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Today we celebrated the finish of our successful bike tour with a leisurely breakfast outdoors along the Danube riverbank. The sun was shining, as it has been all week, but now the weather report predicts thunderstorms and torrential downpours for later today. We have been really lucky with the weather in all the countries which we have visited so far.
We drove on the Autobahn from Passau, Germany to Biberach and the traffic alerts on the radio stations every 15 minutes went like this :
“Warning : a “Geisterfahrer” ( ghost-driver) is driving in the wrong direction on Autobahn # 8 near Munich.
Stay to the extreme right and do not use the passing lane.”
“Warning : a truck lost sheet-rock panels on Autobahn #6 ”
or : “There are people walking on Autobahn # 92″
or : “Horses are running near Autobahn # 57″
plus the usual road construction sites, causing back-ups for 10 to 20 miles.
Another great service is the listing of all the police radar spots ( “Blitzer” in German or “Flasher” in English) in and around the cities in your area, broad casted at regular intervals. The car radios in Germany tune in to the traffic alerts automatically and even increase the volume, if it was turned down. The tunnels have radio transmitters, so you never miss a beat, when you drive here. Not a bad service.

Yesterday was another day with sunshine and heat. In the morning, we drove our bikes for only 2 miles from the B+B Haus Prinz in Grein down the mountain to the next train station. Some people in our party felt that it was too hot for another 30 mile bike ride !
We took the local ÖBB ( Austrian Railroad) train to Mauthausen near Enns. The train consisted of only one coach. The driver helped us to load our bikes on the train, plus sold us our tickets on board the train before he proceded to drive us to our destination. We were the only passengers on the train, and I was standing at the open window, inhaling the smell of fresh hay and watching the beautiful scenery of the Danube river valley pass by. I felt like the Bavarian King Ludwig, who used to enjoy riding in his private train around Bavaria.
We biked for another 5 miles to Enns, the oldest town in Austria, and after climbing a steep, long hill ( all these old towns have their castle and town center on a hill ) , stopped at a hotel for refreshments.Incidentally, in the lobby were pictures of Pope John Paul II, showing him during his visit here in 1988.
We took another 20-minute train to Linz and had lunch at the modern Linz train station, which feels more like an airport than a train station. The last train of the day took us, plus our bikes, for another 2 hour ride from Linz to Passau. Passau is on the German- Austrian border, at the confluence of the three rivers Danube, Inn and Ilz. It is a picture-perfect postcard-town with all the trimmings : mountain-top castle, big baroque cathedral, lots of churches, old renaissance-period merchant houses and so on. We biked along the Danube for another 6 miles to the hotel ” Kernmühle” , where we had left our rental car 6 days ago.
A little tired and very hot, we finished the bike tour with a big, refreshing ” Radler” ( half beer, half lemon soda).

Tonight, we found internet at a reasonable rate on a campground in Grein on the bank of the Danube.
Today we biked for about 30 miles from Pöchlarn to Grein. Last night was a rough one : we were awake for a good part of the ” sleeping hours”. Why ? The churchbells next to our “Gasthof” announced the time every quarter, half and full hour. It is still daylight at 9:30 PM, and I noticed the first light of dawn at 3:15 this morning.
It is nice to have these long days, but the nights are a little short. We managed to mount our alu steeds at 8:30AM and had a beautiful 4 hour ride on the “Treppelweg” ( riverbank path used by horses to pull the barges) along the Danube. It was very peaceful with great scenery under blue skies. Along the way, we stopped at a bakery on wheels for our mid-morning snack. The path is away from the roads and the only traffic are other bikers. I have given up to take a picture of every castle along the way. Today, we biked along the
” Strudengau” section of the Danube, which used to be feared by the boat captains because of its current.
We made it to the town of “Grein”, but had to climb a nasty hill in order to reach our B+B.
Our host is very nice and drove us in her car to an outdoor public pool, where we relaxed and cooled off all afternoon. The temperature today was again in the 90’s !
The bike tour has been a lot of fun and tomorrow is our last day, going back to Passau in Germany. I will be missing the swans and ducks of the Danube !

Every coutry of ” Old Europe” seems to have its epic. In Britain, it´s Beowolf, in Italy, it´s Inferno, and in Germany, one is Nibelungenlied. The story actually starts in Xanten, in nothwestern Germany, where a knightly family owns a castle and wages the usual wars of the times. When marriages took place, at that time, the whole castle population went to take part and thus you had great wanderings from city to city or country to country. Das Nibelungenlied describes life in this structure of the times and includes weddings, wars, and migrations. One of the main characters, Brunhilde, was to be wed to a Hun, in present day Hungary. Part of the epic describes their journey along the Danube River to her future mate. We followed these footsteps, but not on horseback, as they did in the story, but rather on bike. It was a great journey through beautiful vineyards, past forests, and along the plains and meadows of the Danube River. After 5 days of bike riding, our butts needed a break and we went to a local swimming pool for a relaxing afternoon. There we took a little nap, since sleep last night was not as restful as I had hoped. We resided in a B&B next to the town church, whose bells chimed every quarter hour, even during the night. You got to love “Old Europe”.

Our bike trip along the Danube ( Donau ) river is a lot of fun. Today we were riding our bikes for only 25 miles, before getting a boost from a river boat.
The title translates to ” Danube river steamboat company captain “. In German all in one word !
Yesterday, we admired all the gold in the Benedictine monastery of Melk, and last night we stayed in a B+B in the small hamlet of Weissenkirchen. Our room was 72 steps up into a vineyard with a great view of the Danube valley.
The 4 hour boatride up the Danube took us along vineyards of the famous ” Wachau ” , the white wine produced in this region is called ” Green Veltliner “. We passed the ruin of “Dürnstein” castle, where the English King “Richard Lionheart” was held prisoner from 1192 to 1193.
We feel very fortunate, that we are free to roam the earth during this year and are not incarcerated in any way !
The weather here in Austria has been great : sunny, blue skies, but also record heat for May. The temps are in the 90’s !
Our ” derrieres ” are holding up fairly well and should survive the 2 days left in our biking tour !

The 2,850 km river kicks off in Germany’ Black Forest and flows eastwards through 10 countries to the Black Sea . It once was part of the Roman’s Empire border against the barbarians to the north and also played vital roles to contending armies during WWI and II. It has always served as a traffic route for goods between all the nations on it’s banks, and will probably increase this role in the new enlarged Europen Union. We were surprised that there really was a lot less boat traffic on the Danube than for example, on its cousin, the Rhine. It’s immediate banks are primarily used for entertainment. You can see hundreds of bikers, riding short or long sections of the path, nordic walkers, walking with their “ski” walking poles at a brisk pace, roller bladers, zipping by at astonishing speeds, the occassional joggers, huffing and puffing along the way and the people of various ages, just sitting and admiring its hypnotizing flow. The River is alive with festivals occuring at various times throughout the year in every little town or major city , that juts this mighty river.
For the next week the Danube was to be our companion , on our bike journey. Even though it isn’t blue, as Johann Strauss claimed in the title of his famous waltz Blue Danube, it is a majestic sight to see.

We made it back to Germany, where we started eating ourselves through the country. First a couple of relaxing days in Biberach , some catching up with Sonja, and then it was off to Passau to begin a 300km biking tour along the Danube River between Passau and Vienna. The first day was spent organizing bikes and bike pack bags for the back of the bikes.
On these rides, everything needed for the next week must be taken along in 2 backpack type bags, that get attached to the rear side tire frames.
Once we were packed, we enjoyed a stroll through the pedestrian zone in Passau, had some dinner and enjoyed a really good movie, The Interpreter with Kidman. The next morning took us on a bike path through beautiful countryside on our way to Ascach, a quaint city in Austria, where we spent the night.

This was one long travel ” day”. We left the Holiday Inn in Tokyo Narita on Thursday, May 19th at 2:30 PM . We left Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific at 15 minutes past midnight and had a flying time of 12.5 hours crossing China and all of Russia on our way to Paris. The Cathay Pacific service spoiled us along the way. Gabi and I were in row 88 on the upper deck of a Boeing 747-400 and there were three flight attendants for 24 passengers in our ” private ” cabin. After dinner, I watched 2 movies :
“The Aquatic Life of …” with Bill Murray, which I did not like and ” In Good Company ” , which I think is a great movie. I slept for the next 7 hours until the 3- course breakfast on board.
We arrived at Charles De Gaulle Airport at 6:45 Am Paris-time and connected to German Wings for our flight to Cologne Germany at 8:50 AM. This flight had cost 35 USD per person; paying fuel for a rental car would have been more expensive.
We took a train into the city of Cologne and continued on a Deutsche Bahn EuroCity train along the picturesque castle route up the Rhine river valley to Frankfurt. Gabi and I went to the train’s dining car for lunch, while enjoying the scenery from our panorama window. German food tasted really good after the long ” drought” in Japan. We switched from train to rental car and drove the German Autobahn for another 3.5 hours to Biberach in Baden- Württemberg. We finally were reunited with Sonja after a 36.5 hours travel day.

We just had a very nice flight on Cathay Pacific from Tokyo to Hong Kong.
Cathay Pacific rates # 1 with me on this trip so far. The service was excellent, the food and presentation like in a gourmet restaurant, not to mention the French Medoc red wine. We finished our steak dinner with fresh fruit, cheese selections and Haeagen-Dazs ice cream. In the meantime, the captain did a good job flying us from Tokyo over the East China Sea between Taipei and Shanghai to Hong Kong on the South China Sea.
The good bye in Tokyo was in typical Japanese fashion. The Tokyo ramp manager first bowed to our plane as we started to roll and then waved with his hand until we turned on the next taxiway. Very polite !
We passed the Hong Kong Airport fever screening check without setting off any alarm, but I was stopped at security, because I have an Epi-pen with my medication supplies in my backpack. Only after informing the airline, that I carry a needle on board, were we allowed to proceed to the gate.
Now we are off to Paris on our next Cathay Pacific flight.

We changed rooms after checking into the Tobu Narita Holiday Inn last night, because the first room was too loud. The bellboy came to our room to help us move to the next room. He pulled the bed covers straight, even though we never touched the bed. He checked the bathroom amenity kits for completeness and put the room information literature back in the exact position on the dresser. Only after doing all this, was he ready to carry our suitcases to the next room.
Individuality is frowned upon. The ” salary-men ” wear their black business suits like a uniform. The Prime Minister wants the business people to loosen up this summer and go to work with an open-collared shirt. This will help to reduce the energy demand for air-conditioning in the office buildings. This is currently being debated in the newspapers, but people feel, that the salary-men will be too stressed out of their ” uniform” business suit.
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