Cycling from Paris to Vienna

Having left Montreal on August 24 and arriving back on September 21, Claude spent 18 days biking through France, Germany and Austria and came back with a few more good stories, tons of great pictures and a whole new respect for Europe's mountainous terrain.

It certainly didn't help matters much that part of the trip took place in mountains that have been known to give professional cyclists a run for their money.

"The mountains of Schlucht, in France, are part of the official 'Tour de France' itinerary; it took me three hours to climb 15 kilometers, with 20 lbs on my back," says the 63-year-old Island resident with a chuckle.

Travelling through Provins, a medieval city, not too far from Paris, he continued along Troyes, Vosges, Chaumont, Vittel, Épinal, and Munster (where the famous cheese comes from), and slowly made his way into Germany.

"Eighty percent of cycling trails in Germany are not asphalt and it still amazes me that I didn’t get a single flat tire," he says. Germany also had the most mountainous terrain, making the trip extremely difficult at times.

According to Claude, Austria is a country that accommodates cyclists immensely and he quickly noticed the difference when he entered his third and final destination.

"There so many cyclists on the road from Passau to Vienna that I actually had to buy a bell for my bike," explains Claude. This was in stark contrast to large stretches of Germany, where Claude was left to his own devices and would find himself alone in the countryside; just him and his thoughts. "This trip was probably the loneliest of the three I've undertaken so far," he confides.

Near Épinal, Claude came across a memorial for American soldiers, who died at the Battle of the Bulge, one of the bloodiest battles in World War II.

"The image just amazed me and moved me. It looked exactly like Arlington Cemetery, in Washington. More than 6,000 young men buried far away from home."

The second most memorable stop, and probably the grimmest, was when he visited Matthausen Concentration Camp; the third worst in terms of death for all of concentration camps.

"It took me a long time to find it; it's almost like people are ashamed of this part of their history and don't like to talk about it," Claude tells us.

Two hundred thousand people went through Matthausen and 120,000 people died there from 1938 to 1945.

But it wasn't all heavy introspection on the human condition. Europe is rich in natural beauty and architecture, and Claude took it all in and captured hundreds of images on his camera.

Claude recommends logging on to www.franceguide.com for info from Paris to Colmar and www.publicpress.ca for very detailed information on various routes and publications that can help cyclists along. He also highly recommends Zoom Airlines for the fact that they don't charge a fee for transporting your bike abroad, while most major airlines do.

At the end of the day, all trips are possible, if one has the sense of adventure and know-how to attempt them.

"People shouldn't think that such a trip is beyond their capabilities. With proper planning, it can be done," says the Islander, who is planning his Vienna –Istanbul itinerary next.

And, at the end of the day, what wisdom does one acquire after having logged so many kilometers on the road, in so many foreign countries?

"Anywhere in the world, if you smile, people smile back," Claude concludes, and that is as solid and soul-affirming as one can hope for travel advice to be; the kind of conclusion that confirms the reasons we travel for in the first place.