Recreational & Family - Passau, Germany to Vienna, Austria

Second Mouse, Mrs. Mouse and Minnie Mouse met some friends in Passau, Germany and spent 5 1/2 days cycling to Vienna, Austria. It's a great family trip, and we thought you might like to see how it went. I am the world's worst photographer, so apologies in advance.

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We followed the Danube the whole way, mostly on bike paths with little or no car traffic. There were seven of us, four adults and three kids, 12, 9 and 8 years old.

Passau.
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The Mouse family rented bikes from topbicycle.com. Nice Trek hybrids with small-ish panniers. Kind of expensive, owing mostly to the delivery charge, but the bikes worked well and it was worth the cost, knowing we'd have bikes ready for us that fit. Our friends brought their own bikes.

Leaving Passau, watching for falling rocks.
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There are path/road options along most of both sides of the river. This was the only stretch we chose along a "busy" road. Bad choice, as there was no shoulder and a fair bit of traffic. The drivers were very courteous.
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This was pretty typical of a lot of the path. Usually next to the river, but sometimes through villages or farmers' fields. Cars would occassionally show up on these paths, but not often.
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About 40 miles the first day. Forecast was for rain, but it was sunny and very pleasant all day. We stopped at the information building in Aschach to inquire about hotels. I parked my bike in a rack and it immediately tipped over, bending the back rim. Fortified by a couple of beers, we were able to true it up enough to continue.

Day 2 found us in Linz for lunch, taking pictures of us taking pictures of us.
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Linz is fairly large. We didn't go into the town but it looked like it would be a good side trip or place to spend the night.

We did not stay at Pension Pissenberger.
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The end of Day 2 found us at a great guesthouse in Mauthausen.
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Most of the guesthouse was new, but it had been added on to an old house that was built in the 16th century. There were nice surprises everywhere. This was the watch-cat that took care of the bicycle garage.
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Very vicious.

There's a concentration camp near Mauthausen, so early the next morning I went looking for it. I didn't read the directions properly so never found the camp, but ended up on a hill above the town. Very pretty place.
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Day 3 was cooler. We had lunch at a big, old guesthouse in Dornach, which is kind of in the middle of nowhere. Great spot.
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We ended up in Ybbs, a very nice town. Wandered around and took the obligatory family shot above the Danube.
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We spent the night at Hotel Babenbergerhof. Day 4 was our rain day.
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It drizzled most of the day, which was okay, as we all had pretty good rain gear.

Lunch in Melk, another great, small town.
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Later in the day, Minnie Mouse had a slight tip-over in Joching, so we brushed her off and went into the winery (the tan and pink building).
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The winery was very posh, and the owners were so nice! I think they'd seen Minnie hit the turf out in front and they commiserated. It was all in German so we didn't catch most of what they said, but they seemed quite sympathic, and it brightened our spirts immeasurably.

The weather improved and the end of the day found us in Krems at Gasthof Zur Alte Post.
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We wandered around Krems that evening and had (another) great dinner. It's a fairly touristy town, especially the old part where we stayed.
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Day 5 was clear and warm. We spent a couple of miles on a dirt road--the only non-paved part of the trip.
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Lunch in Tulln. Happy kids.
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We started looking for hotels at Hoflien but couldn't find anything in the area, so we ended up in Klosterneuberg at Hotel Anker. Klosterneuberg is a pretty busy town and kind of noisy where we were but good fun. Our room was at the back of the hotel so it was pretty peaceful.
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We could probably have made it into Vienna, but I'm glad we stopped at Klosterneuberg. It's a good town for strolling around and has the big, imposing church above town. It was another pleasant, warm, clear day.

Next morning we took a ferry across the river.
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This old guy had biked up from Vienna and was hitting on Mrs. Mouse. So I threw him in the river.
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Just kidding. He was a very good guy.

We rode down the left bank for a bit, then crossed over to a long island that runs through the middle of the river. There's Vienna up ahead.
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Next thing we know, we're downtown. It's a bike-friendly city, especially for such a large place. Dedicated bike lanes everywhere.
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Here are the Mouses at City Hall, and the end of the trip.
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Our friends met up with their friends who live in Vienna, and we all went out to dinner.
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So that's it. We had way too much fun but didn't have nearly enough time to do the side trips we'd like to. We'll save those for next time.

It was a great trip for families. About 200 miles total, 35-40 miles per day, and no one was ever really very tired at the end of the day. Hope you enjoyed the tour. Thanks for looking.

Cheers!

This gallery got me all misty-eyed for my mom's home country. Thanks. Did you actually finish those halibut sized schnitzels?

This gallery got me all misty-eyed for my mom's home country. Thanks. Did you actually finish those halibut sized schnitzels?

It was a struggle, but we managed. For sure, we never went hungry on this trip!

What part of the country was your mom from, jcm?

Wow!

Did pretty much the same route in 2002, and it is a wonderful trip. It is great to see children along with you; I am sure it was a great experience for them.

Wow, great pictures, really took me back to my 2006 trip. My wife and I road from Salzburg to Vienna. Just an amazing trip. Too bad you missed the concentration camp in Mauthausen. A truly chilling and emotional place.
A

What a fantastic trip and pictures! Thanks for sharing.:D