read "Wilkommen" which of course is German for WELCOME! That was good. Then I began to realize that the voice on the loudspeaker was seemingly calling out rules for a game- and we saw maybe 100 people gathered around picnic tables- with food, balloons, and kids playing. Well even though it said welcome we quickly turned our 100 pound bikes around in huge semi-circles and started to head back in the other direction to the back of the church. I thought it was a church picnic and Carol thought it had something to do with Scouts. In any event, it was a fun little adventure moment, and then we turned our attention to the fact we were lost.