sprocket i/o

One strange observation that Dallas and I had during this trip was how many touring bicycles we saw. This scene was repeated all over Austria, Germany, and the Czech republic, even in the most remote fields. We resolved that when we got back into Belgium, that we would do more cycling.

Here was one scene in a tiny village while we were trying to find the romantic road along the Danube outside of Krems, Austria:

The book we had mentioned that the southern side of the Danube was the quieter less-trafficked one. Seeing that most of the way was gravel roads with roadblocks, I would have to agree with the book. At least I learned how to handle the R1150GS in gravel two-up! Once we crossed the Danube near Krems, we finally saw what we were looking for, miles and miles of hilly vineyards:

Overnight we stayed in Linz, an large industrial city in the North. We came here to visit the nearby Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp. The camp looked and felt much different than I expected. I was glad that we watched the 45-minute video there (in English!) to explain what the role of the camp was, and the history behind it.

I’ll be honest. The camp was quite depressing to visit, but I am glad that Dallas encouraged me to go there:

Feeling a bit down after spending two hours in a concentration camp, we slabbed it south toward the Alps. We stopped for lunch in the foothills, off of Traunsee Lake. Here is one view from the far side of the lake:

From there, we continued to head toward our hotel, making use of the infamous Grossglockner High Alpine Road. For a toll of 18 euros, you too can ride on the highest mountain in Austria. The road itself ascends to a lofty 2504m (8215ft) in a series of hairpin turns and bends. These two photos were taken about halfway up:

Dallas did not like anything about this part of the trip. The combination of the height, curves, and fading sunlight made things rather stressful. She was quite nervous about me even stopping to take a photo. So, I waited till we began to descend before snapping some more. This one shows a good overview of the curviness:

And my somewhat frazzled favorite passenger:

By the end of Grossglockner, the sun had almost entirely set, and we were still 45 minutes away from our rather nice hotel. We arrived there late enough for the much-anticipated pool and sauna to be closed, but at least they were still serving food and best of all: had a DIY laundy service. Frankly, our clothing were beginning to stink, so we needed it. After battling it out with their laundromat, we were able to get some much-needed rest, and were able to get this early morning view of the local chuch from our hotel window:

It was now Sunday, and our mission was to get up to Munich, where the next hotel reservation awaited us. We decided to skip Grossglockner, and take the long way around, going south toward Lienz, Austria, and then west. The scenery was absolutely amazing, even at the rest stops. Dallas in particular had a huge smile on her face the entire time:

After a day of riding beautiful alpine roads, we headed toward the foothills to take the Deutsche Alpenstrasse toward Munich:

The scenery along the Alpenstrasse would have been amazing before the Austrian alps, but it felt pretty weak at this point. The only excitement we had here was being passed by an older guy on a Honda Goldwing with a very young girl in nothing but a sundress and a helmet on the back.

As we got back onto the highway toward Munich, it began to rain. Not a big deal as we had rain gear, but the traffic on the autobahn was completely backed up. After waiting patiently for a few minutes, it was soon clear that it lane-splitting time. The German drivers were for the most part happy to give us extra room to pass between them, since they weren’t going anywhere anyways. By the time we got to Munich, we were totally beat.

Austria: We’re coming back to you someday.