I woke up to gray skies. Which was fine – I had an awesome breakfast that included my favorite little rolls with all kinds of seeds. So I was in a cheerful mood as I left the wonderful little hotel.
For those of you following on a map (ha!), my route was Feldkirchen-Linz-Alowinden-Enns-Pyburg-Mauthausen-Au. The ride to Linz was a long ride through nature; very pretty but not too different from a bike trail in, say, Illinois or Indiana. I arrived at Linz with big expectations – it had been a cultural capital of Europe in 2009. It was fine; I checked out some of the sights, all of which were very nice. The city reminded me of a mini-Vienna, as far as architecture.
After walking around for a while I realized that 1) I was hungry and 2) time was tight. So I grabbed lunch form a sausage stand – nothing like wieners & beer eaten standing up! I then circled back to a bakery I had seen earlier that sold Linzer torte. At first bite I was not impressed, but as you get in from the crust there is more jam and it was awesome! I prefer it to Sacher Torte. :-o
Next stop, Enns, which was MUCH smaller but which I really loved. The architecture was gorgeous, and it had this peaceful air that I enjoyed. I enjoyed it while eating two – yes, two! – ice cream cones and then while drinking a beer. I hung out in Enns so long that it was too late to get in to the memorial at Mauthausen.
In fact this was a slow day overall, as no stores are open on Sunday and everything closes earlier (museums etc.). I had been on the fence about whether to go, anyway, as I’ve seen so many similar memorials, so I was fine with missing it. Onward to the hotel in Au. Which was, so far, my least favorite hotel. But it was fine overall, and I had a nice dinner of venison medallions while plotting the next day’s route. After the first day, I decided that it is well worth spending an hour and thoroughly devising the next day’s route, which paid off today. So that’s my nightly routine now – wash clothes, eat, plot route. Seems to be working!
For those of you following on a map (ha!), my route was Feldkirchen-Linz-Alowinden-Enns-Pyburg-Mauthausen-Au. The ride to Linz was a long ride through nature; very pretty but not too different from a bike trail in, say, Illinois or Indiana. I arrived at Linz with big expectations – it had been a cultural capital of Europe in 2009. It was fine; I checked out some of the sights, all of which were very nice. The city reminded me of a mini-Vienna, as far as architecture.
After walking around for a while I realized that 1) I was hungry and 2) time was tight. So I grabbed lunch form a sausage stand – nothing like wieners & beer eaten standing up! I then circled back to a bakery I had seen earlier that sold Linzer torte. At first bite I was not impressed, but as you get in from the crust there is more jam and it was awesome! I prefer it to Sacher Torte. :-o
Next stop, Enns, which was MUCH smaller but which I really loved. The architecture was gorgeous, and it had this peaceful air that I enjoyed. I enjoyed it while eating two – yes, two! – ice cream cones and then while drinking a beer. I hung out in Enns so long that it was too late to get in to the memorial at Mauthausen.
In fact this was a slow day overall, as no stores are open on Sunday and everything closes earlier (museums etc.). I had been on the fence about whether to go, anyway, as I’ve seen so many similar memorials, so I was fine with missing it. Onward to the hotel in Au. Which was, so far, my least favorite hotel. But it was fine overall, and I had a nice dinner of venison medallions while plotting the next day’s route. After the first day, I decided that it is well worth spending an hour and thoroughly devising the next day’s route, which paid off today. So that’s my nightly routine now – wash clothes, eat, plot route. Seems to be working!
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