Danube - Austria Sept 6

Grein to Melk

This was the view from the room this morning.  There was mist rising up from the valleys.  It was surreally beautiful.

 

Yesterday was supposed to be the rainier of the two days but we stayed dry.  When we were riding there was no rain.  When we stopped the rain started up and poured. That happened when we toured the concentration camp, when we stopped for lunch and when we ended the day and waited for the shuttle to take us to the hotel.  We had great luck staying dry yesterday.

The town center of Grein where we ended the day yesterday.  Look on the building and see when it was built... 1468.

The fountain in the town center of Grein.

Another beautiful old building on the plaza of Grein.

Today the forecast said zero percent chance of rain until noon.  After that it went to fifty percent and escalated to eighty through the afternoon.  So our best bet was to get on the bikes and knock off the 50k ride as quickly as possible.  

The Danube as seen when we started the day.  You can see the clouds gathering.  We tried to get ahead of the rain.  But that didn't work out.  Our luck ran out today.  Less than an hour into the ride it started drizzling.  Then raining and finally all out wet...  Soaked is what we became. ☔️

We powered on rather than stopping for coffee.  We figured that if we stopped we would get cold.  That and the fact it wasn't going to get any better, probably much worse, motivated us quite successfully.  We rode the 56 kilometers in great time and ended up getting fairly wet.  

We got into Melk, our destination, a bit before noon. We went to the hotel (or at least what we thought was the hotel) to change out of the wet clothes.  We couldn't check in until after two, so quite a bit of time to kill.

After getting dry we went into town to get lunch.  Found a warm (optimal word in this case) little cafe right off the square.  Had a great lunch and then walked the town in a drizzle.

This is the Benedictine Abbey perched high above the town.

This is a statue in the town square.  

As the drizzle picked up we headed for the dry safety of the hotel.  That is when we discovered we were at the Wauchau Hof and we were supposed to be at the Wauchau Hotel!  So back on the bikes we went; in our dry clothes...  We had to ride the additional 2k in the rain to get to our home for the night.  

It was a good evening celebrating a particular milestone with friends.  It was Debra and Scott's 20th anniversary.  A great achievement one that I look upon with great envy.  Also, Barry and Wendy celebrated their 41st anniversary as well. The same day for two great relationship achievements.  As I said,  I look upon both of these with great envy and awe...

Congratulations!