Day 4: Maria Traferl to Krems

I am posting this from the lobby of the hotel in Krems, because the internet does not work in the guest rooms. I suppose I should be grateful to be online and not cranky that I can't so this in my pjs!

I had the crazy idea this morning that I would go to Arstetten, which, to summarize, was UP from Maria Traferl. This craziness lasted all the way downhill (35 kmh) to about 1 km of uphill, when I realized there were 4 more km of up. Nope. So, down and to the south side of the river for a while.

My notes are in my room so I don't remember all o the towns I stopped in today; there were a lot. Most were cute if not pretty. I have gotten quite daring after 3 days of biking iun Austria. This morning, I went into a post office, taking only my purse & laptop and leaving the bike unlocked out front. I felt a thrill race through me when I came out to everything, untouched. I had to push it. This afternoon, in Durstein, I stopped in a wine shop and left everything but my purse out front. Unlocked. Still there when I came out!!! I am loving this.

I stopped at Melk Abbey in the morning and caught the English tour. That place is amazing. After stalking m fellow tourists for half of the tour, I finally asked a woman with a midwestern accent to take my picture, and she was happy to do so. Midafternoon, I stopped at a Gothic church to take pictures and saw a Packers backpack - before I could stop myself, I said "Packers fan!!!" The woman laughed, and her husband said "You were at the Abbey!" It was the same couple. We chatted for 5 minutes or so before going our separate ways. I love the random connections travel creates.

Today was a wine day. I was traveling through the Wachau, a noted wine region, and once it hit 3 pm, little wineries opened their doors. I enjoyed trying different wines that I would never see otherwise. Staying in Krems tonight... it reminds me of Brugges in a way although without the liveliness. It's pretty but too quiet. I'm planning to check it out in full light before heading out tomorrow. Which... I am very sad to have only 2 days left. A depression settled on me at dinner when I realized that, as well as that I have only 45 km each day that is left. I started plotting in loops to add distance... I've gotten rather addicted to this!

Day 3: Au to Maria Traferl

This was a tough route to plot. Lots of things to see! So after another fantastic German breakfast (even bigger favorite roll, yum!) I set off. Today’s route: Au-Wallsee-Ardaggen Stift-Ardaggen Markt-Ybbs-Persenbeug-Marbach.

Before I left, I tried to pump up my rear tire. Note: all tubes/valves are NOT alike. This dang valve was like no American valve I had seen. So of course, I let ALL of the air out. Then I pumped it back up. That was hot work. As I climbed the hill into Wallsee, I was really huffing. It was hard! At last I realized the rear tire was FLAT. Damn. I called the tour company and they said sit tight, we’ll call you back. They did and directed me to a repair shop down the street – a jewelry/gardening/auto/bike shop with a little old man who was waiting for me. He chatted at me in German and told me the tire was so bad I’d get another flat in 10 km. So he replaced the tire and the tube. As I paid (*to be reimbursed by tour company), I said “Wie ein neues Rad, ja?” and he agreed: like new. And it was! Much much easier riding now.

Thank goodness, as the climb to Ardaggen Stift was arduous. The church was nice, but the Most (cider) cellar was closed on Mondays, and that was what I had really wanted to go to. Boo! SO I cruised downhill to Ardaggen Markt. The restaurants didn’t thrill me, so I pushed on even though I was hungry, until I came to Wiesen and the ferry to Grein. I love these ferries! The old guy running it chatted at me in German I could barely understand; I told him I was going to eat and come back and he happily told me the roundtrip ticket was cheaper than two one-ways (that, I got, obviously!). What a stroke of luck – I loved Grein. I had read about the theater in the old Rathaus – it’s crazy! Built in 1751 or so, it holds just over 100 people. The original toilet had only a curtain between it and the theater! The first 3 rows of seats locked in an up position so season ticket holders could keep others from sitting in them! And, the prison was in the next room, so they cut a window so prisoners could watch too! Seeing it was nuts in the best way. The rest of Grein was just adorable, and I wandered happily after lunch for some time.

 Then back to the ferry, where the old guy welcomed me back. As I got off the ferry in Wiesen, he shook my hand and wished me a good ride. Super nice. Onward to Ybbs…. Which I LOVED!!! The bike route goes through the medieval town, which was so much fun to ride around. I stopped at the Bike Museum, and the girl working was happy to give me a guided tour in English. I got to sit on a “walking bike” replica, as well as climb up on a penny farthing – holy crap that was high!!! It was a really well curated collection, and I was pleased to have stopped there.

 Off on the last leg to the hotel. When I got to Marbach, I called the hotel per my instructions – it’s in Maria Taferl, way up on the hill, so they come get you. The guy appears and has this cool trailer with bike racks, and as we drive up I am sooooo grateful I did not have to ride up. We arrive at the hotel and it is beautiful. The town is beautiful. The church, perched above the Danube, is beautiful. I can’t think of a better time of day to have arrived here but sunset – to see the pink sun over the Danube and hills was gorgeous. As I ate dinner on the terrace and watched the last of the pink light fade, I thought that there could be no better time to be here…. Although maybe I will change my mind when I eat breakfast on the terrace in the morning.

Day 2: Feldkirchen to Au

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!

Beer Roll

Beers so far:
 Innstadt
Baumgartner
Gregorius
Eggenberg

updated 9/9:
Reininghaus
1516 Sephir Dry Ale, Belgian Wit, Eejit's Oatmeal Stout & Weisse
Kaiser Marzen
Edelweiss Weissbier

Day One: Passau to Feldenkirch

Apologies in advance for typos - I can't get the hotel WiFi to work on the netbook, so am typing on my Droid! Alas that means no pics today. :-( I woke up to the patter of rain... Ugh. Luckily it stopped while I was eating my delicious German breakfast. I love German breakfast! Bread, cheese, meat... Yum! First stop was Stift Engelzell, the only trappist abbey in Austria. I love trappists - they make awesome beer. This one started brewing in July. I was sad that, due to the occur weather, my panniers were fairly.full with extra layers and raingear; I could.not fit the 6 pack I wanted to buy. Rar. I pedaled on for a few more hours before stopping for lunch. Thee gasthaus I stopped at was full, so I rode.on to a little roadside grill and got the last table. A couple walked in moments later and after I said it was fine, the waitress sat them at my table. The moment they spoke to each other, I smiled - English! Everyone else so far had been German or Austrian. They were from Toronto, and we had a nice chat over lunch. They have bike ferries every so often - the first one I took across the Danube had a few other bikers on it with me. The 2nd was just me, and the captain asked where I was from. When I said Chicago, he thought and said "Sears Tower," very pleased with himself. After a.minute he added, " the river is green for St. Patrck's day." Ha! That cracked me up. I rode about 10 km down the river only.to find the ferry does not run today. Gah! The trail is impassable, you have to ferry across! I realized all I could do ease bike back to the previous ferry, which I had no idea then how far it was. And as I rode, I.realized I didn' t know what time.it.stopped. I hauled ass as much as I could.on the heavy bike, got to the.landing, and saw I had plenty of time. I had to ring a bell - a.real bell, not.the button for.a bell I.envisioned when I read about this - to get the ferry from the other side. He pulled up and said."Hey Chicago, you are back?!" He didn't know.the other ferry wasn't't running, either. He told me exactly how far I had to ride to Feldkirchen, which as helpful. By the time.I got.to the hotel in Feldkirchen, I had ridden just over 100 km today, a metric.century. That's about 25 km extra! Hopefully that doesn't happen too much! At least it only rained a bit after lunch, although it was chilly. Off to read my route for.tomorrow - tschuss!

A Loooong Travel Day

So I left my house at 8 am Chicago time on August 30th, and arrived in Passau at 10 am Chicago time on August 31st. I am exhausted.

The flight to DFW was fine. The flight from DFW to Frankfurt was delayed, a little, then a little more, and eventually an hour. I had a very nice woman sitting next to me and we chatted a bit, including sharing a laugh over the light in front of her that kept flashing and our window shade which slowly crept up every time she pulled it down. The cabin crew tried fixing the flashing light; no luck. They covered it with a napkin, which barely did anything.

After dinner I went to the bathroom and came back to BOTH of OUR lights on - and they wouldn't go off! The cabin crew eventually shut them off at some main switch, and covered the flashing light with foil. And we eventually got some sleep. At least this was a long enough flight (10 hours) to get decent sleep in between meals.

We got to Frankfurt 1 hour late due to the delay, and then there was the usual wait at the gate, and then the train station was in another terminal.... so I missed the 10:02 train by a couple of minutes. The next train was at 12:02. So one hour delay turned in to 2.

The train ride was very nice, through some beautiful farm country and woods. Then the clouds descended. And turned gray. And started raining.

I finally got to Passau around 5 pm, and the guy from the bike tour showed up 30 minutes later. So I have my cute little bike (picture to come) with panniers, and all of my materials and maps. All I need is a good dinner and beer and I am ready for bed and a fresh start (in the rain, apparently) tomorrow!

Bumpy Start

Finally got packed last night - that bike helmet really is a space hog! I did however manage to get everything into my carryon and a backpack.

After I got up this morning, I noticed Dozy hadn't eaten overnight and when I checked her litterbox, she hadn't pooped. We had been at the vet the day before for a checkup and they had felt stool in her digestive tract, so I knew it was there. I called the vet and there were no doctors in yet. The tech advised leaving authorization for the catsitter to get medical care for Dozy, and let the catsitter know to watch her and check the litter box. If nothing changes, he needs to take her in. :-(  There wasn't much I could do short of cancelling my trip. So I had a chat with Dozy and told her she MUST be there when I get back. I'm going to worry in the meantime.

On the way to O'Hare I realized that I had not packed everything... I had no charged for my US phone or iPod. Damn. So now I have yet another set of chargers, purchased at airport markup.

Hopefully things improve from here. Fingers crossed.