Our motto: More than you’ll ever want to know.
Today dawned cloudy and cooler; we wouldn’t want you to think that the skies over here were always blue. Breakfast was provided, so we (the royal we here) stuffed our cheeks like squirrels at the buffet: a bowl of muesli with yoghurt (2 sorts), fresh fruit (banana, grapes) and milk; juice; toasted bread with jam (4 varieties, including apricot); and a soft-boiled egg. A choice of hot beverages: coffee, tea, hot chocolate: the usual. Other small items—an apple, a bun, and a couple of sealed packets of Nutella—might have been taken for consumption later, at lunch.
Breakfast was one highlight; another: an early bike ferry crossing to the south bank of the Danube, which we cycled on for the first time. Much the same as on the north bank, though the river had decided to be on our left, rather than on our right.
Further highlights and pictures from today’s ride along the Danube are just below, brought to you in living colour by our sponsor for Part 1, Macleod’s Books of Vancouver.
A new bicycle for M
A highlight for M was a new bicycle, to replace the clunky but still serviceable red rental bike from Passau (above) that he had been riding yesterday, this being the workaround / solution to a mixup at the bike rental company in Vienna. Apologies had been offered by the company, plus a promise that a replacement bike—sleek, like the others, with disc brakes rather than V-brakes, a 30-speed derailleur rather than an 8-speed in-hub shifter—would be delivered to our hotel by 9:00 am today; and this happened, as promised; thank you Momo! The new machine can be seen below (and with its siblings in any future group selfies).
Our first serious konditorei, in Aschach in der Donau
In previous travel blogs (see the About page) M&J have tried to reinvent themselves as professional pastry-tasters, and at one point offered a pasty tasting service to blog Subscribers. On this trip we have not yet been able to get much of a feel for the local (German and Austrian) pastries, which is why this essential service is still unavailable; stay tuned.
Today, in fact, was our first chance to examine the offerings of a proper Austrian pastry shop, or konditorei (a long overdue addition to our dictionary-in-progress). We offer this photo gallery to help you (and us!) to become more familiar with the local choices, many of which we hope to sample in coming days. Vienna, of course, with its historic cafés and famous cakes, remains our long-term goal.
Scenes along the way
Market day in Ottensheim
Who doesn’t love a European market day? (A rhetorical question; no need to respond). By sheer luck we happened to arrive in Ottensheim while their weekly market was in progress.
Coda: the Church of J2 and M, and the commandments thereof
At one point this morning, J2 and M were cycling along, deep in conversation—the Danube was to our left, I believe—when one of us (and it might have been M) said that what the world most needed just now was another religion. It was an epiphany, and it was rooted in the recognition that we were both happiest, and things always went more smoothly, when other people simply did what we asked of them. And that people would have to do what we asked if there were commandments, aligned with our own personal convictions, which could not be challenged. Commandments, of course, require a religion to back them up, and this, I think, was the precise moment that The Church of J2 and M came into being.
The next step, naturally, was the compilation of these new commandments, which we present to you in draft form below. Some of them are a bit vague at this early stage, and we’re not quite up to ten, but we’re publishing them now in electronic form (stone tablets are on order) in the hope that you Subscribers might be able to assist; sharpen up the wording, that sort of thing.
- Thou shalt have the coffee of thy heart’s desire daily [J2, though it could have been either of us, really]
- Thou shalt be happy [M, I think]
- Thou shalt be kind [M again]
- Thou shalt be accepting of the eccentricities of thy loved ones, without any rolling of thine eyes [J2, though the rolling of the eyes bit might have been M]
- Thou shalt not go all egocentric, or drunk with Godly power, too quickly; if thou must go all egocentric, it shalt be done slowly [J2, mainly; the last bit, M]
- Something about chocolate, pastries, and pretzels [J2. Ed: we thought that, by grouping these three, rather than making each into its own commandment, we would free up space for more commandments later]
- Still to come…
Live in accordance with the above and all should be well!
Further commandments are solicited, and applications from potential new parishioners are now being accepted. We’re still setting up an account to accept donations to support the running of the Church. Maybe by next week. That’s it, really. Carry on…
Danube to Dalmatia 
Not so much a reply to the above (which needs no reply) but a new comment for this post, which came to us via email, but deserved to be published here. It comes from the friendly couple we met while cycling on the south bank that day, whom I will not identify by name, since I have not received permission to do so! They offer what I consider to be a near-perfect response to the post, which shows both a sympathy for, and a thorough reading of the material 😊:
Hello [M],
Thank you for your mail and the photo! 🙂
We took a look at your blog: it’s great! It’s very interesting to read about your experiences and you took great pictures! And it’s funny to find ourselves in your blog. 🙂
Two things that may answer your questions (if they weren’t answered so far): the unidentified bird from the 22nd Sept. is a seagull (german: Möwe).
Actually it is a “Lachmöwe”. If you would translate it 1:1 it means “laugh-gull”, but if I search for it in the translation app it says “black-headed gull”. I was surprised to see gulls at the Donau (Danube?). We usually have them a lot at the ocean, like in Rostock at the Baltic Sea (my hometown). But I didn’t expect them to see them at a river.
Second question was about the sign with the numbers “21-52”. That are the river kilometers. So from that sign on it were 2152 kilometers to the river mouth.
It was great meeting you and really nice that we got a second chance to talk with each other (after we’ve been to shy when we first met at the ferry). 🙂
Two things about Linz:
1. We tried the “Linzer Torte”. We won’t get fans. 🙂
2. There’s kind of a huge Street Art gallery at the harbour (outdoor). You just can watch them at a guided tour. We unfortunately didn’t have time for a guided tour yesterday, but it sounded very interesting. Well, I actually love street art. So this is what I would do there if I have more time there. 🙂 Of course needs to fit then.
[…]
Have a great further trip (weather should get better again next week!) and enjoy your time!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thou shalt stay dry. Or if that is not possible, thou shalt accept wetness with a philosophical shrug.
LikeLike
A most excellent contribution to our commandments-in-progress, which continue to increase in number. I think we shall soon cross the traditional threshold of ten, which I had previously thought to be an absolute, God-commanded limit. Apparently not!
LikeLike