Catching up after the holiday. You didn’t know it was a holiday? Thursday was Ascension Day, so we celebrated it by ascending several hills! First, we visited the castle in Passau, on the German-Austrian border. It was a long way up and I swear it must have been about 20-30 degree incline. We pushed our bikes up. Well, I tried pushing mine, but it became clear we’d never make it to the top, so Rick would push his up a ways, come down, push mine up a ways, switch back to his, etc. I was in charge of getting myself up the hill. 😁
This was a huge castle! And the historical information was abundant and interesting. And included English! The view from up there was amazing!
Here is one of the many castle sightings along the way. This one on the far side of the Danube, so we pedaled on.
One of the things I think is interesting is that many of the buildings have painted faux window accents.
Around the back of that church was a playground. My favorite part was a rope balancing thing with 3 connected trampolines. Rick bounced me and took a photo.
There were a whole lot more folks on bikes in this section, including many older folks and one lady I’d swear was 95! Many are on e-bikes.
We and several other cyclists took a ferry to the south side of the river. Most of the folks in this picture did not take the ferry and stayed on the north side of the Danube. We later discovered why, as we rode up and down big hills, while looking across the Danube at the flat bike path on the north side, taunting us.
That night we stayed at a campground right down by the river. Supposedly the prettiest campground on the Danube. Rick says he hopes not. Had a nice dinner there. A man came by with a huge fish he had caught – probably 2 1/2 to 3 feet long!
The next morning, my other shifter (the rear one) started acting up. Here is Rick working on it.
We followed a lovely section of the path, with trees shading the path, stone walls and wildflowers beside us. And the river to the left (north) of us. And occasional wildlife.
At one point in the journey, we spotted what appeared to be an AT-AT from Star Wars.
We think it had something to do with power supply.
We were headed toward Linz, Austria. Rick figured out a shortcut on the internet. When we got here, we realized we had missed a turn.
So, we backed up and Rick reassessed.
Ah, here is the shortcut!
And this took us to another ferry, which took us to Linz.
The old central city of Linz is very pretty, with a large plaza. It also has street cars that run frequently and make it easy to get around just by hopping on and off. We purchased tickets that let us use the train all day, but no one ever asked you to see them. They do have signs posted that there is a 105 euro fine if you don’t have a ticket. But again, no one ever checked.
Anyway, we got into Linz last night. We had booked a hostel for 2 nights. Close to city center and a good deal. Was a new listing on booking.com… because it is brand new. As in not ready for prime time. Outside they were painting, which was fine, but they couldn’t seem to keep hot water running to the rooms. Kinda basic. I managed to get a hot shower during the brief window when it was working, but poor Rick had multiple attempts, with results ranging from tepid to icy cold.
After my nice shower last night, I saw a black spot on my shoulder – a tick! Rick tried various methods to remove it, but ultimately pulled the body off, leaving its head embedded. Not sure when I got it. We’ve gone through a lot of areas with trees and such. Anyway, we decided it was best to seek medical attention in case of any tick-borne diseases. So, this morning we headed to the tourist information center, which didn’t open until 10:00 am (despite the website saying 9:00 am). It was in the central plaza, and being a Saturday, there was a flea market. We wandered around there for a while.
The nice young person at tourist information showed us on a map where the university hospital is, for weekend non-emergency visits and we set out walking. The university hospital has a large campus! After a lot of walking and a couple false starts, we got close to where it had to be. A man took pity on us and asked if we needed help. Turns out he is from Iowa! Then he walked us in, through the entry areas, explaining my problem in German to the ladies behind the desk, on up to the correct waiting area. He was so nice!!!
They got a bit more of the tick out, but said it’s fine if some is left there. I need to keep an eye on the spot to see if I get the target shape of Lyme disease. We’ll check it frequently.
After our foray into the Austrian medical system, we headed out to see the sights. Back to the plaza, with the flea market, the trolleys, and the pretty buildings.
