Cycling Sistas European Tour

Hi there. This is Annie again with a brief update and sorry, no pictures again, sadly, considering the last three weeks has been the most beautiful riding of the journey so far, by far. I am writing from Perpignon, France, about 200km north of Barcelona. We will be in Spain momentarily!!!
So while Monique and Nadia were hanging out in Germany and Julia entertained herself in Berlin, Jody and I jumped a train for Florence from Munich, through little Austrian towns in the Alps, and followed the sunshine south. In Florence, I met up with my old friend Wilmer from Ecuador, and we walked around town eating gelato, cathcing up and siteseeing. Poor Jody got the horrible stomach flu that all of us girls had already had, so as he was recovering in the hostel, I was out eating amazing Italian food with old friends. Sorry JoJo!! :) The next day, Jody still being a bit ill, we took a train again to Pisa, where we took the necessary photos in front of the leaning tower and then biked 20 km into Viareggio, where we were treated to the most openhearted hospitality from Wilmer's best friend, Abdul, who is originally from Morroco. After two days of fresh pasries and coffee in the morning, meals, and accompanied walks about town, Jody and I headed out along the Tuscan coast and climbed a few mountains along our way. Being just the two of us, we worked ourselves up to 100km days and kicked it out, winding up and down the cliffs of the SS1, the highway running along the coast. One day we spent climbing uphill the entire day, and camped at very near the top of a mountain, completely surrounded by clouds. When we awoke in the morning and climbed the rest of the way up the mountain, through the clouds, we were treated with an incredible downhill ride; where Jody clocked nearly 60km an hour. What took us a day to climb took less than half hour to descend. Now down along the flat coast again, we stopped in little tourist towns along the way for espresso, gelato, or a quick dip in the water. At night we found great camping spots, one a closed down campground right on the beach. What a lovely sight to unzip the tent in the morning and watch the sun rise over the ocean. After a week or so of hard cord biking, more 80 to 100km days, Julia met us in San Remo, and that day we biked through three countries, from Italy into France, through Monaco, and back into France. The camping in these days was amazing as well, once in a tiny little park up on the cliffs with an amazing view of Monte Carlo, where we had to carry our fully loading touring bikes up and down about six flights of stairs. Not for the faint of heart, friends. Another night we seemed to be out of luck for a spot to sleep, sat on a park bench along the boardwalk, got some beers and watched the sun set, wondering what we would do. We ended up biking a bit more and came upon a long concrete pier. Perfect. We biked out to the end and slept peacefully out under under the stars and left at daybreak in the morning.
After passing through Nice and Cannes, still along the coastal highway, the roads forced us up and inland a bit. By this time, Monique and Nadia had caught up with us on the trains and we reunited in the small french town of Le Luc - hugs and kisses all around!!!!!! We must've been a site, all decked out in spandex and hugging wildly in front of a small cafe where Julia, Jody, and I had been waiting.
Since then, we have biked through the beautiful French countryside and camped on the outskirts of vineyards, sneaking a grape or two from the vines, down in the marshlands very reminiscent of the Mississippi Delta, where we saw flamingos and wild horses, and in beautiful pine forests, cooking up some great grub in the evenings over the fire. I even invested in a small espressso maker after all the indulgences in Italy, so now we get our espressos in the morning and after lunch. Since its been warm, we've been able to sleep under the stars, which is a glad change from Germany. Now, no matter what happens - we get lost, we're pressed to find a spot to camp, we run out of food or have finicky gears - we always say, "Hey, at least it's warm!"
Now here we are, finally getting a few days rest in Perpignon. Yesterday, we met up with Aimee, a friend of Nadia, Monique, and Julia and spent the entire day with her, eating, sleeping, and cafe hopping. Jody and I went for nearly 20 days of straight hardcore biking and our bodies are releeeeeived to finally have a rest. We're going to need it to climb the Pyrenees into Spain though!!
Here's hoping everyone is happy and well at home!! I imagine the fall for you now, everyone raking leaves, carving pumpkins, drinking cider and eating lots of apples. Happy trails everyone, and there will be pictures soon, promise!

So basically Oktoberfest is like an international peprally, with the Italians taking the prize for the loudest and longest cheers, and the German's with most school spirit. The french are pretty tame and the Austrailians are just plain drunk. Not many American's here so Monique and I tried our best to represent. Too bad the beer is way to expensive, although you do get the experience of drinking out of a liter mug. Really the beer is much better on a real German's couch. Florian and his friends, shown above, though not Bavarian know how to have a good time. As for Julia, she had to scratch her undying itch and head up to Berlin for the week. We've heard from her and she's having a blast staying up 48 hours at electonica clubs. Jody and Annie headed to Italy and are currently riding North from Florance to Genoa. We will all meet up this weekend somewhere along the Mediterreanian.

tschüss!