EUROPEAN BIKING MEMORIES

                                       Wonderful Fun Times

We stopped ten kilometers outside of Linz, Austria and our guide said, “For the rest of the ride today you must use extra caution. We are about to enter an elevated bike path. It is a concrete sidewalk about three feet above street level. Traffic will be moving fast on your right and bikers going in the opposite direction will be passing on your left. Keeping your distance is very important. I caution you to be especially alert.”

           It was a hairy ride and a stressful six miles. We arrived safely at our hotel about 5:00PM

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         Every turn in the Danube River held a new scene and photo op. We biked through wheat fields, over farmland, and near the end through thousands of acres of vineyards. We stopped each day mid-morning for coffee and in mid-afternoon for pastry.

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      Approaching Grein, Austria we biked over part of the old horse path where years ago horses trod pulling barges up and down the river.

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      In Denmark, no right turns on red. At many intersections large white triangles, called shark’s teeth, are painted across the street that must yield.

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      When entering a traffic circle one must yield to all traffic already in the circle, and in Denmark everyone must yield to bikers who follow a blue path painted on the outer edge of the circle. Traffic circle turn offs are particularly dangerous.

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      In Denmark clean well-stocked bathrooms were always found in churches.

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     Loose gravel on the road is a real hazard  as are sticks and debris on dirt bike paths

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     Rode many ferries, all sizes. Biked along the Baltic Sea. Biked on six different Danish islands and the full length of one of them.

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    In Bordeaux enjoyed a frog and cuckoo serenade the first three days.

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    Lost in France for about three hours.

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    A biker dressed all in black, hiked over handlebars, almost getting hit by a truck.

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    Biking through construction in France being stressful.      

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    Sand and high winds at the beach and out of Soulac, France.

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    How  interesting and how much fun   each trip was. Each of the guides was fabulous!

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   A great way to see a country and visit with its people!

 

STOCKHOLM'S CITY HALL

A gorgeous Building

   In Swedish, city hall is Stadshuset. In Stockholm the brick tower  of the city hall is 395-feet high and topped with three crowns. There are three explanations for the three crowns. They represent the three tribes that inhabited Sweden; they represent the three wise men; or they represent Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, the three Scandinavian countries. Take your pick.

   Each year the Nobel Prize is awarded here in December. In 1923 eight million bricks went into  making one of Europe’s finest public buildings. The brick work is 3- D in some places and is some of the finest brick masonry I’ve ever seen. Each room is finer than the previous one. The city hall is more like a palace.

         The Blue Room, 1911, used for Nobel Prize presentations, was finished in 1923 with interruptions of WW I. The cost was estimated to be 6 million crowns, but actually cost 18 million crowns. All materials used are from Sweden. The staircase has steps wide enough and not too deep so the Nobel winners can glide down the stairs. There is a 10,000 pipe organ in the room and 1360 people can be seated for dinner.

         The Parliament Room has high ceilings with wooden beams that represent the Viking past. The roof is V shaped. The doors are beautifully carved. The original Parliament had 100 members, 14 of whom were women. The women had their own red velvet room to confer, while men would go off to the ‘smoking room’. Today there are 54 women in the 101 member parliament. There are 20 provinces in Sweden. Members are elected for four years.

         The tower is popular for weddings. The open ceiling has glass between it and the wall. Next to the tower is a room built specially to house several beautiful French tapestries.

         The Prince Gallery is a long hall with large windows. On the wall opposite the windows a prince painted the reflection in pastel of what is seen out each window so all people seated in the room would be looking at the same thing. The windows were inset with top to bottom granite-type reliefs. In effect they frame the huge windows. They were beautiful and each one was different.                
      The Three Crown Room contains 19 million 1/4-inch pieces of  glass and gold mosaic chips. The designs, done by a 27 year old, depict Sweden’s history and were completed in three years. The entire walls are covered. The people all have big eyes which was the artist’s desire. Its glitter is earth shattering and there are 200 shades of color. About 30 tiles disappear each year, the majority of them on Nobel Prize night. The kitchen is above this hall. I’ve never seen a public building like Stockholm’s city hall; it is spectacular!

SENSE OF DIRECTION--SOMETIMES

                                      A Couple of Examples

               

In Koblenz, Germany we were moored at the confluence of the Mosel and Rhine Rivers.

After lunch I decided to stroll back to the point to better see the Kaiser Wilhelm statue. It only took a few minutes to stroll the cobbled promenade to my destination.

We had unseasonably hot weather on this trip all the time we were in Germany and Austria. The normal temperatures of 72-75 became mid to high 90s with several days over 100. This was a 90s+ day. My travel companion decided it was too warm for her and elected to stay aboard the boat.

             The  bronze  statue  of Wilhelm on his horse is huge. The original statue was destroyed, but replaced in 1990. Many concrete steps lead up to the monument, but I chose not to climb them. I walked all around the statue and then strolled along the Rhine River for a short way.

            It seemed as if I should be able to cut over to the Mosel  River by taking any street as the two rivers form a triangle of land. I walked through a residential area for some time, but the Mosel was elusive. I was just about ready to turn around and retrace my steps when I saw a couple of young men speaking to a girl getting into a car. It sounded like English.

            “Do you fellows speak English?” I asked.

            “Yes.”

            “I’m trying to get to the Mosel. Can’t I cut across here somewhere?”

            They started to give me directions and then said, “We’re headed that way. We’ll show you, if you like.”

            As we walked I learned they were Mormons doing their missionary work in Koblenz. It’s hard to miss them dressed in their black pants and white shirt and tie. They were most pleasant and we had a nice visit while walking. I was  grateful to the kind boys for their help.

When we reached the alley/road, which I would never have given a second glance to, I was glad they had walked along with me. I made a right turn and suddenly I was on the Mosel only a few feet away from the boat.

After a tram ride to Helsinki’s city center we decided to do a bit of site-seeing before returning to our hotel that was a bit out of the city center. Our guide had taken us on a city orientation jaunt. The  tram  stopped right in front of our hotel.

My regular travel companion has a great sense of direction so on the trips we make together I defer to her to get us around. This trip I was with a new travel companion  so I paid close attention to how the tram traveled as we planned to walk back to the hotel. Since this gal knew it all I caved on her insistence that she read the map. We started out okay, but before long nothing looked familiar and I said, “I think we missed a turn. We should have followed the trolley tracks.”

She was sure we were going the right way, so we kept walking. It was a nice walk through a neighborhood, but it still is not smart to wander around in unknown places in a new and strange city. To make a long story short we walked our bloody legs off for three miles. The streets were quiet and of course there was no car, cab or bus any where in sight.

Finally we spotted the hotel and as it turned out we had taken the VERY long way back following the waterfront. After that and a bit of annoyance on my part she spent  the rest of the trip proving to me she could read a map, and we never got lost again! The following day we walked downtown and it took us less than 15 minutes----easy when you go in a straight line!

COSTA RICA CONSERVATION

                                      Conservation and Wildlife

            In Los Chiles, Costa Rica we boarded a boat for a ride down the Rio Frio. The river borders the 24,600-acre Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge, which sits in the migratory flyway of hundreds of thousands of birds. It is a birder’s delight.

            Moving down the river was a slow process as the tree lined banks were full of birds and monkeys. We saw white face and Howler Monkeys, including a couple of Howler babies.

            White face monkeys will eat anything, but Howlers are vegetarians and eat early in the day because they need sunlight to digest their food. Their scrotum is white and that is how they thermo-regulate their bodies.

            The boat driver got us close to a tree where we could see tiny tiny bats spread out on the tree trunk. They looked like part of the bark. They weren’t more than 2-3 inches long and they were lined up vertically 6-7 in a row. We saw several kinds of lizards. The river eventually opens up into a shallow lagoon.

            The beautiful macaws live high in the forest canopy so we did not see any that day, but we saw numerous other birds and the guide and driver knew them all. I heard toucans in the jungles in Panama and Belize, but could not see them as both times they were high in the canopy. However, it was in another preserve in Costa Rica that I was most excited to finally see toucans.

            I had read and our guide confirmed that Costa Rica is one of the most ecologically aware countries in the world. In fact one quarter (26%) of its land has been set aside as national park or preserve; 13% land is National Parkland, and an additional 13% of the land is private reserve abiding by government agreements. These nature and biological preserves protect a vast array of animals and their habitats, and insures the survival of over 850 species of birds, 205 species of mammals, 376 kinds of reptiles and amphibians, and more than 9000 species of flowering plants, including 1200 varieties of orchids.

            Until 1970 there was hardly a protected area in the country. The country’s conservation efforts are even more remarkable considering that it is not a wealthy country, having limited resources. During the first years of the country’s park systems, conservationists raced against rampant deforestation to protect as much of the nation’s wild lands as possible. Infrastructure is still lacking, and many of the areas can only be reached on foot, or horseback.

            Out hotel in Chachagua was located in the depths of a rain forest in a private preserve.  We crossed a waterfall and walked through lush vegetation to our single cabin. Looking out our windows we could see nothing but lushness. The cabin was cozy, and each night I was lulled asleep by the sounds of the waterfall.

            The lodge had a resident green macaw that was a little on the cantankerous side. Its mate died a couple of years before, and since they mate for life, more than likely she’d be alone for the rest of her life. She flew about at will, but often perched on the dining room rail, always watchful for fallen crumbs.

PANAMA CANAL continued

                              PANAMA CANAL---continued
 

Next is the Gaillard Cut, named for the engineer in charge of construction of this section. The narrowest section of the canal is now 500 feet wide having been widened from its original 300-foot width. The nine-mile-long cut is 40-feet deep.  A bronze monument depicting two men with shovels sits up on the hill commemorating all the men who worked on the canal construction. The cut here crosses the International Date Line.

The Gaillard Cut, originally called Culebra (snake) because of its many curves, was the greatest challenge when building the canal. Deadly mud slides were fatal if one got caught in one. Over 6000 men worked on the cut using 60-million pounds of dynamite. The nearly 8 mile cut connects Pedro San Miguel Locks to Lake Gatun.

Gatun Lake

  The huge lake is 87-feet above sea level, and contains many islands within its 164 square miles. The lake accounts for 20-miles of the canal transit. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Center is located on Barrocaro Island, one of the largest islands. There are 140 miles of trails on that island! There is a three to four month wait to obtain permission to land on the island.

In 1914 a mile-long dam was built at the north end of Lake Gatun. The concrete spillway is clearly visible. The dam is a half-mile wide at the base tapering to one hundred feet at the crest. It is 105-feet above sea level and 20-feet above the normal level of the lake. Until Lake Meade, in the US was dammed up, Gatun Lake was the largest man-made lake in the world. The lake covers the fertile Charges valley.

            The lake itself is a wildlife refuge and home to crocodiles—forgo swimming here—manatees, and peacock bass, a species introduced from South America and popular with fishermen.  Surrounding the canal and lakes are protected parkland, beautiful lodges, monkeys and rare tropical birds,  

The cost to build the Panama Canal was $400 million. The Atlantic entrance is 22 ½ miles west of the Pacific entrance. Because of the snake like direction of the canal the sun rises in the Pacific and sets in the Atlantic. The Pacific is south and the Atlantic is north.

           The Chargres River, in central Panama, is the largest river in the Panama Canal’s watershed. The river is dammed twice, and the resulting reservoirs —Gatun Lake and Lake Alajuela—form an integral part of the canal and its water system. Although the river's natural course runs northwest into the Caribbean Sea, its waters also flow, via the canal’s locks into both the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Gulf of Panama to the south, entitling the Chagres to the unusual claim of drainage into two oceans.      The upper Chargres River, its watershed, and the watershed of several tributaries lie within the Chargres National Park, created in 1985 to preserve the flow of water into the canal. The terrain of the upper Chargres watershed is rugged, with mountain slopes exceeding 45 degrees in 90 percent of its territory. Some 98 percent of the park consists of old-growth tropical forest.

            The upper Chargres and its seven tributaries flow into Lake Alajuela, the reservoir created by the Madden Dam.  As these rivers contribute 45 percent of the total water for the canal, the lake is an essential part of the watershed of the Canal Zone. The lake has a maximum level of 250 ft above sea level, and can store one third of the canal's annual water requirements for the operation of the locks. Unlike Gatun Lake, Lake Alajuela is not part of the navigational route, so there are fewer restrictions on its water level. Water from the reservoir is also used to generate hydroelectric power and to supply Panama City's fresh water.

THE PANAMA CANAL

                                 A Man-Made Wonder
 

I’m sure many of my readers have transited the Panama Canal, so this will serve as a summary and will require a couple of posts to even accomplish that.

At both the Miraflores and Gatun Locks we had to pass through metal detectors and have all bags etc scanned.  Just part of normal life these days! The Panama Canal is one of the great engineering feats of all time. The locks were designed to lift ships from sea level up 85-feet to Lake Gatun. It is amazing that 100 years later the locks are in near perfect condition. However, the canal is presently building larger locks alongside the present ones to accommodate today’s large mega ships. The new lock construction, parallel to the original locks, is due to be completed this year. The new locks will use recycled water whereas the present locks do not. Today the canal employs 9,000 workers. There are three observation towers and a visitor center at the Miraflores locks.

 Heavy rainfall and several rivers feed the lake for the canal to function. Hydro-electric power is also generated.

Forty ships a day transit the almost 50-mile long canal bringing 500 million dollars to Panama. In a year over 13,000 ships from 79 countries make the trip. The Canal saves ships 2000 miles if they had to sail around the tip of South America. Today all arrangements must be made and paid for in cash in advance of transit.

Fees are based on tonnage for laden ships and is less for ships in ballast. In the late 1800s the French Company attempted to build a canal, but disease (malaria, plague, and yellow fever), rain, mud, scandal, corruption and the loss of 16-20,000 lives eventually bankrupted the company.

Freighter passing through Miraflores Locks

The US negotiated a favorable treaty with Panama in 1903 and started construction. The geographically stable area was a big consideration for the site of the canal. In 1904 Col. William Gorges undertook the problems of sanitation and the task of eliminating mosquito breeding areas in the jungle.

Ten years later, in 1914, the canal was complete. It had taken the labor of 75,000 men to build this marvel, often referred to as one of the man-made wonders of the world.

Because of World War I the official inauguration was postponed until 1920. The United States was given control of the canal for 100 years.     

There are six locks in the canal, three on each end. They are 110-feet wide and 1050-feet long. Each lock has two chambers, side by side, so ships can go in either direction at the same time. Four and a half million cubic feet of concrete were needed for the locks and dam. The gates are seven feet thick. The drop and rise in each of the locks is 28 feet. The water drops 39-inches a minute through 18-inch culverts. All the water in the locks and lakes is fresh, fed by the mighty Chagres River and two smaller rivers.

On the Pacific end, the first two adjoining locks (or the last two if you are transiting south) are the Miraflores locks.  The original 39 mules were built by General Electric for a total cost of $528,680. The new mules built by Mitsubishi cost  $2 million dollars each.

Miraflores Lake, at the end of the second lock, is small with a yacht harbor at the north end.

The next lock, Pedro San Miguel, is a single lock. Leaving this lock one can glimpse the mouth of the Rio Grande River.

To be continued next time