I woke up today just drained but knew I had to get up and move around a little bit. I ate some food and packed up a few of my things. I did some work on the computer and made sure I had all my addresses in line and places to stay for the up coming trip to France. The Kaisers next door neighbors have a home in Italy which was on my way to where I was going in France. The husband just happened to be at the house in Italy and they agreed to let me crash there when I would be passing through. I thought it was a good idea and a great way to break up the long drive I had ahead of me. After an afternoon nap I needed to get out of the house a move my body. I was planning on going to Hochosterwitz castle on Tuesday but instead decided I needed to get out and walk around so I headed there today. I just have to say that I am still madly in love with my GPS and a huge thank you to Mr. Ron Hatfield (genius behind Quietway and the Princess Festival) for lending me his GPS while I am here in Europe. NO WAY I would have made it around without it, NO WAY!
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| High on a mountain top... |
The castle was high high on a mountain. I couldn’t stop thinking of the poor bastards who had to haul all that rock up there. Incredible. They had this old rickety “lift you could take up to the top. It says it holds up to 7 people but I was super happy that I was by myself. The lift was pulled up to the top by the smallest of chain links, scared me to death. Once at the top I toured around and am always amazed and how these were constructed, blows my mind. There wasn’t a lot of rooms that we were aloud to go see but it was still pretty cool. I choose to walk all the way back down and I am glad I did because there was some pretty cool stuff to see on the way down. There was check point after check point with bridges and guard post. There was no way anyone was getting into this place.
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| Lift from the bottom looking up. |
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| From inside... LOOK AT HOW SMALL THAT CABLE IS!??! |
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| Looking from the lift down.... silly! |
History says that a group our enemies set up camp at the base of the mountain and didn’t let anyone in or out. No deliveries which meant no food was to come in. The enemies strategy was to starve the people and force them to come out of the castle. They almost succeeded but gave up after the people living in the castle gambled and threw a whole cow filled with wheat and rice over the wall onto the ground below letting the enemy know that they had more than enough food to survive. When in fact it was their last cow and bits of food. The bluff worked and the enemy packed up and went home!! Who knows if that is true or not but that is the legend!
On Tuesday I completely rested and stayed off my feet as much as possible. I did some more work and continued to plot my course across Europe. I still hadn’t secured places to stay and feared I would be sleeping in my car a few night if something didn’t come through. An awesome friend of mine send me some cash would TOTALY helped with gas, rental car and road tolls. I also have a European angel from Sweden who has been on the phones with church members trying to secure me spots as I move across and through countries. She was responsible for Austria, which led to Italy and then later she pulled through majorly in France!! Thank you a million times. I have said this before but this journey would not be possible without all the incredible people along the way.
I headed out Wednesday and plotted my was out of Austria and towards Italy and France. The drive through Italy was incredible. Once on the autobahn it was an elaborate series of bridges and tunnels. I kept thinking that if someone was to bomb a few tunnels and a few bridges it would shut this area down! To my left was the sea and the views were great! I was amazed at the towns that would pop up on mountain sides. I arrived at my destination late afternoon was welcome by a small Italian man named.......... He welcomed me into his home and showed me where I would be sleeping. I asked him what time he ate dinner and on par with the rest of my trip dinner time is much later than in the States. Everyone eats around 8 pm. I took the opportunity to get in some healing and took a nice 3 hour nap.
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| Me and Mr. Italy, Daniele Casella |
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| Left over Italian PIZZA.... Soooo Goooood! |
Thursday - Off to France
So I departed with no real idea of where I was going to sleep that evening. It was a longer drive and whenI left Italy my European angel went to work hoping to set something up for me. I knew the address to the local church there and thought maybe if I arrived early enough maybe someone would still be there and then I could ask if there was anyone in the ward that had a extra bed for the night. What an adventure!!!
The French country side was filled with old buildings (obviously) and lots of fields growing all sort of things. I drove through Nice (where Ironman had an event the same week as Coeur D’alene) and finally I arrived in Perpignon. I found the church right away and my plan was foiled as the building was locked and the parking lot empty. I drove down the street to try and find a cheap motel for the night before heading to the race site in the morning. I passed a McDonalds which boasted free WiFi. I pulled in to check Facebook and see if my Angle had any news. She had a call into the bishop but he was over an hour away.... I told here where I was and she quickly came back with a response that the bishop had a super nice family just down the road from where I was currently at that was willing to take me in - JUST INCREDIBLE. I drove less than 5 minutes and I was greeted by a super nice French woman who spoke very good English. Turns out she served her mission Stateside in Portland Oregon. I met the family, had some dinner and then was off to bed. I knew I had a big weekend ahead and with the race being on Saturday I only had 6 days rest from my Ironman in Austria.
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| AWESOME host in Perpignon France. Isabel and Jerome Beneditti |
Friday - Drive up to Les Angles France
I woke up fully rested and not rushed. I ate a light breakfast and headed out the door. I thanked my host and took all my things not knowing if I would be back. They told me I could come back after the race if I needed. I told them I would most likely finish the race around 7 or 8 and would be back around 10 if everything went according to plan. The drive to the race site wasn’t too far but it was up on a mountain so the roads were windy and very tight. I drove straight to the race site to ensure I would be able to find it. I was a little early and had to wait to get all checked in. I went back into town and secured a place to stay for the night (Thank you again Vicky from Canada). I staged in the hotel and just relaxed and watched some of the Tour De France on TV.... I was so excited knowing I was going to be there live is just a few short days. After a few hours of rrest I head back to the race site to check in and place my bike in transition. The lake looked nice and was projected to be 65 degrees tomorrow morning.
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| Castle heading up to the race! |
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| Check in... |
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| It is about to get real!! |
Night fell and it was time for the athlete meeting and dinner. I was the only English speaker in the small race (105 participants crazy enough to try it) and was given my very own race briefing in English. Dinner followed and they offered a good spread. I took a plate of food and a tall glass of juice.... or what I though was juice. Half way through my meal I took in a mouth and and instantly spit it back out. This was no juice... it was wine. I went back and grabbed a tall glass of water and hydrated with that. Ha Ha Ha!
Great post James! What an amazing trip.
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