It was the bomb

This is typical.  I've been looking forward to the wonderful trips I'm about to write about for so long, but somehow couldn't get myself to write about them afterward.    Now I have a few hours before I need to give up my computer for a few weeks so I'm going to try to get this down quickly - and edit later.  We'll see how that goes....

At the end of May, our good friends Jennifer and Brenda (of last year's Dresden visit fame) met us in Germany to do a bike ride along the Danube river to Vienna.  Somehow they let me convince them to eschew a traditional tour - or service that would handle all hotel reservations, bike rental and baggage transfer - and throw in with the likes of us and the a-la-carte version.  So they reserved a hotel in Passau, where our trip began, a hotel in Vienna for the last couple of days, and two bikes for the trip. The plan was to meet in Passau on  May 27th, and I was psyched to have found an easy, comfortable train connection (reserved weeks in advance) to bring Matthias, me and our bikes there in the early afternoon.  Our journey started without a hitch, but of course just as we were about to make our first (and only) easy connection in Halle, with plenty of time to spare, I was approached by a police officer who said we needed to leave the station - it was being evacuated.  I assumed it was a drill (everyone was so calm) and hoped we'd be back up on the platform in time to catch our next train in over an hour.  However, although there was no eminent danger, it turned out it was an old WWII bomb they uncovered during renovations.  Right on track 6!  What it meant for us was that our connecting train would bypass the station and travel on to Passau without us and there would be no other connections for the entire day. Additionally, since we were traveling with fully laden bikes (and a trailer) it wasn't as if we could get on one of the shuttle buses they rounded up after about an hour, or call a taxi to the next train station. And to top it off, Halle is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.  It would have taken us a almost all day to ride to another station where we could get a train to go any further (and we were only about a 1.5 hour train ride from home!)  If we weren't supposed to meet Jennifer and Brenda that day, we probably would have just ridden toward home and started off again another day, but instead we did what all lucky kids (spoiled brats?) do:  called Matthias' dad for rescue.  Luckily, he had a small trailer (and no other plans) so he could pick us up and whisk us over to the next train station. So, we ended up basically starting over at a train station 90 minutes from home at 3pm, despite having set off at 7am.  And, since we couldn't board an express train without a bike reservation (no space), we ended up jockeying for space on slower regional trails.  Needless to say we didn't make it to Passau that evening.  We did make it as far as Regensburg, where we got a hotel near the train station and finished the trip the next morning.  In the pouring rain....

Still, we were totally excited to see Jennifer and Brenda (we had planned two days in Passau anyway - whew!) and we met up with them around noon, grabbed something to eat and then went to get their bikes!  Unfortunately, they had to do the test ride around town in the rain, and the weather didn't allow for a visit to a Bavarian beer garden I wanted to try, but we still managed to have fun as we prepared to set off the next day....

Loaded and ready to go!

...which was also raining.  And not light rain, which can be expected, but a pretty heavy downpour that lasted most of the day.  We got totally soaked (rain gear only holds so long) but again we managed to have some fun visiting the the little interactive danube river museum, crossing the border into Austria, and catching the ferry to our hotel/campsite on the river.  Of course, I was bummed because the one thing I was really looking forward to was a Jause (snack) stop at a farmhouse along the way - but wouldn't you know it, it was closed (for the day).  Fortunately, although our hotel/campsite was in the middle of nowhere, the rain stopped before we put up our tent, and the hotel had a decent dinner spread and a warm bar where we could hang out.

Selfie on the road

Border Crossing into Austria

our first ferry

Posing with Bob - our trailer

On day two the weather was much improved, and we set off along the Danube through Aschach and Feldkirchen (where we had a nice lunch featuring Spargel/Asparagus and yummy pasta), past our favorite Jause station (also closed - though we expected that) and onto Linz.  Jennifer and Brenda checked into their gorgeous hotel - right on the domplatz/church square - and we ended up at another hotel because the campsite I found was too far away and there was lots of construction.  Fortunately, it was a nice hotel and conveniently located so we could have a bit of a night on the town.  More fun!

Jackets off!

Linz!

The next day we spent the morning walking around Linz -with a visit to the market and a bakery for some Linzer Torte - and then started off late on what I expected to be a short ride (it wasn't).  We rode through Wallsee with a trip up, up, up to see the castle (behind a gate) and then through a scenic area known for Most (kind of cider) production.  Unfortunately, all the little farms where they serve it didn't open until late afternoon - so we pushed on to our goal: Au on the Donau.  Not much of a town, but it had a decent hotel and a nice campsite, as well as a great place for a couple of beers and Steckerlfisch (fish on a stick).

Castle in Wallsee

Rest stop in the Most region

Steckerlfisch!

Brenda was too late for the Steckerlfisch!

The next day, we took a nice short-ish ride to Grein - with a lunch stop for more Steckerlfisch.  The town was nice, but I want to put that day behind me because I got the hotel reservation messed up - the one we reserved (hotel/campsite combo) was WAY up a really steep hill....no way Matthias would have made it with the trailer.....and I didn't realize that they would have picked us (and our bikes) up.  Would have been really nice, but I panicked and convinced Jennifer and Brenda to get a broken down cabin at a crappy campsite in town (seemed that no other reservations were available, but again I panicked....we would have found something).  Anyway, dinner was good - we got to eat Kaiserschmarrn - and the next day we were off to MELK, which was awesome.  Great sights (famous Abbey), beautiful old town, and yummy dinner!!

Grein from above

Drinks in Melk!

And THEN, the tour highlight.  We took the prettiest ride of all through the Wachau - a beautiful wine-growing area.  We frustrated poor Matthias with all our picture-taking stops, but then made it up to him by finding a great place for dinner - a winemaker with a pretty terrace serving plates with assorted meats and cheese.  We stayed in Krems, on the edge of the Wachau, an extra night and took a trip up (up, up, up)  to see another Abbey, and drink more wine....

Gotta have a selfie with Venus

Riding in the Wachau

Matthias' idea of heaven

Selfie in the Wachau!

And finally, we rode off to Tulln and on to Klosterneuburg just outside of Vienna, where Jen and Brenda returned their bikes and we headed into Vienna on the S Bahn for a last afternoon and dinner together.  It was a great trip, and Jennifer and Brenda were real troopers!  I mean, they were certainly fit enough for the ride (I was probably the least fit of the bunch), but understandably had to withstand aches and pains associated with riding a strange bike for hours a day.  Wine, beer, aspirin and good time helped, I hope!  We said our goodbyes and Matthias and I got the last train back to our campsite in Klosterneuburg at 1AM, just in time to get into bed before it started to POUR.  Like really pour!  Matthias had to go out and re-insert one of the tent stakes, but otherwise we remained dry.  However, the rain had implications for our onward journey.

Last selfie by Vienna - we did it!!

Last dinner in Vienna - thanks for the treat!!

Matthias and I left Vienna on the 10th of June - we had about two weeks to make it home and wanted to try to do it by bike.  We headed north toward the Czech Republic on a route called the Prague-Vienna Greenway.  Certainly not as developed as the Danube cycle path, but there was relatively good signage and the roads/paths were (mostly) lightly traveled.  It was hilly, though!  The first day we rode through more of Austria's wine valley, which it seems they are trying to develop as a bike route alternative to the Danube, as it gets really busy in summer.  It was really beautiful, UNTIL, we had to ride through fields over what was normally a lovely dirt road, but because of the huge rainstorm, the valleys were flooded and we ended up having to walk our bikes through the mud.  And if that wasn't bad enough, the ground was extremely rich in lime - meaning that the mud stuck to our wheels, gears, etc.  The bikes actually stopped functioning - we couldn't even pedal.  Fortunately, at the end of the path, we came across a construction site and the nice worker let us hose the bikes down.  That let us continue on to our campsite where Matthias could give the bikes a good washing.  Whew!

The next day, we rode into Czech Republic (and back into Austria and back into Czech again) to a campsite in Znojmo, where Matthias was underwhelmed with the facilities (but I thought they were just fine).  The next day, we found a lovely campsite in the middle of nowhere (actually we were afraid it didn't exist as there was hardly anything around it, but I had emailed with the owner the day before....)  It was a "Christian" campsite, so we were lucky to get beer, which the owner sold....somewhat reluctantly.  The next campsite, also in a small town (outside of a larger one), was also lovely (our favorite), and was located down the street from a fun local place - a farm with a "Saloon".   We were making good progress having pretty good luck (aside from a flat tire just as we were about to leave our favorite campsite). But then as we were looking for our campsite just before Prague - at the end of a long, hilly day - it turned out to be closed.  I found another nearby, but it involved a really long climb and our batteries were quite low.  But after lots of sweat and stress, we made it to the picturesque spot along the Vltava river and had a fun evening there.  The next day we took a white-knuckle ride through Prague (the approach to Prague was good - the city, not so much) and then proceeded toward the Elbe river and home.  We made a point to stop in the border town of Deĉin, which was a little disappointing (the campsite) but also fun (the restaurant).  And we enjoyed riding through Dresden (our old haunt) and Meissen.  Finally, we stopped in Lutherstadt Wittenberg - famous for the church where Martin Luther posted his Theses) for a last hurrah and then made our way home, making sure to get caught in a very big downpour along the way.  We made it in 13 days, with time to spare before my next adventure(s).

First signs in Czech Republic

Campsite in Znojmo

Flat tire at our favorite campsite in Rodvinov

This says be careful, but I didn't know why....or of what!

Riding toward Prague along the Vltava

Back in Germany!

Dresden!!

Holy Beer!  Lutherstadt Wittenberg 

And THEN, I had another treat in store.  I made it back in time to meet the Franck-Papagni family:  Lisa, Noah, Michael and Eli in Berlin!  Actually, we met up in Lutherstadt Wittenberg and drove together to Berlin.  I failed to show them a good time there (everything I had thought of they had seen already! Or was closed, because it was Monday) but I had a blast with them just walking around - and having a sleepover at their hotel.  Soooo great to see them, but we missed Sue!

Lunch in Lutherstadt

Fun family!!

And finally, I took a trip down to Slovenia and Croatia, to meet my mom and Laurene as they embarked on a fabulous three-week tour/small-ship-cruise of the Balkans.  I took the train to Ljubljana and joined them for three days in Lake Bled and then three days in Zagreb.  They were on an organized tour, but they had plenty of free time to hang out with me and do cocktails, dinner, and walks (around the lake and in town).  I even got to go swimming with my mom in Lake Bled!  Also, when I could, I met up with the tour group and slunk around in the background.  And when they were busy, I also had a blast: I rented a bike to ride the countryside by Bled, and did a lot of walking around Ljubljana and Zagreb - both beautiful cities!

Beautiful Ljubljana

Mom and Laurene by Lake Bled

Mom and me!  Could be sisters, right?

Biking around Lake Bled - under my own power.  No motor!

On the bike ride around Bled - beautiful!

Market in Zagreb

Whew - and in the meantime, Matthias turned 50 and I have a new cousin!  We are about to go celebrate Matthias' birthday in Munich and then on to Tyrol and the Rhein for another bike tour.  Of course, as of this moment, our bikes are still in the shop (another long story)  so we won't know until tonight if we're actually leaving tomorrow.  But if this gets posted, that means we left.  I'll have to excuse myself for the typos, run-ons and bad grammar (more than usual), and maybe I'll get around to editing when we get back. 

Oh, and the taxes still aren't done yet.....