September 23

This day was a necessary "meh" experience.  It rewarded us with entree into the Wachau Valley.

We began innocently enough. Starting in Passau, we said goodbye to the nice buffet breakfast and walked to a Danube river cruise ship for our float to Schlogen. The engineers among us enjoyed the mechanics of a large lock that lowered our craft about sixty feet midway through the cruise. The day began gray, continued gray, and ended with parting clouds, harbinger of the big ride tomorrow.

Our crew misbehaved with beers or slept or just chatted each other up during the cruise. Departing at Schlogen, we climbed aboard our bikes. The ride was much like riding in a Mobious strip; river on the left, big hill with trees on the right, town every 25 minutes, battery-powered bicycles with heavy set people passing us every 15 minutes. Eventually we arrived in the town of Ashcach.

Lunch was at a sandwich shop filled with cigarette smoke. Soup was good, sandwiches so so, and I made a snap decision to have a full beer and a van ride on to our destination of an old church in Ottensheim. I walked down to the river and watched the ferry cross from the other side to O. From the church we took a bus into the Wachau Valley, ending at the Raffelburger Hof in the town of Weissenkirchen (White Church, which dominated the sky line).

The van ride was fabulous. Molly, one of the infamous Black sisters, is a complete theatre nut, espousing the virtues of American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin. I was an easy sale, since we enjoyed many plays at this outdoor theatre gem with Mary's brother's family during our frequent visits to Madison. Molly attends the High Def broadcasts of the UK's National Theatre, much like Mary and I do with the Met Opera broadcasts. I filed away this tidbit, because I know we would like these shows.

Eventually all of us climbed on board the bus to the Wachau. My Mary took the opportunity to ask Molly if she was the little sister who told on her older siblings to their parents. A chorus of "Yes!" erupted from most of the Blacks before Molly could defend herself. The bus was warm. I nodded off repeatedly.

The Raffelburger Hof is in a very old building, perhaps 15th century. Our room was up stairs, up more stairs, and up still more stairs. It was really an attic, with the shower/bath located four steps down from the bedroom. The one window afforded a view of the Danube if you leaned out far enough to risk a fall thirty feet to the stones below. But it was comfy. I looked forward to breakfast in the morning, because Filip said it is the best layout of the entire trip!