I left Linz at around 1:00 pm after getting some advice and direction from ladies at the local Thalia bookstore. The gave me the advice of taking the scenic Donauweg, a bicycle path that connects Passau, Germany to Budapest, Hungary that follows the Danube (Donau) River. After reaching Passau, I could following the Inn River cycle path to Salzburg. It didn't look like the most direct way, but I was ready to do something that would just require me to mindlessly pedal kilometer after kilometer after the challenges of the Czech Republic. You can see that I was about to travel northeast in order to reach my destination of Salzburg that is located southeast from Linz.
I had a late start in the day after buying my batteries, charging them, and visiting the bookstores. I just wanted to make some progress. Even though I had a few strange days, I felt recharged myself and the weather was sunny and wonderful. As I started down the path, which was completely separate from the road, I spotted throngs of older cyclists riding matching bicycles with matching Ortlieb gear and map booklets mounted to their handlebars. I knew right then the Donauweg was the path for me.
The whole ride felt really relaxing. I did 62 kilometers that afternoon without any stress, and was able to just observe and enjoy finally without analyzing my body while doing hill sprints or worrying about directions. The path was a gift to me at that point in the trip. As I rode along the curves of the river, it felt like the hills were dragon toes wading in the water. I was riding away from the dragon. The hills rearranged themselves in a shuffle as I glided around them on the path.
I decided to stop in Wesenufer, Austria for the night. As I was riding through the quiet town, the bells begun to toll loudly with noone in sight. Why did the bells need to ring here? I had been to so many towns where I was alone listening to the bells ring. I stayed at a cute guesthouse that had a little restaurant inside. The man who ran it spoke no English at all. I navigated okay, but we relied on my horrible deutsch completely. I asked him if they had wifi, which is a question I had gotten good at asking in Germany and Austria, and he could not understand me at all. He said, "wee-fee!" Jah, habe wee-fee. It was the first time in my life I had ever heard it pronounced that way. Its cuteness made me giggle, and he was a cute, nice older man who had a lot of patience with our language barrier. The smaller towns were good for language practice and just feeling a little more at ease, which I was thankful for.
I had the worst time ordering food here. I was very hungry and order some type of sweet dough filled with plums which was more dessert like but yet not very sweet. I then ordered a board with a lot of ham on it. I wanted some regular bread for my meal, but I wasn't able to pick the right thing. The beer was very good there.
I had a nice stay there, but had some misunderstanding with frühstück in the morning too. In Austria and Germany, they will make up a large spread of meat, cheese, jams, boiled eggs, and rolls, and it looks like a buffet instead of a meal for one person. They had set a table with all this food on it for me before I came down in the morning, and I sat at a small table that wasn't ready for me, and helped myself to the food from the large table. It really confused the man who was operating the inn. Why was I not sitting at this beautiful table they had set for me? He gave me cappuchino and sparkling apple juice. Once I realized, I looked up words to explain why I was so weird and apologized. It seems bizarre to me to eat and possibly spread my germs over this table of food that 5 people could eat from. What do they do with all the food that I'm not able to eat? Am I supposed to try to eat all of it?
I was able to reach Passau easily. There were some climbs, but they felt easy compared to what I had experienced before.
Some other things of note along the way.
I came across a little farm of deer.
The rivers were starting to turn amazing colors.
Outside of Passau, I found the first coffee shop that had that cozy feeling with pillows and furniture all mashed together in a small space. They were doing pour-overs and had some references to California in the shop. It felt like I was stepping out of Bavaria and into a trendy place in Cleveland temporarily. I felt like I was making some movement, and places reminded me of home a little more.
I left Linz at around 1:00 pm after getting some advice and direction from ladies at the local Thalia bookstore. The gave me the advice of taking the scenic Donauweg, a bicycle path that connects Passau, Germany to Budapest, Hungary that follows the Danube (Donau) River. After reaching Passau, I could following the Inn River cycle path to Salzburg. It didn't look like the most direct way, but I was ready to do something that would just require me to mindlessly pedal kilometer after kilometer after the challenges of the Czech Republic. You can see that I was about to travel northeast in order to reach my destination of Salzburg that is located southeast from Linz.
I had a late start in the day after buying my batteries, charging them, and visiting the bookstores. I just wanted to make some progress. Even though I had a few strange days, I felt recharged myself and the weather was sunny and wonderful. As I started down the path, which was completely separate from the road, I spotted throngs of older cyclists riding matching bicycles with matching Ortlieb gear and map booklets mounted to their handlebars. I knew right then the Donauweg was the path for me.
The whole ride felt really relaxing. I did 62 kilometers that afternoon without any stress, and was able to just observe and enjoy finally without analyzing my body while doing hill sprints or worrying about directions. The path was a gift to me at that point in the trip. As I rode along the curves of the river, it felt like the hills were dragon toes wading in the water. I was riding away from the dragon. The hills rearranged themselves in a shuffle as I glided around them on the path.
I decided to stop in Wesenufer, Austria for the night. As I was riding through the quiet town, the bells begun to toll loudly with noone in sight. Why did the bells need to ring here? I had been to so many towns where I was alone listening to the bells ring. I stayed at a cute guesthouse that had a little restaurant inside. The man who ran it spoke no English at all. I navigated okay, but we relied on my horrible deutsch completely. I asked him if they had wifi, which is a question I had gotten good at asking in Germany and Austria, and he could not understand me at all. He said, "wee-fee!" Jah, habe wee-fee. It was the first time in my life I had ever heard it pronounced that way. Its cuteness made me giggle, and he was a cute, nice older man who had a lot of patience with our language barrier. The smaller towns were good for language practice and just feeling a little more at ease, which I was thankful for.
I had the worst time ordering food here. I was very hungry and order some type of sweet dough filled with plums which was more dessert like but yet not very sweet. I then ordered a board with a lot of ham on it. I wanted some regular bread for my meal, but I wasn't able to pick the right thing. The beer was very good there.
I had a nice stay there, but had some misunderstanding with frühstück in the morning too. In Austria and Germany, they will make up a large spread of meat, cheese, jams, boiled eggs, and rolls, and it looks like a buffet instead of a meal for one person. They had set a table with all this food on it for me before I came down in the morning, and I sat at a small table that wasn't ready for me, and helped myself to the food from the large table. It really confused the man who was operating the inn. Why was I not sitting at this beautiful table they had set for me? He gave me cappuchino and sparkling apple juice. Once I realized, I looked up words to explain why I was so weird and apologized. It seems bizarre to me to eat and possibly spread my germs over this table of food that 5 people could eat from. What do they do with all the food that I'm not able to eat? Am I supposed to try to eat all of it?
I was able to reach Passau easily. There were some climbs, but they felt easy compared to what I had experienced before.
Some other things of note along the way.
I came across a little farm of deer.
The rivers were starting to turn amazing colors.
Outside of Passau, I found the first coffee shop that had that cozy feeling with pillows and furniture all mashed together in a small space. They were doing pour-overs and had some references to California in the shop. It felt like I was stepping out of Bavaria and into a trendy place in Cleveland temporarily. I felt like I was making some movement, and places reminded me of home a little more.
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