ON TO VIENNA

We continue to come across unusual signage and these signs were at one of our campgrounds along the river:  What do you make of these - - -

After dinner we decided to go for a walk along the river and this was our neighbour just nearby...

 The next morning we had to ride up the hill and pass this castle and it was just as impressive up close..

We continue on and came across another sign re the local wildlife, but unfortunately we never did see one of these little creatures even though they are supposed to live in the area.

A little later on there was a sign for Wolves - so I thought maybe they ate all the beavers??  But we failed to see any wolves either - not that this was a bad thing!!!
The river continues to be pretty busy with barges and the ever present cruise boats.

There is always something unusual popping up and this open air alter was a bit out of the ordinary.

The Hillside agriculture continues along side the river, even on the steepest of slopes.  This castle garden still looked to be thriving, even though the castle seemed to have seen better days ( to say the least!) Wouldn't like to venture out to pick something after a couple of drinks though - a tumble would find you in the river quick smart!!

Dave is continuing his unusual photography on the move, check out these signs - with careful emphasis on the round mirror!!

As we neared Vienna we came across another structure - pretty self explanatory really -

This building out in the middle of nowhere was very entertaining - I guess Austrian style graffiti!

As we entered Vienna the amazing cycle ways continued.

And instead of cigarette vending machines there were some that were more in our line.......bicycle tubes!

As we searched around the city on arrival for the Tourist Information Bureau, we discovered this pretty interesting place just across the road - not what we expected to find in the middle of Vienna.

The cycle paths continued, and this one was across a bridge, but right under the motorway....

The beautiful buildings continued and inside one church was this magnificent pipe organ -

And this soaring spire was all the more impressive as there was absolutely no sign of a clock anywhere - -

The interiors continue to amaze....

I could include just so many photos of all we saw but these next two just had to be includued . There were so many wonderful statues.... Check out this one....

Now how about this for detail.....What you wouldn't give to have been able to see these being carved!!!! and when!!!

We arrived in the middle of a Harvest festival so the city was full of colour and celebrations..

Even the horses were looking pretty smart.  These two had their little ear muffs on.....ooohhhhh.

Dave and I were pretty colourful as well with our cycle/sandal tans........

As we left our campsite in the Vienna Woods one of our fellow campers offered to take this pic.....not often we get one together...

And so we say goodbye to Vienna or to use the local venacular......

Stay tuned for our next Blog for something exciting.............

AND SO TO AUSTRIA

We left Passau and very soon were crossing another border into Austria.  Again it was difficult to know exactly when this occured as there are no signs designating the boundaries along our routes.
One thing there are plenty of though are the tourist boats.  Some are very prettily decorated...

We continue to come across the most incredible churches on our travels and are constantly amazed at the size, detail, and just everything about them....

The crazy signs continue to amuse us as well....At the end of a long day cycling, how good does this sound....yum....yum

I have become rather fascinated by all the little alleys, how could you not with the wonderful cobbled streets.

And this is not something you see every day......guard birds in the windows.  But there were no pigeons hanging about so maybe they do work.

We decided to have a rest day in Linz, which was another fascinating town.  Some of the buildings are very deceptive though.  Check out this church - from the outside looks fairly simple and unimposing......

But come inside...........

And we spent quite a while checking out the old castle on the hill

The construction changes as you climb to different levels so it makes you wonder how long it was from when the building started to when other parts were built.....

Not far away from here we found a church that apparently can hold 20,000 people ......although there weren't that many in attendance that day.

Another church was so big that we could not get a vantage point to get it all in the picture but the detail was fascinating.

and the windows were pretty special as well.

Our travels along the Danube uncover all sorts of things and this lady was pretty special watching over the river and hugging a fish!!!!

This little fellow was also very welcoming along the side of the river.....

But back to the grindstone and what has become our new office..

We were pulling up at our campground one afternoon when we heard a commotion on the river .....it was just a viking ship passing by - - - - - 

But the camp ground was lovely and the view - well .......That's the Danube just feet away!

Joey thought it was pretty good as well - in his little sleeping pocket.......

Dreaming of the road ahead.............

ALONG THE DANUBE TO PASSAU

As we ride along the trails by the Danube we continue to come across the unusual.
This was another of those beneficial bug houses...

And we don't stay on the same side of the river all the time, there are usually paths on both sides and Dave  checks out the route each night to see which side will be the most interesting to tackle next day.
Sometimes the crossing of the river is pretty interesting, especially with a bridge like this!!
Wouldn't want to tackle this after a bottle of red!

We never seem to get bored with the scenery, this particular town had a massive big green parkland and on the edge of it was this 'military' building I think - pretty impressive:

Some things don't change though and as usual I was dragging the chain -

We seem to find some really nice places to take a break but this one really suited Dave and he settled in - quite at home in the 'Daddy Chair'

 We decided to take the recommendation of our Danube guide and catch the ferry for a short distance of the river so as not to miss out on the views from the water ( not to mention the hilly alternatives)

So after parking the bikes amongst all the others we went up and joined the tourists

It was a good choice as the scenery was pretty good and it was nice to sit back and take it easy for 20 mins or so.  One place was intriguing and made us wonder if anyone had ever lived in there?

 I have already spoken of the prolific religious statues in the areas we have passed by.  On Farms, in villages and town and mountains and road sides, but on the side of a rock cliff?

Maybe they had help from above!!!

The traffic on the Danube is reasonable busy but on this little stretch of the river we were always in view of another Ferry covering just the same short distance as us.

We glimpsed this unusual building from the water but like a lot of these old buildings it was hard to get a picture because of the ever present scaffolding .....

Back on the bikes again and Dave continues to check out all the barges cruising up and down the river,

We are a long way from the last one of these we saw but here is another 'love lock' bridge - with padlocks dedicated to couples.... There were hundreds of them......

This place was built by Crown Prince Ludwig in the 1830's and was built to honour fallen heros......pretty impressive.....it's called Walhalla

Not quite so imposing but still pretty impressive are some of the farm yards.....in the middle of the towns and they are built around a central courtyard.  Almost always very pretty..

And the funny signs continue.......this one loosely translated says "I can get to the gate in 3 seconds - U?"

We had a German man stop and chat for ages one day in the Netherlands, and he  was telling us all about how they are utilizing Solar energy over there.  When we were riding through this area we could really see what he meant:

We have noticed a strange phenomen in some German villages in the form of poles!  Some have been in city centres and others just in private yards.  They are very tall with decorations, we saw several but this one was decorated with everything to do with babies....must Google it!!

After a long day riding it is always good when meal time comes around....Lots of pasta has been enjoyed and most of the time we cook our own on our trusty little Trangia stove, but occasionally we lash out and even though it may not be cordon Bleu it sure tasted good..

We have met some really interesting people on this trip. The next guy was an inspiration.  He broke his back in a diving accident and has issues with walking but he rides this bike, camps, sets up his tent etc etc all alone, and is happy to be alive!!!  The bike by the way is a URAL and he was heading to a weekend get together for URALS and had ridden from France.

Another sign that needs explaining!!!

As we neared Passau the good weather we had been blessed with decided to change but luckily it didn't last for long

The Danube has quite a few power stations built on it. 

They harness the power of the water, and have built locks to let the boats pass through, but I guess like everything sometimes maintenance is required.  It was pretty interesting to see how its done....

Honestly we seem to find interesting things around every corner - 

And around the next corner......? ..........stay tuned!!!