I did not mean for this blog to be a litany of my misfortunes, but I came down with a rotten cold on the last leg of our journey so I haven’t managed to write for a while.  Sniffle, sniffle.

But I am getting better and I did manage to ride the whole way.  The last two days have been rest days in Vienna and I slept for most of 24 hours!  Hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here.

The last leg of our journey before Vienna was 5 days of riding, primarily on the Donauradweg (Danube trail).  The Danube has grown up a great deal since the start of the trail.  As you can see,    it is very wide now.  It is full of boat traffic (Al, I thought of you as I saw a big powerboat like your boat in Seattle flying upstream the other day).  There are boats of all shapes and sizes:  barges carrying cargo, pleasure boats full of tourists, sailboats, kayaks, canoes, ski boats–you name it.

The bike trail is also full of riders of all sorts.  You would be amazed by the number of people out riding: commuters in dresses and suits in the cities, fast hardcore cyclists out for exercise, travelers on touring bikes with panniers and trailers, entire families, the young and the old  .  I saw a couple of riders the other day with one rider towing the other with what looked very similar to a bungee cord (Richard, you can imagine how I cringed!).  Jim and I continue to draw attention everywhere we ride because of our unusual recumbent bicycles.    The Germans in particular stare at us and often laugh out loud.  Jim translated that several people have called out “So, you are lying down and taking a nap then”.  Other people are very interested in the bikes and come over to see them and talk with us about them.

We really enjoyed the German countryside.     Our weather changed dramatically with cooler weather and rain for a while.  We were incredibly fortunate that the rain has occurred mainly at night and after we have had our camp set up   .  Had a couple of cold nights but now we are the proud owners of new Icebreaker long johns and have stayed toasty warm.

Austria has also been remarkably beautiful along the trail.  We rode through the Wachau region

, famous for apricots, elderberries and wine grapes.  We have had to ferry

across the Danube a few times (due to a few wrong turns despite our careful transcription of the instructions

) but that proved to be fun and gave us the opportunity to meet some other cyclists from elsewhere.  (Not to say that I was a happy camper on the days we rode extra distance and I was sick 😦  .  Would love to say I always handled it well but…)  Our last day of riding into Vienna was fairly long (116km) with a powerful headwind all the way (envision riding the Columbia Gorge).  The one problem with always heading the same direction is that there is no relief from the wind!  I do have to confess that we have had some days of delightful tailwinds as well.

In Vienna as I slept, Jim ventured around the city taking in the sights.  He went with a group of the riders last night to listen to a Mozart concert in a building where Mozart once lived.  He said that it was a very small venue and he was sitting about 6 feet from the violinist.  Today I was up and about.  We found an amazing Thai spa and had massages. Ahhh.

Amber, I took this photo  just for you (little cherubs hunting 🙂 ).

Tomorrow it is back on the bikes and hot weather in the forecast.  We are heading to Bratislava, Slovakia.  Jim and I visited there in about 1987, back while it was still part of the Soviet Union.  We expect to find it very different.  Peter, our bike mechanic, and Wilma, our cook

are from Slovakia.  After only one day in Slovakia we will enter Hungary.  Our next rest day is in Budapest and then it will be goodbye to the Danube.