Today has been a really good day in lots of ways. I awoke at 07.00 to blue skies and glorious sunshine which have remained all day and it is still a beautiful evening at 20.00. I swithered and decided that Linz could not remain unexplored. So after a leisurely breakfast shared with the Australians Nigel and Anthony we cycled the 4kms into Linz centrum chained our bikes together and set off to explore Linz.
The unusual and very attractive thing about Linz is that the main square and alstadt (old town ) are immediatedly off the Danube and the first thing you come to. We did a tour of what appeared to be the main sights including the Cathedral which was huge (modelled on Koln Cathedral apparently) and a bit less ostentatiously oppulent than many cathedrals ( I am a world expert cathedral tourist who has been dragged into cathedrals all over the world.) It emerged later when we took the yellow tourist train that the cathedral was only finished in 1924 62 years in the making. The stained glass windows were the best I have ever seen. Fantastic.
There was an interesting story that the architects wanted to make it bigger than St Stephens in Vienna but were turned down. They couldn't have a provincial town outdoing the capital, Wienn. so they made the tower 1 m less than St Stephens but put a huge cross on top so it is the largest structure in Austria.
The only things of note that we hadn't discovered on our own was the Alstadt and castle, so we set off to explore there. On the way we encountered Serge and Martine on their fully loaded bikes. It continues to be a small world. The alstadt was interesting enough and the castle had morphed through several homes as a prison, a hospital and now a museum with added glass extesion which works surprisingly well. There were three classes of young children visiting so we beat a hasty retreat.
On the way back to the bikes in the main square we came across a strange but fantastically useful marketing effort. It was a bike repair company which was offering a FREE check up all day. We joined the queue and my squeek squeek which I was afraid to deal with in case I made it worse was consigned to history with two mechanics giving my steed the once over. They told me that all was well after they had cleaned and adjusted my gears but that I urgently needed my front brake pads changed. Fortunately I had some with me and they offered to change them for free, RESULT They wished us GUT Fahrt and we set off back to the campsite.
I made a snap decision to put in some miles towards Budapest so after lunch I quickly decamped said goodbye to the Australians and hit the Donauradweg at just after 15.00. There was a very slight wind against but the flat path and the sunshine countered that and I made reasonable time to Grein which is about 60kms from Linz. I am in Donaucampingplatz right on the Donau and just under the oldest residential palace in Austria. All in all a very good day. It is 77 km to Durnstein which is the target for tomorrow UNLESS Grein turns out to be more interesting than it appears in which case......
distance cycled so far: 836kms
Great to read about all you are getting out of this trip now after a sticky start. Enjoy every minute as a tourist and a cyclist with a non squeaky bike. Make the most of it. Still lots to see and do and to be enjoyed and locked away for future stories. Have fun, Brian.
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