Planning proceeds apace

My German roommate Ralph, who has travelled extensively and lived in a number of countries, suggested what I think is a great idea: fly down to Granada from Freiburg and start my bike trip there. He's really been insisting that I use his and Susanne's apartment as a home base in Europe, which is hard to refuse! The advantages are many:

1. Granada is beautiful, as Ralph will attest to (he lived there for about a year). The biking there is supposed to be superb (it's near the Sierra Nevada National Park). And the architecture is gorgeous as well.
2. Granada is relatively warm, compared to northern Europe in May
3. Granada has a large number of (inexpensive) Spanish schools. Incidentally, I've been wanting to take a Spanish class for years. What better way to start travelling in Spain than after learning a bit of the language?
4. It's pretty cheap (< $200) to fly to Granada from Basel, Switzerland. (Cheaper than a train).

So here's a possible bike route that I might pursue after spending a couple of weeks in Granada:

This route covers over 3200 km of cycling, which is a lot, to be sure, especially if I stop and look at anything along the way. But I feel like it's a good first stab at a realistic route: it allows me to ride in France and Italy, both of which I've been wanting to bike through for years; it goes through Venice, Salzburg, and Prague, all of which sound like interesting cities; it would allow me to visit seven countries that would be new to me (Spain, Andorra, France, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, and the Czech Republic). And of course, if I don't make it all the way to Prague by bike, that's fine, too! It's possible I'll fall in love with France and/or decide to take some French classes while I'm there.

The current plan is to bring mountaineering gear with me and stash it in Freiburg while I do this bike trip and return to Freiburg at the end of the trip to play in the Alps with friends Uta and Robert (assuming our schedules match up).

I'm starting to get excited!