Bruce on deck of our Ferry across the Attersee
Day 19: Boats, Mountains, and Giggling Grannies!
Monday July 15 - Day 19 - 35miles - Total 716miles
Happy One Month Anniversary!
For the first time... we had to pay for a shower at a campground. 1 Euro for 6minutes of hot water... man that stuff is good! Did you know that 6 minutes of hit water is a really long time if you plan how to take your shower ahead of time? 3 extra minutes of hot water luxuriation can be had if you shampoo, condition, wash, shave, and rinse in the first 3 minutes. This is the life!
Along with our shower we also did a real load of laundry at campground... in a real washer and dryer. The foosty-ness of the cotton stuff was enough... 6 euros later... clean and dry.
3 chocolate croissants and 2 cups of coffee later, we were ready for the ferry across the Attersee (Thank you Cousin Roberta!)
We took the boat across the Attersee from Unterach at the bottom to Kammer at the top. Waiting for the ferry, we met some cycle tourists from NZ who were very impressed with Bruce's maps... but not his accent... he has an American accent (or so says the Kiwi's)... The boat ride (well actually 2 boat rides) took over an hour and wow was it spectacular! The water in the Attersee is a crystal clear, aquamarine blue that you can not believe until you see it. The Alpine cliffs surrounding the lake are massive and dive all the way down to the shore. As you go further up the lake, the mountains turn into hills, which turn into grassy knolls. This is the borderland between lower Austria (and the mountains) and upper Austria (the plains). This was a stunning way to see the area and a great way to avoid the narrow coastal road around the lake. We had a picnic lunch on the first boat, got dropped off at a pier to wait for the second boat. Bruce pumped up the tires while we waited.
After the second short ferry ride up the coast, we stopped at grocery store in Kammer - then pedaled onwards, uphill, out of town, into rolling Austrian farmlands. We were now in Upper Austria.
The rolling hills continued most of the day - we gained and lost the same 250' multiple times... not fun after trying to avoid this just days before.
Last down hill of the day was a massive descent and new max speed recorded of 36.3 mph. This was of course clocked by Bruce. Andrea now has significantly thinner brake pads after that hill.
We found a guest house in Wartberg, which we were pleased to find open. It is run by an older lady (let's call her Granny) and another younger woman whom we thought might be her daughter. Granny did not speak any English but she liked the look of Bruce and joked around with him about the room. The daughter and Granny showed Andrea the room, with two twin beds. When Andrea asked if there were any rooms with the beds together, Granny laughed... picked up the solid oak nightstand..... moved it out of the way, and pushed the heavy oak beds together. Let's just say, there was no running out on the bill.. I would not want to cross this Austrian Granny in a dark alley. Her laugh, however, is what made her so fantastic, it echoed though the walls and made you smile instantly at the sound of it. Oh... how we wished we could talk with her (or sit on her lap and let her tell us stories by a fire). So, even though the guest house served dinner, we wanted to walk around the town (not knowing the town was closed). So we said goodbye to our ladies and headed out.
Little did we know that everything is closed on Monday night except the local pub/cafe with two skittles (kinda like candlepin bowling) lanes.....pretty much the music stopped and everyone looked when we went in there, especially when we asked for a menu. We had a beer and got out of there. The pizza shop next door was closed as was the one about 1/2 mile away at the sportsplaza......damn....we headed back to the guest house, but the front door was now locked and all the lights were out.....double damn....we let ourselves in (room key also worked the front door) and went about making ourselves dinner on the campstove in the courtyard of this wonderful guest house. It was a little surreal to say the least, but also pretty cool as we had this wonderful place all to ourselves. Andrea, however, made wonderful pesto mushroom and red peppers over fusilli pasta and all was better with the world.
The guest house reminded us a little of the Jipek Joli guest house in Nukus, Uzbekistan, with the exterior courtyard and the vines draping it.....however this one was a little strange as we were the only guests in a place with about 20 or so rooms....it just felt a little odd. Especially when it was shuttered when we got back after our unsuccessful foray for dinner! We look forward to breakfast at 8am tomorrow!
The World is Ours!
Monday July 15 - Day 19 - 35miles - Total 716miles
Happy One Month Anniversary!
For the first time... we had to pay for a shower at a campground. 1 Euro for 6minutes of hot water... man that stuff is good! Did you know that 6 minutes of hit water is a really long time if you plan how to take your shower ahead of time? 3 extra minutes of hot water luxuriation can be had if you shampoo, condition, wash, shave, and rinse in the first 3 minutes. This is the life!
Along with our shower we also did a real load of laundry at campground... in a real washer and dryer. The foosty-ness of the cotton stuff was enough... 6 euros later... clean and dry.
3 chocolate croissants and 2 cups of coffee later, we were ready for the ferry across the Attersee (Thank you Cousin Roberta!)
We took the boat across the Attersee from Unterach at the bottom to Kammer at the top. Waiting for the ferry, we met some cycle tourists from NZ who were very impressed with Bruce's maps... but not his accent... he has an American accent (or so says the Kiwi's)... The boat ride (well actually 2 boat rides) took over an hour and wow was it spectacular! The water in the Attersee is a crystal clear, aquamarine blue that you can not believe until you see it. The Alpine cliffs surrounding the lake are massive and dive all the way down to the shore. As you go further up the lake, the mountains turn into hills, which turn into grassy knolls. This is the borderland between lower Austria (and the mountains) and upper Austria (the plains). This was a stunning way to see the area and a great way to avoid the narrow coastal road around the lake. We had a picnic lunch on the first boat, got dropped off at a pier to wait for the second boat. Bruce pumped up the tires while we waited.
After the second short ferry ride up the coast, we stopped at grocery store in Kammer - then pedaled onwards, uphill, out of town, into rolling Austrian farmlands. We were now in Upper Austria.
The rolling hills continued most of the day - we gained and lost the same 250' multiple times... not fun after trying to avoid this just days before.
Last down hill of the day was a massive descent and new max speed recorded of 36.3 mph. This was of course clocked by Bruce. Andrea now has significantly thinner brake pads after that hill.
We found a guest house in Wartberg, which we were pleased to find open. It is run by an older lady (let's call her Granny) and another younger woman whom we thought might be her daughter. Granny did not speak any English but she liked the look of Bruce and joked around with him about the room. The daughter and Granny showed Andrea the room, with two twin beds. When Andrea asked if there were any rooms with the beds together, Granny laughed... picked up the solid oak nightstand..... moved it out of the way, and pushed the heavy oak beds together. Let's just say, there was no running out on the bill.. I would not want to cross this Austrian Granny in a dark alley. Her laugh, however, is what made her so fantastic, it echoed though the walls and made you smile instantly at the sound of it. Oh... how we wished we could talk with her (or sit on her lap and let her tell us stories by a fire). So, even though the guest house served dinner, we wanted to walk around the town (not knowing the town was closed). So we said goodbye to our ladies and headed out.
Little did we know that everything is closed on Monday night except the local pub/cafe with two skittles (kinda like candlepin bowling) lanes.....pretty much the music stopped and everyone looked when we went in there, especially when we asked for a menu. We had a beer and got out of there. The pizza shop next door was closed as was the one about 1/2 mile away at the sportsplaza......damn....we headed back to the guest house, but the front door was now locked and all the lights were out.....double damn....we let ourselves in (room key also worked the front door) and went about making ourselves dinner on the campstove in the courtyard of this wonderful guest house. It was a little surreal to say the least, but also pretty cool as we had this wonderful place all to ourselves. Andrea, however, made wonderful pesto mushroom and red peppers over fusilli pasta and all was better with the world.
The guest house reminded us a little of the Jipek Joli guest house in Nukus, Uzbekistan, with the exterior courtyard and the vines draping it.....however this one was a little strange as we were the only guests in a place with about 20 or so rooms....it just felt a little odd. Especially when it was shuttered when we got back after our unsuccessful foray for dinner! We look forward to breakfast at 8am tomorrow!
The World is Ours!
Pumping up the tires waiting for the next ferry to Kammer
The Bikes, A Boat, and A Breeze!
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