by Cassie, November 19th, 2009 | No Comments
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Distance: 35km
We walked around Straubing in the morning. They had a big market square with neat buildings. There was also a 61 meter tall tower with five spires in the middle of the square. Since it was Saturday morning, there were lots of people walking around the market square, and there was an open air market going on.
Straubing market square
Since tomorrow was Sunday, we stocked up on groceries and got a loaf of bread at the bakery. By the time we returned to the campground, it was already late, and we decided to relax for a while. We got a really late start for our ride. As we started riding, it began to drizzle, and it steadily turned into rain. We had been lucky with the rain, and it had only rained at night. This was the first time we had been rained on while riding. We were wet, cold, and muddy by the time we reached Deggendorf. We decided to find somewhere warm and dry to spend the night. We had passed lots of guesthouses and rooms on the way to Deggendorf, but once we arrived in Deggendorf, we could not find a place to stay. It was dark and still raining, and we were both cold and miserable. We were about to give up and ride to the campground in the dark. Then, we found a map of the city in the main square with the hotels on it. We found the cheapest hotel listed in the back of our bike book, and fortunately, it was only a couple blocks away. It was expensive to stay at the hotel, but we were happy to have a warm, dry place to stay. We had our own bathroom for the first time of the trip, and we took advantage of it to wash off all our muddy gear. We were tired and worn out, and it felt so good to lay down on a warm, soft bed and watch some German TV. 🙂
by Cassie, November 19th, 2009 | No Comments
Friday, October 9, 2009
Distance: 45km
The highlight of today’s ride was visiting Walhalla, another of King Ludwig I’s monuments. Walhalla was modeled after the Parthenon, and it honored the important German figures. It located on the side of a mountain, so we saw it from a long way away. There was a great view of the Danube from Walhalla. Past Regensburg, the Danube becomes truly navigable, so we saw our first barges and ships on the Danube. Inside the monument, there are busts of all the famous Germans. King Ludwig I had the biggest monument with a big seated statue of himself dressed in Roman garb. There were a few women represented in the monument. One of the women was Empress Katarina of Russia, which I found interesting. Albert Einstein’s bust was the funniest. There was not much fine detail, and it looked like it was made of plastic from a Mold-A-Rama machine.
Walhalla
Busts of famous Germans inside Walhalla monument
King Ludwig I gets the biggest monument
Funny Albert Einstein bust
The rest of the ride was pretty along the mountains that were pushing the Danube southward. We stopped in Worth for lunch, but it was not much fun getting into town. There was tons of traffic on the road into Worth because Worth was next to a major four-lane highway. We ate lunch in a square by the church, and it was a happening place. The kids in Germany only go to school until 1pm, so they were already out of school. The church square was the main hangout spot for the kids. As we were leaving Worth to return to the bike route, we missed the turn to cross over the highway. Instead we accidentally turned onto the on ramp for the highway, but we quickly realized our mistake and turned around. 🙂
The campground at Straubing was one of the nicest campgrounds. The restroom, kitchen, and washroom buildings were immaculately cleaned. However, they had the craziest reception hours. Reception was only open from 3-4pm daily. We arrived after 4pm, and we were planning to leave before 3pm the next day.
by Cassie, November 19th, 2009 | No Comments
Thursday, October 8, 2009
We spent the day exploring Regensburg. Most of the city is designated as an UNESCO world heritage site. It was a really neat city with nicely preserved old buildings. We walked along the Stone Bridge, which is the oldest bridge in Germany. There are great views of the city from the other side of the bridge.
Stone Bridge
We went inside the cathedral with its twin towers. The towers remained unfinished for a long time because the church ran out of money. In the 19th century, King Ludwig I financed the completion of the twin towers. The cathedral was enormous inside, and I felt like I was inside a big cave. They were completing the installation of a huge new organ. They had a short church service everyday, and we stayed to hear the organ music. The rest of the service was in German, and we didn’t understand any of it.
Cathedral
Cathedral
We found a sausage stand set up in a square next to the cathedral, and they actually had turkey sausage! Usually, they only had beef or pork, and that did not work well with my dietary restrictions. We finally had an authentic Bavarian lunch with sausage and a big pretzel. The only thing missing was the beer. 🙂 We spent the rest of the day walking around the city admiring the neat, old buildings.
David and Goliath mural
We stopped at bookstore because we had run out of reading material. They actually had a large selection of English books, and we were surprised to find a book about a library cat named Dewey in Spencer, Iowa. 🙂
On our walk back to the campground, there were people everywhere in the city. There were two universities and a college of music, so there were lots of students walking around. We ended up following a large group of students as we were walking, and we thought we would end up at a wild party. Instead, everyone was going to see a play at a theater. 🙂
by Cassie, November 19th, 2009 | No Comments
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Distance: 49km
Instead of riding through cornfields, we rode through hops yards for a change of pace. The hops had already been harvested, so we only saw fields of the tall poles on which the vines grow. We took a detour to Eining to visit the ruins of a Roman fortress. The Roman fortress called Abusina was a huge structure when it was built, but not much was left. The foundations for the buildings were all that was left.
Abusina Roman fortress ruins by Eining
Instead of backtracking and returning to the bike route, we found another gravel road along the river. This part of the Danube has big cliffs on either side, and the trees on the cliffs were changing color. It was a beautiful ride along the river, nicer than the official bike route.
We arrived in Weltenburg and tried to find the ferry to take us up the river through the gorge to Kelheim. There was no one at the ticket booth, and there was a sign in German that we could barely understand. We asked someone, and they explained that the water level of the river was too low for the big, ferry boat to navigate. We saw smaller boats that were going up and down the river, and we saw a woman get on one of the boats with her bike. We put our bikes on the boat, and we thought it would take us to Kelheim. However, we went a short distance upstream, and the boat pulled over to the shore. The woman got off the boat, and the captain of the boat said this is where we needed to get off for the Danube bike route. We realized that there was a bike path on the opposite shore of the river. It costed 5 euros per person to take the boat only 1km upstream. This was the most expensive 1km we traveled on the bike tour. The smaller boats did not go any further upstream than where we got dropped off. It was only a scenic tour of the cliffs in the gorge. The ride to Kelheim was very scenic with cliffs on either side of the river.
In Kelheim, we visited the Hall of Liberation, a monument built by King Ludwig I for the soldiers who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. In King Ludwig I style, the monument was enormous and completely overdone. The monument had a huge ornately decorated dome, and there were series of oversized marble angels stand in a circle holding hands. We climbed to the top of the monument for a great view of the Danube valley. The monument was on the top of a cliff, so it had a great vantage point.
Hall of Liberation
Hall of Liberation dome
Hall of Liberation marble angels
View from Hall of Liberation
It was already 4pm by the time we were ready to leave Kelheim, and we still had 38km to ride to get to Regensburg. We rode straight from Kelheim to Regensburg. It was a beautiful day, and most of the ride was along the river. We were worn out by the time we made it Regensburg, and fortunately, we found the campground easily.
by Cassie, November 18th, 2009 | No Comments
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Distance: 37km
We were surprised to find clear, blue skies when we woke up this morning. The rain had cleared up, and it was a beautiful, sunny day. I was mostly recovered from my stomach sickness, so I was up for continuing on the bike route. We spent the morning exploring Ingolstadt. Ingolstadt was a really neat city. The city center was a pedestrian zone, and there were people riding bikes all over the city. It reminded us of Freiburg. Across the river from the city center was a big fort with thick walls. The fort had been bombarded during battle because there were marks in the walls from bullets and cannon balls.
Ingolstadt fortress
Ingolstadt also has a palace, and there were a bunch of cannons in the palace yard. One of the cannons was ripped through the middle. The walls of the cannon were really thick, so there must have been a big explosion to rip it into two.
Ingolstadt palace
We also went inside the Asam church. It topped the Dillingen church as the most ornate church I had seen. The altar was covered in gold. The frescoes on the ceiling painted by the Asam brothers were incredible.
Ingolstadt Asam Church
The campground was on the eastern outskirts of Ingolstadt, so we decided to ride along the gravel roads by the river instead of backtracking to get on the official bike route. We had an adventure riding along a road that was under construction, but we rejoined the main bike route with no problems. We stopped in Vohburg, which is a neat town with a cool gate. My stomach was feeling so much better that I was able to eat some ice cream. 🙂
Vohburg gate
When we arrived in Neustadt, we stopped at a grocery store. We went to an Aldi in Ingolstadt, but the Aldis have horrible selection. Small town grocery stores have better selection than big city Aldis. The grocery store parking lot had a monster truck parked in it advertising a monster truck show. Unfortunately, we were not going to be in town for the monster truck show. 🙂
Neustadt Monster Truck!
The campground at Neustadt was really nice. We were camped at an old farm, and our campsite was next to a stream with ducks swimming in it. We had also entered a big hops growing area. There were hops yards across from our campsite.
Hops yards
by Cassie, November 18th, 2009 | No Comments
Monday, October 5, 2009
Distance: 24km
We had a short ride to Ingolstadt, so we spent the morning walking around Neuburg. Neuburg has a huge palace, and the courtyard of the palace had two creepy statues of a man and a woman. The woman’s statue was missing its nose and looked like something from a Tim Burton film.
Creepy statue at Neuburg palace courtyard
We also went inside the palace chapel, which is called Germany’s Sistine Chapel. The ceiling had amazing frescoes.
Neuburg Palace Chapel frescoes
We also walked by a store called the “American Store”. Its display windows contained a Confederate flag, guns, and knives, giving the impression that Americans in charge of spreading hate and violence.
Neuburg "American Store"
There was a playground nearby the campground, and we discovered the best playground toy! It was like a combination of a trampoline and teeter totter. With two people jumping on it, it was so much fun! One person could be launched high into the air when the other person landed. This playground toy definitely would not be allowed in US playgrounds.
The bike path from Neuburg was along a bike path next to a busy road. Instead of following the bike path, we decided to follow the river by riding along gravel roads. We navigated our alternative route very well, and we rejoined the official bike route at the hunting palace in Grunau. The palace in Neuburg was not big enough, so they built an enormous hunting palace outside of Neuburg in Grunau. What happens to these palaces once the nobility is no longer in power? This palace was being used as apartments. However, there were probably hundreds of rooms in the palace, but there were only about 10 names on the buzzer. The palace looked like it needed some repairs, but it must be incredibly expensive to maintain such a large building.
Grunau Hunting Palace
We found the campground in Ingolstadt easily, and we ran into our German friends from the last couple nights. It was always fun to run into the same people again. 🙂 Our luck with the weather finally ran out tonight at the campsite. It started raining when we began to cook dinner. The tree was the only shelter we could find, so we were pretty wet by the time we were done cooking dinner. Fortunately, the weather had warmed up, so at least we were not wet and cold. We also had great luck with our health on the trip, but I was sick to my stomach after dinner. I spent a miserable night with a really upset stomach, but fortunately, I felt much better in the morning.
by Cassie, November 18th, 2009 | No Comments
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Distance: 38km
We spent the morning walking around Donauworth. It was a beautiful old city. There was an old city wall with neat gates. The main street, Reichstrasse, was lined with beautiful, old houses. Donauworth was located on an important trading route, and they controlled the only bridge over the river. Amazingly, we found a bakery that was open on Sunday! We bought a loaf of bread, but we did not think about how to get it back to the campsite. The campground was far enough outside the town that we had ridden our bikes. Jonathan was holding the bag on his handlebars, but as he went over a big curb, the bread tore through the bag and went flying. Incredibly, the bread survived the incident undamaged! It was a tough loaf of bread.
Donauworth old city wall
Donauworth city gate
Donauworth Reichstrasse
It was another beautiful day for riding. We had a hilly ride through the farms, and then, we returned to ride along the river. We stopped at a sunny spot along the river for a picnic lunch, and it was one of our nicest lunch spots.
Lunch spot on the Danube
We rode into Neuburg, and it was the biggest city we’d been in since we left Ulm. We stayed at another campground at a rowing club. The campground was located on the river only 300 meters from the city center.
View of Neuburg from the campground
We walked around the city before registration opened. We stopped at an Eis Cafe, and we ordered enormous dishes of ice cream. Jonathan’s ice cream dish came in a half of a pineapple. The ice cream was really good, but it was a lot of ice cream. We both finished all the ice cream with a great sense of accomplishment. 🙂
Cassie's chocolate cup
Jonathan's pineapple cup
Our empty ice cream dishes!
We returned to the campground to register, but no one was at the registration office. We tried to pay in the morning, but there still wasn’t anyone there. So, we got a free night of camping! We saw the same people that were camped next to us the night before, and we did not get a chance to talk until tonight. They were a really nice couple from Ulm, and they were biking along the Danube to Deggendorf to visit their relatives. We thought we might see them at other campgrounds along the bike route. 🙂
by Cassie, November 18th, 2009 | No Comments
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Distance: 38km
We arrived in Dillingen too late last night to walk around, so we spent the morning in Dillingen. It was a really neat city with a pretty market square and old city gate. The architecture was different in Bavaria. We did not see the half-timbered houses that were typical of Baden-Wurttemberg. We saw several pretty houses that had a variation on the bell gable.
Dillingen curly gable house
Dillingen City Gate
We also went inside the Basilica St. Peter, which was decorated in rococco style. They had gone completely overboard with the decoration inside. The entire ceiling was painted with frescoes, and there was gold everywhere. It was the fanciest church I had ever seen. We had definitely left Protestant territory, and we were in Catholic country that was not affected by the Reformation.
Dillingen Basilica St. Peter
Our campsite was right next to the Danube River, so we only had to ride our bikes a few feet to get back on the bike route. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and we had a lovely ride along the river to Hochstadt. The Battle of Blenheim during the War for Spanish Succession was fought near Hochstadt in 1704. We went to the Hochstadt palace to see their excellent exhibit on the battle. The Battle of Blenheim was a decisive battle in the war. The Franco-Bavarian army was defeated by the Allied troops, and it marked a turning point in the war. It was the first time the French army had been defeated in battle in a long time, and it ruined the myth of French invincibility in battle. 13,000 soldiers died in the battle, making it one of the costliest battles in European history before the world wars. Another 2,000 soldiers died from wounds from battle, and a large number of civilians were killed in the chaos of the battle. The best part about the exhibition was the portraits of the princes and kings with their ridiculous wigs and ornate doublets and hose.
Hochstadt
We rode through the cornfields until we reached Donauworth. The campground was at a rowing club on the river. Unlike the other campgrounds, their reception hours were 6-8pm, and we arrived just as reception was opening. The campground was a nice place right on the river. When we left in the morning, there were a bunch of people heading out from the rowing club for a day of kayaking on the river.
Riding through cornfields
by Cassie, November 18th, 2009 | No Comments
Friday, October 2, 2009
Distance: 56km
Today marked the halfway point in our trip! We spent most of the day riding through the forest along the river. We stopped for lunch in Gunzburg, which was a pretty city with a neat gate and old half-timbered houses. Even though we had a big breakfast at the hostel in Ulm, we were already really hungry by the time we got to Gunzburg. Biking all day burns a lot of calories, so we were always hungry. 🙂
Gunzburg City Gate
As we were riding along the river past Gunzburg, we had a nice view of the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant by Offingen. It had twin cooling towers that reminded us of the Simpsons. 🙂 We also visited our first Roman ruins of the trip in Faimingen. Faimingen used to be a Roman fortress, and they preserved the ruins of a Roman temple. It was interesting that the ruins were in the middle of the town and surrounded by houses. It was exciting to see something new on the trip. After seeing so many churches, castles, town halls, and half-timbered houses, everything starts to look the same. The Roman ruins spiced up the day.
Faimingen Roman Ruins
We stopped in Lauingen because it was supposed to have a pretty market square. Usually, it is no problem to find the main square in a town. However, we rode all over town, and we could not find the main square.
Lauingen Rathaus
We reached Dillingen, and we had no trouble finding the campground since there were lots of signs directing us to it. The campground was behind a restaurant, and the bathrooms were inside the restaurant building. It was a little strange to go to the same bathroom as the restaurant patrons wearing my long johns. 🙂
by Cassie, November 15th, 2009 | No Comments
Thursday, October 1, 2009
We spent the day exploring Ulm. We wandered around the old Fishermen and Tanners Quarter, which had lots of neat, old half-timbered houses. One of the houses was called the Schiefes Haus (Inclined House), and it was really leaning. It was renovated and turned into a guest house, but they preserved the lean of the house. They have special furniture to accommodate the lean of the house.
Schiefes Haus (Inclined House)
Schiefes Haus (Inclined House) leaning over Blau River
The best part of the day was climbing the tower of the Munster! It was 768 steps to the top of the tower, and they even had separate staircases for going up and for going down the tower. The view from the top was amazing! We could climb to a viewing gallery that was just below the top of the tower. It was a beautiful clear day, but we still were not able to see the Alps. We hoped we would be able see the Alps when we get closer to them in Austria.
Munster
Staircase to the top of tower
View from Munster
View from Munster with shadow of tower
View from Munster: The cool glass pyramid building is the library
View from Munster: Fishermen and Tanners Quarter
It was a fun day to walk around the Munster because they had a big festival for kids organized by the police and fire departments. There were tons of fun activities for the kids to do, and there were kids everywhere! They had cars set up to simulate getting into a crash, and they let kids be raised up in the ladder platform of the fire truck. They were also giving out balloons, so we kept seeing balloons going up in the air while we were on the top of the Munster tower.
View of festival from Munster
We went to the Rathaus to check out a replica of the first hang glider that was developed by Albert Berblinger. He tried to cross the Danube River with his hang glider in 1811, but he landed in the river instead. He did his demonstration in front of the king, so his failure ruined his reputation.
Albert Berblinger's hang glider
We crossed the Danube to go to Neue Ulm. The Danube is the border between the Baden-Wurttemberg province and the Bayern (Bavaria) province, so Neue Ulm is in Bavaria. There are great views of Ulm from the river in Neue Ulm.
