6 May via Cellphone
No pc pics for a few days.
Now on the main road to Vienna. Decided to take two days to see this interesting city.
Organ. Largest in Europe. 17000 pipes.
Three rivers converge here. Donau the Inn and the Ilz. Pic shows only two.
May 5
Confusing ride to Passau as many of the road signs were either defaced or turned. Need to use gps.
2008-05-04 17:18
Photos today from cell phone due to technical difficulties. Photos can be found in a post below as the pics were sent directly to vox from the cellphone. Should be two posts in, not counting the one Bob added.
Surprise, to us especially, we have connectivity via a good Ethernet connection in a small Gasthof in the middle of nowhere. Very small town, Osterhofen, south of the main Danube trail. Needed a place to stay as we did not want to do 110 km to Passau so we found a place closer to half way.
Tip Top Tea (The Tea of Record) is closed today to mourn the death and celebrate the life of Marylou Trudell, a two day closing for an important fellow traveller.
We left Straubing to the sounds of many marching bands (pics). 500th year anniversary of the town; multi-colored uniforms, Sharon favored the traditional green. A nice way to cycle out of town on a sunny Sunday morning.
Expected a quiet Sunday in Bavaria with all services closed. However, the 40 km Straubing, Bogen, Mariposching Rad-Tour (Bike Tour) (pics) started just after our departure. When we asked the destination, one rider told us the name of the beer hall rather than the city it was located in. We cycled along, got some info from riders and enjoyed a good ride to the beer hall, where we left them.
When we got to Deggendorf we had coffee and surprisingly tasty minestone soup. Rathaus (pics) with a sundial. Intended to take the ferry, then on to Osterhofen, but, in perfect German, we were told by a local, "Die Machine is Kaput". So, we cycled onto Winzer and headed south to Osterhofen.
Nice Gasthoff in a town with a very fine Basilica. Basilicas are similar to Doms except that they are not the seat of the diocese. This one is an outstanding Baroque edifice, the inside filled with stucco figures, paintings, gilt, faux surfaces, etc. While walking to the Basilica we met a nice woman from Munich. After pleasantries she mentioned she was going the the church and we should follow. I asked a few questions, naturally, and she said that they had a tour arranged and would ask the guide. She did one better, arranged a private tour, in German, for us and helped translate a bit. Very nice of her.
Tip Top Tea (The Tea of Record) is closed today to mourn the death and celebrate the life of Marylou Trudell.
Ride to Straubing from Regensburg.
Walhalla, a monument on the road out of town. No reason could be found for the purpose, but quite a building up on a very high steep hill.
Nice view of Danube outside of Demling.
Lunch in Vorburg, good tour,Tor, and a cute plaza.
Lock as one enters Straubing quite large.
No net connection, works on Windows machines only.
From the cell phone.
No net connection so will catch up later with posts from pc. Will be without the ability to upload to Flikr for snout three days.
Joined a bike tour between cities. Asked them where they going and they mentioned what sounded like a town. Nope. A beer hall 20 kms away. Ride to the beer and then return. All ages on the ride, even 5 year olds and smaller.
Coffee break in Deggendorf. Another perfect old town with a new old rathaus.
Regensburg rest and tourist day
Just a few pics, not much different than yesterday. Wandered the old town, ate good food (almost none of it German or Bavarian).
Much less of a social day when we are not biking and meeting other wanderers.
Brought to you by Tip Top Tea (The Tea of Record). Try our Friday Special Small Cobble Blend. Easier on sore feet.
2008-05-01 16:54
Regensburg. Almost perfect ride from Kelheim. Along the Danube the whole way, very easy to follow, great quality road, decent to good biking weather and lots to see.
We left to the acompanment of an Oompah band. May 1 and the Bayern Socialists ( 9 of then) were playing, in full dress uniform (pic).
Brought to you by Tip Top Tea (The Tea of Record). Try our pebbly road blend, sure to settle a grumpy stomach (similar to Welcoming Duck Blend, but less costly due to higher pebble ratio).
Found first rate hotel in Regensburg since we arrived quickly and early. Soret chain. The hotel is just off a cobbled bridge that is very similar to the Charles Bridge in Prague; old town on one side and newer town on the other, mostly pedestrians and of sufficient length to cross three converging flowing parts of the Danube.
Walked the old town and the Dom area as well as visiting the Dom and several of the churches, the only attractions open today as 1 May is a holiday. The Dom is impressive, as Dom's go, but smaller than Cologne or Milano. Sure it has the largest of something, We were fortunate to hear the great sounding organ in both the Dom and an adjoining old (started 9th century) church; the little church had a sweet sound as the key was several octives higher than in the Dom,
Returned to the room, top floor, for a postprandial nap and heard some noise on the balcony. Hail! Pretty loud, but not too large.
Boogs Sacking Team Treasurer respectfully reports plunder to date:
1 lost cable, minus sacking points
1 lost dress, minus sacking points
1 new knife but had to dispose of old one. Neutral sacking
1 sacking stuff sack, plus sacking points
1 pair new shoes, plus sacking points
Krewe getting restive.
2008-04-30 21:38 now to local time
Neuberg to Kelheim, on a good biking day with muddy, smutzig roads requiring fording at times and dismounting often. Stout trail shoes completely caked with mud. That said, a beautiful ride on mostly flat roads along or parallel to the water.
As a result of the mud and gravel, we take back the nice words said about the perfect German roads. Maybe it's a Baden-Wurt thing.
Met some Americans doing business with German partners. The German partners found them in Detroit Mich. Recycle dashboards and auto tyres.
Had a substantial conversation with the tire person. Insists, has data, that the recycled tire asphalt costs no more, lasts very long and the only reason we do not see roads all made with this method is planned obsolesence or graft. Wish I had Dennis to help me with the discussion.
Finished up the day with a boat ride from Weltenburg. The ride is through the Danube Gorge; only 7 km but quite impressive canyon (pics of course)
Brought to you by Tip Top Tea (The Tea of Record). Try our Welcoming Duck blend. Small, clean pebbles included, to help with digestion.
In the town of Vorburg we found a decorated place with with many different colored eggs. No idea what the significance of the nicely colored eggs (pic) might be. Was attached to a religious statue. Readers welcomed, gladly, to chime in.
Speaking of eggs: See pics of yesterday. QB had a perfectly medium boiled egg at breakfast. Yolk was a sunset orange color, not one I had seen before. Readers are also invited to chime in concerning colors of egg yolks, cooked and uncooked.
Met up again with the couple heading to India. He Swiss, she Hungarian. They hope to occasionally update their web site: http://www.silkroad-express.ch
Dinner (no pic) was a Swabian something; two or three types of meat (one was pork) with onions in a strange sauce. The cheese spatzel was not really edible; kind of like grits, only bad. Suspect the locals love it. Their German is almost unintelligable.
2008-04-29 09:34 PDT
Donauworth to Neuburg, hilly wet ride in intermittent rain. Mud more than the rain is the problem for the QB. Neuburg hotel a quasi dump, but nice people and expensive.
Brought to you by Tip Top Tea (The Tea of Record). Cold or flu? Try our Sneezer Blend, good for most ailments.
Leaving Donauworth, a walled city, is a good gate (pic). This intersection appears to be the nexus of about six bike roads across Euope. North, South etc. each with a romantic name (such as the Romanische Strasse which is uphill for about 600 km (easy grade they say).
Road today was not well signposted. One spot (pic) had many many signs but none were to where we wanted to go by bike. Took the road which turned out to be correct when we met some Netherlanders who had a similar confusion. The gps helped.
Red wurst in a cafe (pic) and later good coffee.
Met the Swiss and Hungarian on their way to India. Not sure of their route but thought they would go via Turkey and Iran.
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