がんばって がんばって がんばって

Gambatte Gambatte Gambatte (for those with rusty Japanese)

36 years ago I had been teaching in Germany for the summer, I took the train to Amsterdam to meet Anita for a two week bike tour thru the Netherlands. The Netherlands is great for biking, everywhere that there is a road there is a bike path, car drivers treat bikers as equals not targets and it’s flat. Very flat, the highest part of the Netherlands is in Belgium. The average height of the country is the same as a good sized tree. It’s North Dakota flat.

SO the bike tour is going well, we’re camping and having a great time until we come to a bridge over the Rhein river. It’s a big bridge because there are big boats that need to pass under it and it has an open steel deck. And that’s when yours truly finds out that his traveling companion doesn’t do heights. It’s a tall bridge with a great view, but TC is spitting nails when she finally comes across, I hadn’t Waited, I didn’t Know. So, we all learn and find solutions, I learned that for bridge crossings I needed to ride behind my TC, I shout ‘moral support’, ‘moral support’. It seems to work. I also enjoy the view, pretty much the best view no matter where we are traveling.

Tuesday morning we left our basement room in Passau and at some point crossed into Austria. There was no sign, no evidence of any former border security. The sky has been overcast with temps in the mid 60’s and a nice tail wind. The Danube is back within its banks, the ferry’s are running and there was one fully loaded barge heading up river. The Danube was the Roman’s most northerly defended border and there have been a number of excavated sites to stop and see. We should be in Vienna by the weekend.

Pizza-Doner-Kabob Shops are everywhere; a hearty meal for a reasonable price. And the yogurt sauce is helpfully about the same color as my shirt.

Moral support, moral support. And you see what I mean about the view. ; )

Gambatte is what the Japanese yell to urge someone to persevere and do their best.