Saturday morning was my last day in Poertschach. I was to meet with Ellen and Lutz Neumann to go to Munich and then on Monday to Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad in German, Carlsbad in English), Czech Rep.

It was a beautiful day, a little cooler than it had been, so I decided to go for a bike ride part way around the lake, through Velden at the northern end of the lake and to Maria Worth, where I knew I could get a boat back to my hotel. However, I made better time than I thought and so decided to go on to Klagenfurt and get a boat there…anyway, I ended up riding all around the lake, about 50 km, or 30 miles, mostly pretty flat. There’s a nice bike trail for most of the trip on the east side of the lake, but mostly not on the west side. Much of the way I had nice views of the lake. I passed a lot of clay courts especially on the east side of the lake and also what appeared to be an exotic sports car show, with high end cars. There were lots of other bikers and lots of swimmers and sunbathers near the public access part of the lake. Velden was really busy, with the streets full of tourists but otherwise it was a calm ride. Maria Worth has a beautiful church. I visited it last year so didn’t go in this year.

I made it back to the hotel 20 minutes before I was to meet Lutz and Ellen but they were already there. They live in Munich and invited me to stay with them for the weekend before going off to Karsbad with Ellen, who is also playing in the tournament. We made the trip to Munich in good time…it’s a pretty drive. We had a barbecue which was great.

Today Ellen and I practiced, then she had a team match. The weather grew increasingly cloudy and by 5pm the rain set in for good, but Ellen’s team was up 6-0 by then (there would have been 3 doubles matches played but for the rain).

Tomorrow we are off to the Czech Rep and will practice there. We both play not before 2;30 on Tuesday. I play Lyn Mortimer first round, since there are only 3 in the draw and we are playing a round robin. I’ll probably play mixed and possibly women’s doubles.