Linz to Grein an der Donau

Today was a hard day.  The weather was chilly and periods of light rain.  The ride was short at 63km (39miles) but it just seemed like a long day.

Our first stop was a visit to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp.  It was a labor death camp for mostly men who were "intelligentsia", who were educated people and members of high social classes in countries taken over by the Nazis.  The camp was the last one to be liberated on May 5, 1945, by then many prisoners from the all of the other camps had been sent there as the Allied Forces defeated the Nazi regime.

The air is different at the camp, it is heavy with the souls of a all the people that lost their lives as unspeakable crimes were committed against them.  It is beyond my comprehension how humans can treat other humans in such ways, it sickens me.  The worst part is that it still continues all over the world today. . . perhaps not on such a large scale as the Nazi concentration camps but it happens.  After the visit I was riding and just thinking about what I had just witnessed and thought to myself "Why do humans spend so much time hurting each other?"  I dream of a world were people could live in peace and that we would celebrate our humanity not our differences  - that kindness would be the priority.

Here are some images from Mauthausen:

Entering the camp complex

The "wailing wall" were prisoners were broken down

Baracks

The main doors of the camp

As we left the camp, we headed down the hill and looked for a place for lunch.  We rode for about 10-15 km with no luck at finding a place to eat. . .our blood sugar was plummeting (making a meltdown a real possibility) so we pulled off the road and took out all our snacks for lunch.  We shared the snacks and got back out on the trail. . .literally 500 m ahead we saw a little cafe that was part of a campground!  We stopped and shared some sausages and something to drink!  The woman was so nice and brought us out some little caramels!  Here is our lunch spot!

We then turned inland from the river to climb a VERY LONG STEEP hill to have a view of the valley below. . . .for those of you who know me this trip was supposed to be flat!!  We ended up walking up half of the first hill but made it up the second!!!  Small victories!!

Deb walking up the hill

Paula happy on the hill

At the top we were rewarded with stunning views of the valley and a swift nice ride into Grein!

We were promised that in Grein there was a pastry shop called Schorgi, meaning "Temple of Pleasure".  So we dropped our bikes off at the hotel and went directly to Schorgi's!!

Paula and Jeanna with their celebratory beers

Delicious Apple Struedel!

Here are a couple shots of the town:

Our day ended with dinner together with the group at the hotel.  Two more days of cycling to go. . . so far we have biked 315km (196 miles)!  I have learned that wearing two pairs of bike shorts is seriously the way to go on long rides and that bugs stick to your face when you wear sunscreen :-)

Here is a parting photo that Jeanna captured during the day.

Deb sticking her tongue out at Jeanna :-)