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Published: September 7th 2014
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On a Radfahre (bike ferry)
Our fourth ferry crossing so far, this one from Wiesen (right bank) to Grein (left bank). We are continuing down the wonderful Donauradweg (Danube bike path), enjoying the beautiful Treppelweg (tow path) right by the river or on top of the dike, or on back roads through villages and towns in the valley. As we move downriver the hills are closer to the river, and the scenery is prettier. Along with the scenery, the weather has been improving as we go, steady rain giving way to showers, then just cloudy with sprinkles, then it's warm enough to wear the short sleeved shirts, and finally a day warm enough for bike shorts and a sunny Friday afternoon in the quaint town of Grein where we rested fro our ride at an outdoor cafe by the river watching the passing scene of cyclists, motorcyclists, and sports car afficiandos. On the way we passed through, and spent extra time in, the border city of Passau, where the Inn and Danube flow together, and the both modern and historical city of Linz, the capital of the province of Upper Austria.
The Danbue is beautiful, but it is not blue. It is brown, full of sediment, close to the top of the dikes in many places, and racing downstream. We have
been a bit dubious on some of the smaller ferries, but the skippers seem to know the river well. We have passed high water marks in many places and have noted that the river often floods in summer unlike our pattern of winter flooding in the northwest. In June of last year, the water was 12 feet over some of the bike trail that we rode.
We are entering some of the most scenic parts of the Danbue bike path and this is the most heavily used bike path in Europe for good reason. We watched bikers with panniers pour into town yesterday afternoon and we see bikers heading both up and down stream along the path. The path has benches and picnic tables at scenic spots and there are numerous bike ferries so that you can cross back and forth and take the bike path on either side of the river. If the ferry is not on your side of the river, you push a button to summon it and often get a private ferry ride for a few euros. Every hotel or B&B has bike storage and when we do bike on roads, car drivers are polite.
Riding on the Treppelweg
The Treppelweg is the path along the river formerly used by horses to haul rafts upstream. Much of the route is along this. And every town is full of gelato stands and bakeries. This is biker heaven.
In Linz we happened into a huge wine festival. Several blocks of cobblestone streets in the old town were closed to traffic and the area was full of wine and food vendors. We could sample wines from all over the region and as far away as Spain. By six PM as locals stopped by afer work, the streets were shoulder to shoulder as the event became a city-wide party.
While Linz has a beautifully preserved old town, it is also a place of high-tech 21st Century industry. We visited the utramodern Ars Electronica museum, which explores some of the difficult questions and moral dilemmas that we face today and in the near future. There was an interesting exhibit dealing with internet privacy, or the lack thereof. There were real time online computers that showed how fast and how far internet posting spread, detailed descriptions of how much of your personal information and habits Facebook stores and analyzes, and a place to encode secret messages using Captcha so they can't be read by computers. Connect with @captcha_tweet to see what peope are posting there. The
Old sundial in Mauthausen
It was still cloudy, so no shadow in this photo. most troubling exhibit, though, was the one dealing with the implications of genetic engineering. It provided good information about the amazing things that can be done (it really is possible to make a plant that glows, for example, by incorporating bioluminescent genes from an animal), the good things that can be accomplished with this technology, and the potential pitfalls of the hubris of moving forward without fully thiniking through the consequences. There was also an interesting display of activities used with 5th grade students to help them understand the implications.
Now on down the valley into Lower Austria, the Wachau wine country, and to Vienna. Many photos below; be sure to scroll down to see them.
Kathy and Kit
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Wandering the world
You are living the life! Grand canals, hikes and bikeways fill your days. No wonder you are always smiling in the photos.