We ditched our van in Offenburg a few days ago and have been enjoying being car-free again and exploring this region by bike. We stayed first at a lovely upstairs apartment in a quiet village north of Offenburg -  a nice balcony and great views from both sides.  The owners are a very nice German couple who have lived in North Carolina. We were a bit worried about the routing out of downtown Offenburg but Google did a fabulous job routing us across narrow bike-overpasses, down a quiet forest road, a bikeway over the top of the fast-moving autobahn, through charming farm villages and down a skinny dirt path right to our own place!  I think Google must be (understandably) investing more in German bike routes than French (the Germans aren't suing Google for providing all this fabulous free information - at least not yet.). That was an unexpectedly special ride and we had others in the area.  

Sunday we pedal across the Passerelle de Deux Rives bridge back to France to Strasbourg. Monday we went to a lovely quiet old hotel called Comfort Hotel south of the RR station.  We explored Strasbourg - we've been here a couple of times before but the cathedral is always amazing. 

Tuesday very early we meet our group at the Strasbourg Gare and begin the last phase of our adventure... 8 days on a river boat with lots of cycling. We've never been on a tour before, or a river cruise, so don't know what to expect.  We know we will be challenged - many in the group are tandem riders... so they travel fast and cover LOTS of miles.