Bike Ride - Day 2

Hello:

On Day 2 of our Bike Ride from Passau, Germany to Vienna, Austria, we woke to rain.  This was not a drizzle but a steady gentle ... RAIN.  We had been worried about this, but we had bought water-resistant jackets that zipped up into small pouches just in case.

Moogie and I learned an important tip - Water-Resistant does not mean Water-Proof.  We were wet the whole day.  The saddlebags on the bikes were water-resistant, too.  Ugh.  Next time we will bring large plastic trash bags to put in the saddle bags for wet days.

The temperature was mild, though, and we were never uncomfortable.  I'm not sure if it was that because we were riding the bikes the exercise kept us warm?  maybe, but we still had a blast, and this was probably our favorite day.

There were less forests in this segment, and more, well, castles.

We rode from our hotel right on the Danube at Eferding to the city of Linz, Austria.

See how we were on the south side of the Danube, and then the map has us crossing to the north side, but Linz is also on the south side, so you ride across a bridge to get back to Linz?  Well, Moogie and I knew better than the map, OR the signs.

We decided to keep going on the south side of the river because it would be shorter.  First it led us to a part that was not paved.  As we were riding, I kept thinking, "Are there bears in Austria?"  Then we found the road, but it was a ROAD, not a bike path.  We could see Linz just ahead, so we got in the right lane (not a bike lane) and went on.  My sister bikes to work in So. Cal. (I used her bike when I was down there this summer), and she told me, "People don't get hit by cars from behind, they get hit from the side at intersections, so don't be afraid to ride on the right side of the road."  Since I was wearing the bright yellow rain gear I took the back position and Moogie, who was much more fashionably dressed in black, took the lead.  It was so scary riding along that road in the rain.  But, we made it.

Our "Short-Cut"

We followed signs to the SchlossMuseum, locked our bikes in the bike rack there, and spent a wonderful two hours.

View from the SchlossMuseum of Linz

The art was mostly very old, or super modern.  This was Moogie's favorite.  It shows an exorcism.

One of my favorite pieces was this chess set.

I kept hoping that I would find some knitting, but the closest I got was this wool and weaving exhibit.

Downtown Linz is a mix of old and very modern.

It was so interesting how many of the signs were a mixture of English and German.  We didn't stop for lunch there because we had had such a great breakfast at the hotel.  I have probably already written this but it bears repeating, the breakfasts were amazing at every hotel along the way.  The breads were so fresh, there was what had to be homemade yogurt at the first 3 hotels, lots of fresh fruit, real eggs, thinly sliced meats and wonderful cheeses.  Even with the miles of riding, we were never hungry for lunch until around 2 pm.

We decided to ride on and find a cafe in another town along the way.  We crossed the river in Linz to the north side and continued on.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet in a slightly damp way.