Passau to Linz, Austria

Today we left Passau on our way to Linz, Austria.  The farmlands of Germany gave way to the wood slopes of Austria.  Just after leaving we saw this wooded carving of a giant mermaid that screamed photo op. . . a kind biker snapped this photo of us on the mermaid.

The Danube flows in a valley between the Bavarian Wald (forest) and the Sauwald.  The bike path is right on the river bank and the views are stunning as you bike through the valley.

Jeanna does a good job racing ahead to jump off her bike, pull out the camera, and takes the picture!!

At the 39km mark of our ride today the path of the Danube is blocked by a granite mountain so the river makes an "s" turn!  So we had to take a small bike ferry across the Danube.  They charge 2euro for the ride!  We then stopped and had lunch overlooking the river.

Paula and I loading our bikes on the ferry

Dede, Barbara, Debra, Jeanna, and Paula enjoying the non-bike seat!!

A view of the hotel where we had lunch

Looking at the Danube

After lunch, we were greeted with some stiff headwinds and chilly, cloudy weather!  We arrived in the town of Aschach at the 65km mark of the journey.  This is where I decided to stop the ride for the day, they had warned us the night before the last part of the ride into the city was congested and the bike path was just off the highway.  I jumped into the van with my bike and headed into Linz.

Loved this little boy and his sundae. . .asked if I could take his picture while I waited for the van!

Linz is the 3rd largest city in Austria and the capital of Upper Austria.  The city has had an industrial past but now is more known for its contemporary art, music and technology scenes.

One the main streets in Linz

Cool artsy park with sling chairs and hammocks for relaxing in the middle of the city

One of the main squares where our hotel is located

Our hotel, you can see the pink dot of my bike shorts drying in the window and
someone's biking jersey drying in the next window

After a quick shower I walked through the city looking for a card reader so we could download Jeanna's photos to the computer. . .I found one so here are some people shots from the past couple days!

Me giving the thumbs up for a great trip so far!

Paula all smiles!

{As a side note. . .my decision NOT to ride into the city was a good. . .it rained briefly after they left me, wind was strong and the congestion on the bike trail was heavy PLUS you were riding against traffic!  Good decision for me}

Tomorrow we head to Grein an der Donau which is about 63km away from Linz.  On our way we will visit the Mauthausen Concentration Camp Memorial Site. 

Time to go to bed to get ready for tomorrow. . . Jeanna is NOT sleeping yet which is a surprise!

Gute Nacht!

Deggendorf to Passau

Today was one of our "short" days cycling only 57km (35miles), which is weird to say because it is about 10 miles longer than I biked at any one time the whole summer!  I can tell you that I knew immediately that I had rode a "long" ride yesterday when sitting on my bike!

The scenery today was beautiful. . . more of the same pastures, small towns, pastures, and small towns.  We had a couple of stretches of compacted gravel trails that weren't my favorite.

We stopped by the side of the road to take some landscape pictures and we noticed the the back of this semi and thought what a perfect background for a photo!

Jeanna, Paula, Barbara, and Dede

Here are the landscape photos from the ride today. 

A family out for a Sunday ride!

We made very good time into Passau today, mostly because we rode by all the stopping places for coffee and the lunch stop!  We arrived in the town center around 1pm and had a great lunch. . .I had a hamburger and french fries. . .yummy!!!  After lunch we headed to the hotel . . . Jeanna promptly took a nap and I had worked on the previous blog!  We met the group at 5pm for a walking tour of the city.  It was a fun twist on the usual walking tour. . .the guide told us the story Bishopric nature of Passau using different members of the group as characters in the story.  Interesting facts about Passau:

1.  Much of the town was destroyed in a great fire in 1662.  After the fire, the Gothic ruins served as the foundation for rebuilding which was built in the style of Italian baroque.
2. During the Renaissance and early modern period, Passau was one of the most prolific centers of sword and bladed weapon manufacturing in Germany.  The blades were stamped with the Passau wolf that is shown in the coat of arms of the city.
3. Passau is the point of confluence for 3 rivers. . . the Danube, the Inn River, and the Ilz river.
4. St. Stephen's Cathedral is the largest baroque church space north of the Alps and it has 5 organs that can be played simultaneously from a single console!  With 17,974 pipes, 233 registers, and 4 carillons!!!  The only other organ bigger than this one is at the First Congregational Church in Los Angeles.

Pictures from the city tour:

Our Tour Guide

City Hall Clock Tower

A door used to feed infected people during the Black Plague

St. Stephen's Cathedral

St. Stephen's Cathedral Courtyard

St. Stephen's Cathedral

In June of 2013 the waters from the Danube flooded the city of Passau!  The watermark was the highest in recorded history 12.8m (42Ft)!  Many businesses have not yet reopened and many buildings are still being repaired from being flooded.

If you look closely you can see the light line above the last dark mark representing the watermark for 2013

The flood waters reached this point in June 2013!

We ended the evening with a group dinner!   Tomorrow is another "long" day of cycling, the ride is 99km to Linz.  There is an optional pick up at 70km that might have my name on it :-)!  

Bis morgen, wir sehen 

Regensburg to Deggendorf

Today we got up bright and early to cover our  95 kilometers to Deggendorf.  We packed up our bikes and headed out of the city.  At the 11km mark there was a detour to see the ruins of Walhalla, it was up a pretty big hill so I decided to go on but Jeanna and her sister Paula made the climb to see the ruins.  They look the Parthenon which I have seen in person so I didn't feel I would regret it :-)!  Here is a few of it from my perspective!

The biking was beautiful today we cycle through farm land and pastures and views of the river:

At the 30km mark there was a lovely bakery to stop and have a little break.  I had a cheese bread type of pastry. . .it was delicious!  I waited there for Jeanna and Paula to catch up from the the Walhalla detour.  I waited and waited and waited. . . after 45 minutes and the sweep guide came in and said no one was behind I panicked!  Barbara and Dede had shown up about 20 minutes before and they had been lost getting out of Reggensburg so I thought there was a chance that Jeanna and Paula were lost as well!  The guides said we should go ahead because maybe they went ahead. . .. so we left to continue on the trail.  We had gone maybe 5km when a fellow group member caught up with us to let us know they had arrived at the bakery about 5 minutes after we left.  They had been taking lots of pictures on route!

The bike route is very scenic and every time you come up on a town you can see a church steeple or clock tower in the distance.  The towns are spotless and everyone has a beautifully manicured garden with lots of yard ornaments!  I love garden ornaments . . . there are lawn balls of every size and color, gnomes, and ornate bird houses.  At the 54km mark we ended up in Straubing and had lunch. . . .a very good pizza place!  

The guides told us that at the 90km mark there was a beautiful church and a fabulous Gelato shop!  The thought of gelato kept me going for the next 36km!!!  I did make a stop to watch a barge go through one of the many locks on the Danube

We finally ended up at the Gelato shop after 90km and I happy to report it is as good as the best gelato I have had in Italy!!!  I had one scoop of banana and one of chocolate!!  Jeanna took a picture of the Gelato stop but we cannot find her cord for her camera. . . alas no pictures!!  We had an easy 4km to the hotel.  When we arrived at the hotel our group was having a recovery beer so we joined them for a beer and then right to well deserved shower!!

Tomorrow is a shorter ride (60km) to Passau (which will be a welcome relief to my hintern (butt in German) )

Regensburg

The history of Regensburg dates back 2000 years ago when Stone Age Man settled on the banks of the Danube River. In 2006, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage sight because "it is the only authentically preserved large medieval city in Germany."  Here are a 
few shots of some of the architecture seen around the city:

We spent the morning walking through the streets of of this charming city and doing some window shopping.  We then headed to the Wurstkuche for lunch.  It is located in a 900 year old building that was used to feed the workers who built the Stone Bridge right next to it.  The restaurant serves the most delicious sausages and sauerkraut with amazing grainy mustard!  They are rumored to serve 6,000 sausages daily. . .you can either get 6, 8, or 10 in a serving.  I went for the six :-)!

Delicious!!!  I know there are only 5 on the plate I had already eaten one before I remembered to take the picture!

Stone Arch Bridge

After lunch we headed back to the hotel to get fitted for our bikes and then took them for a little test ride to see if all was good.  

We got a bike trunks and headed back to the room to pack them with the essentials we would need for each day while riding.  Rain jacket, snacks, locks, kleenex, etc were all stuffed into the trunk.

The group gathered together for the first time for a drink in the square, there are 19 riders and 4 guides for this trip.  It will take a day or two to learn everyone's name, it looks like a fun group.  The oldest rider is 77!  I continue to be amazed on all our trips how many people in their mid to late 70's are doing these types of trips . . .I hope I grow up to be one of them!

Sisters from Sheboygan!

Our cycling group

Me just drinking some beer!

Jeanna is already sleeping because we have a 7am breakfast and 8:30 Safety Meeting!  Tomorrow we ride 59 miles so I better get to bed!

The 48 Hour Day

The travel karma was good to us this trip.  We were worried about some thunderstorms in Erie so we left a little early for the airport.  The skies were cloudy but clearing as we headed out of New York into Pennsylvania so I was feeling better about getting out of Erie.  Our back up plan was to just drive to Detroit if there were any delays so we could make our flight.  I really didn't want to do that - we are not good at driving long distances and Detroit was outside of our 3-hour radius!!  As we approached the airport a single big black storm cloud hung over it - Jeanna and I burst out laughing because it was so crazy!  The cloud finally past and we spent 2 hours waiting for our plane.

The plane ride to Detroit is very short, flying time 35 minutes, so I was reading a magazine during the flight.  I hear a little boy behind me say "Daddy, what is that smoke?", we were flying in a cloud so I thought he meant the cloud.  Then I looked down at my feet and it looked like someone had started a fog machine. . .the flight attendant assured us it was normal condensation inside the plane!

We arrived in Detroit early and had a 5 1/2 hour layover.  I made the mistake of watching House of Cards on my iPad through Netflix and didn't want to quit watching to board the plane!  The flight to Frankfurt was uneventful but I only slept about 3 hours :-(!  

We still had a 3 1/2 - 4 hour train ride ahead of us so we collected our bags and got on the bus to take us to the train station.  Our train was supposed to leave from Track 4 so we were waiting on that Track. . .all of a sudden a Porter who I talked with earlier came and grabbed me and said our train was on Track 5!  We gathered our luggage and did an OJ Simpson down the track to get in the right car!!

Jeanna and Paula giving the traveling thumbs up!!

 

Jeanna and Paula tried to stay awake on the train ride but just couldn't make it happen!!!  We arrived safely in Regensburg and checked into our hotel.  We were all exhausted but trying to do the right thing but getting out and walking around.  We had our first German Beers and had lunch.  Our friends, Barb and Dede arrived from LAX so we met them for a drink and tried to keep ourselves awake until 8pm!

Jeanna is snoring beside me as I type and I just almost fell asleep waiting for the pictures to load so I am off to sleep as well.  Tomorrow we are going to do a city tour and meet our fellow bikers.

Gute Nacht jeder!

Willkommen!

"How would you like to bike across Austria along the Danube to Vienna?" asked our friends Barbara and Dede last fall.  I thought to myself "Okay, it is not hiking", I had put a ban on hiking in 2013 to let my knee have a break - this could be fun.  So here we are on the eve of departing for Germany to make our way to Regensburg were we will meet up with the rest of our group.  We are using ExperiencePlus, a group that was recommended to us by my friend, June.  She did the trip last September and thought it was fabulous. . . then again she is an avid cyclist and is doing some trip every year!  I am a pseudo-cyclist so we shall see how this goes!!!

The trip will be 8 days and 7 nights, we will bike 495km (306 miles) during our adventure!  The first day we will bike 60 miles!  Everyone says that the route is relatively flat and you basically have all day to make it to your destination.  I am counting on the flat part and hoping that the day can broken up with some sightseeing to some time off the bike seat :-)!

We have been busy packing and getting all our gear together. . .lots of layers for various conditions, bike shoes, pedals, biking shorts, sunscreen, and Hoo Ha Ride Glide. . . .yes - Hoo Ha Ride Glide!
Ride Glide is a must for long distance rides!  I remember some really awful stories of blisters and rashes during the Minnesota AIDS ride when I did it 15 years ago. . .we used vaseline then but now there are a couple of products!  The packaging on this one is very creative and gets good reviews - we will let you know!!!

Tomorrow we will pray for good travel karma as we fly from Erie, Pa to Detroit to Frankfurt!  We will arrive in Frankfurt early in the morning in Thursday and hop on a train to Regensburg.  Regensburg is the northernmost extent of the Danube.  Looking forward to another great adventure!!!

Auf Wiedersehen!!