Monday - Engelhartszell to Brandstatt, Austria

This morning the bike riders did a 27 mile ride from Engelhartszell to Brandstatt. We left the ship at 8 am for a walk around tthe town of Engelhartszell. It was foggy as we started, but that turned in to a gentle rain for most of our walk. As somone from northern CA I was thrilled to have the opportunity to walk in the rain. I just don't see enough of it.

We walked around the town, taking lots of pictures of the houses, a trappist monastery and church, and another church who's patron saint must be St Michael. We then found a quaint shopping area where Don and Fran found a butcher shop where they purchased a couple of different types of lunch meat and some liverwurst, along with some fresh baked bread. A little further down the street was a bakery where we stopped for coffee (soda), pretzels and a delightful pastry which chocolate in the middle. Lovely place with many pastries to look at. From there we continued our walk around town and back to the boat.

When we got back we checked in with a grandmother/granddaughter travelling duo who had planned to do a walk around town as well. They mentioned a yarn shop, so even though we only had about 30 minutes before we had to be on the boat for our 11 AM departure, I decided to hustle and check it out. I managed to do that (yes I bought yarn) then, seeing the doors of the church open decided to walk there to get a few pictures. Interesting place to say the least. The skeltal bodies of some of the nuns from the monastery are displayed in cases around the church. I would love to know the background on that. Anyway, I made it back to the boat in plenty of time. It is so enjoyable to just be on the ship, watch the water and the homes along the sides of the river go by and relax. No where to run to, nothing that has to be done, just rest.

We had lunch on the ship and following that we went through the second of 22 locks we will encounter on the river. This time we were able to take pictures as we had the light of day. It is amazing to watch the water line get lower and lower and then the fun of having the gates open and being back on the river and underway. We had planned to get off at Brandstatt where the ship stopped to pick up the bike riders, however, the town isn't close enough, so they asked us to stay on board as we will be departing \from here by 3 pm. Tonight we hear more about tomorrow's excursions, have a Captain's Welcome Cocktail party in the lounge and then dinner at 7pm.

more pics in the next post.