I am going to have to keep this post, like the last one, short, which is a pity, as I have the best WiFi that I have had in weeks. I am staying in a hotel in Linz to which I would like to return for an eventual winter trip; having discovered that both Passau and Linz have, just like Salzburg, charms that deserve further exploration, and having wished for some time to see Christmas markets like the ones set up each year in Vienna, I have decided that I should come back here for a full two weeks during one winter rather than just seeing a bit more of the area around Salzburg next year. Rather than regretting not having explored Salzburg to its full potential, I have come to see this part of my trip as further reconnaissance into parts of Austria that I would like to explore in future.
I started out my day with a decent breakfast that was included in the cost of my room in the hostel, after which I got lost looking for a bus stop from which I could go to the train station. I did not get to the bike shop outside of the train station until shortly after 11:00, I think, and did not actually get my bike until almost 12:00, as the one employee working at the bike shop was busy with another set of customers. I took my bike for a spin around the block, following the employee's directions, and then was off along the Danube - more or less. I had to first find the Danube, being a little inland of it, and needed to get some lunch. I made my first stop at the trip at a bakery a few minutes later. I had travelled some three hundred meters.
Having found the bike path running along the Danube, I quickly discovered that it as worse than Slovenia. While I was moving at a decent clip, I quickly started asking myself, "Are we there yet?" inside my head, and I would often pedal as hard as I could for what seemed like hours and discover that I had gone three kilometers. One spends a substantial amount of time, perhaps half of the trail (from Passau to Linz), on roads barely wide enough for two bikers to ride side-by-side - roads which one shares with cars, trucks, tractors, and a surprising amount of construction machinery. Some pluses to the bike trip were that it was mostly downhill and that it would not last forever. The set idea that this would all be over in a few days, and that I had to get to my hotel in good time to avoid sleeping in the open, was what pushed me to complete this leg of the journey.
My advice to you is to never travel anywhere by bike. In fact, I not only recommend but request that you not bike along the Danube, as to do so is an insult to all of the wonderful things that one can see or do in Austria and other parts of Europe. If you like having an incredibly sore ass, getting bugs in your mouth, and getting drenched in sweat, then a bike trip along the Danube would be your type of vacation. However, there are much cheaper ways to get drenched in sweat, get bugs in your mouth, and have a sore ass than flying to Austria. Travelling by bike in general is the most hideous way of travelling that one could possibly think of: one spends the entire time in physical discomfort, wishing that one were doing something else. My rear end is sore enough that it hurts to sit down, and I have started walking funny because of the pain. Never, ever travel long-distance by bike; throw away your bike if there is a risk of your being tempted to travel on it.
I have complained enough for one post. The birds along the way were spectacular, at least as good as the ones in the last place, the birds of which I called amazing. I saw another deer and a ton of swans today, and I saw castles on the tops of a few hills. I passed through picturesque little towns and guesthouses with garish flowerpots on their windowsills. The bike trip was pleasant at various moments, but those moments only lasted for a second or two. I have another 100-kilometer day coming up tomorrow (which will be painful; by the end of today, every movement was painful), after which my trip will grow substantially easier. I will be in the Czech Republic in about a week - life could be worse! I would like to end this post now, as I have a headache, but I have a couple of funny anecdotes to relate to you.
I started out my day with a decent breakfast that was included in the cost of my room in the hostel, after which I got lost looking for a bus stop from which I could go to the train station. I did not get to the bike shop outside of the train station until shortly after 11:00, I think, and did not actually get my bike until almost 12:00, as the one employee working at the bike shop was busy with another set of customers. I took my bike for a spin around the block, following the employee's directions, and then was off along the Danube - more or less. I had to first find the Danube, being a little inland of it, and needed to get some lunch. I made my first stop at the trip at a bakery a few minutes later. I had travelled some three hundred meters.
Having found the bike path running along the Danube, I quickly discovered that it as worse than Slovenia. While I was moving at a decent clip, I quickly started asking myself, "Are we there yet?" inside my head, and I would often pedal as hard as I could for what seemed like hours and discover that I had gone three kilometers. One spends a substantial amount of time, perhaps half of the trail (from Passau to Linz), on roads barely wide enough for two bikers to ride side-by-side - roads which one shares with cars, trucks, tractors, and a surprising amount of construction machinery. Some pluses to the bike trip were that it was mostly downhill and that it would not last forever. The set idea that this would all be over in a few days, and that I had to get to my hotel in good time to avoid sleeping in the open, was what pushed me to complete this leg of the journey.
My advice to you is to never travel anywhere by bike. In fact, I not only recommend but request that you not bike along the Danube, as to do so is an insult to all of the wonderful things that one can see or do in Austria and other parts of Europe. If you like having an incredibly sore ass, getting bugs in your mouth, and getting drenched in sweat, then a bike trip along the Danube would be your type of vacation. However, there are much cheaper ways to get drenched in sweat, get bugs in your mouth, and have a sore ass than flying to Austria. Travelling by bike in general is the most hideous way of travelling that one could possibly think of: one spends the entire time in physical discomfort, wishing that one were doing something else. My rear end is sore enough that it hurts to sit down, and I have started walking funny because of the pain. Never, ever travel long-distance by bike; throw away your bike if there is a risk of your being tempted to travel on it.
I have complained enough for one post. The birds along the way were spectacular, at least as good as the ones in the last place, the birds of which I called amazing. I saw another deer and a ton of swans today, and I saw castles on the tops of a few hills. I passed through picturesque little towns and guesthouses with garish flowerpots on their windowsills. The bike trip was pleasant at various moments, but those moments only lasted for a second or two. I have another 100-kilometer day coming up tomorrow (which will be painful; by the end of today, every movement was painful), after which my trip will grow substantially easier. I will be in the Czech Republic in about a week - life could be worse! I would like to end this post now, as I have a headache, but I have a couple of funny anecdotes to relate to you.
Since the hostel in which I stayed yesterday was situated in a former castle at the top of a hill, I had a very hard time finding a place to eat dinner. When I asked the woman working at the reception desk where I could find a restaurant or beerhouse, she shrugged her shoulders, while a nearby man told me to head out of the castle's back entrance and keep walking for a few minutes. I took the man's directions and found myself standing next to an apparent sports complex; when I asked a passer-by where I might grab a bite to eat, he said, "Good question," thought for a moment, and told me to try going around the buildings nearest me and seeing what was beyond them. Beyond those buildings I found one that looked like a school and called itself something like a guesthouse for young people. I walked inside, found a woman who worked there, and said, "Is this a restaurant or beerhouse? I would like to eat here." The woman explained that it was a summer camp and that there was nothing to eat except from the vending machine. I decided that I had incorrectly followed the passer-by's advice, so I left the summer camp and continued walking. When I got to the place where the passer-by thought that I might find a restaurant, I found a giant field of very unripe corn. I ended up giving up, buying a couple of snacks from the hostel's vending machine and having the 500-ml carton of milk that I had gotten earlier; I was tired of walking around and mostly wanted to sit indoors.
When I got to Linz today, I asked a passer-by how I might find a well-known park next to my hotel, and it turned out that I was right next to the bridge that would take me into town. Unfortunately, I found the town very unamenable to bikers. There were tons of pedestrians, no lanes for bikers, and two tramway lines running right down the middle of the street. I decided to bike next to the tramway lines (and sometimes between them) and pray not to get hit rather than venturing onto a side street and risking getting lost. My ploy worked pretty well, though every movement of my legs hurt my butt, I almost fell off of my bike when my front wheel slid right onto the tramway track, and the street's cobblestones jolted me like a rodeo rider - that is, it worked well right up until I made a turn that was slightly too sharp, ran my trailer into the edge of a raise part of the sidewalk, and sent my luggage flying out of the back of the trailer onto the street. There were no cars coming when it happened, and two men immediately jumped out onto the street when they saw my predicament, but I was nonplussed to have ended my day with a small-scale crash.
Alas, for every day in Nancy or Heidelberg, one is bound to have one biking along the Danube - such is the way of travelling. When I castigated myself for having bungled my plans while talking to a (crazy, evidently, though he seemed pretty normal) man in my hostel who was travelling by bike, he pointed out that nobody plans things perfectly. After tomorrow, I will have much less biking to do each day, and I will get an earlier start tomorrow than I did yesterday, which might make the ride seem easier. I wish that I did not have a headache at the moment, but I slammed headfirst into the wooden frame of a bunk bed yesterday while looking for my own bed. I am always careful to wave my arms around when I am walking in the dark in order to avoid smashing into things, but I did not wave them enough yesterday, evidently. I do not think that I suffered any serious or long-term injuries by hitting my head, but it has hurt all evening, so I hope to get to bed soon and get a good night's sleep. I might wake up feeling better in the morning.
(I may not post an email tomorrow. As will be the case for the next two days, I have no idea if I will have Internet access. The Internet access today was an unexpected bonus.)
When I got to Linz today, I asked a passer-by how I might find a well-known park next to my hotel, and it turned out that I was right next to the bridge that would take me into town. Unfortunately, I found the town very unamenable to bikers. There were tons of pedestrians, no lanes for bikers, and two tramway lines running right down the middle of the street. I decided to bike next to the tramway lines (and sometimes between them) and pray not to get hit rather than venturing onto a side street and risking getting lost. My ploy worked pretty well, though every movement of my legs hurt my butt, I almost fell off of my bike when my front wheel slid right onto the tramway track, and the street's cobblestones jolted me like a rodeo rider - that is, it worked well right up until I made a turn that was slightly too sharp, ran my trailer into the edge of a raise part of the sidewalk, and sent my luggage flying out of the back of the trailer onto the street. There were no cars coming when it happened, and two men immediately jumped out onto the street when they saw my predicament, but I was nonplussed to have ended my day with a small-scale crash.
Alas, for every day in Nancy or Heidelberg, one is bound to have one biking along the Danube - such is the way of travelling. When I castigated myself for having bungled my plans while talking to a (crazy, evidently, though he seemed pretty normal) man in my hostel who was travelling by bike, he pointed out that nobody plans things perfectly. After tomorrow, I will have much less biking to do each day, and I will get an earlier start tomorrow than I did yesterday, which might make the ride seem easier. I wish that I did not have a headache at the moment, but I slammed headfirst into the wooden frame of a bunk bed yesterday while looking for my own bed. I am always careful to wave my arms around when I am walking in the dark in order to avoid smashing into things, but I did not wave them enough yesterday, evidently. I do not think that I suffered any serious or long-term injuries by hitting my head, but it has hurt all evening, so I hope to get to bed soon and get a good night's sleep. I might wake up feeling better in the morning.
(I may not post an email tomorrow. As will be the case for the next two days, I have no idea if I will have Internet access. The Internet access today was an unexpected bonus.)
Oops. I forgot to mention that Austrians are incredibly unfriendly. That is, they are not outwardly hostile, and the help one when one asks for help (or, as in the case of the two men who were ready to help me after my crash, on their own initiative), but they walk around scowling all of the time. This may be more of a result of staidness than unfriendliness, but, whatever the case, it contrasts sharply with Germans' almost-universal bonhomie. That is my only cultural observation for the day. Rather, it is one of money, but one never has time to relate all of them. Goodnight!
The giant Danube and some nearby forests.
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