WERRA, INN, AND DANUBE

Introduction and Itinerary

Introduction and Itinerary   Quincy to Berlin   Obernfeld and Duderstadt   Weratal Radweg   Schärding and the Inntal   Passau   Danube Bike & Barge: Day 1   Danube Bike & Barge: Day 2   Danube Bike & Barge: Day 3   Danube Bike & Barge: Day 4   Danube Bike & Barge: Day 5 plus Vienna   Danube Bike & Barge: Days 6 & 7   Munich, Berlin, and home      Return to Main Page

When Jürgen, a friend from Obernfeld, Germany whom we came to know through our friend Becky, invited Becky and us to come to Germany for a four or five day bike ride, we couldn't pass up the opportunity. Jeanine's newly retired sister, Janelle, and her biking friend Marcia readily agreed to join us. I planned to take advantage of the invitation by also returning to my favorite destination, Austria, where we had already been 12 times. I got the bright idea to take a "bike and barge" (actually river cruise boat and bike) tour along the Austrian Danube from Passau, Germany to Vienna. The schedules for Jürgen's tour and the bike and barge tour left a 3 day hole in our itinerary. After some investigation, I selected Schärding, a very beautiful small city along the Inn River about 12 miles from Passau, where it empties into the Danube.

Göttingen, a city in central Germany near the village of Obernfeld our first destination, is on the ICE high speed train line equally reachable from Frankfurt or Berlin. The best fare from Chicago and non-stop no less was Air Berlin to Berlin. So I emailed Gesche, our friend who lives in the far southwest corner of West Berlin, ostensibly to tell her that we would would be in town for one night and wanted to invite her out to dinner, but knowing she would insist we stay at her house - Hotel Lobo as she terms it - even with 3 other guests.

Whenever we have to connect to a train and then get off very early the next morning, or connect to an overnight flight from Chicago to Europe, rather than getting up early enough to catch the 6:12AM train to Chicago, we take the evening train the day before and spend the night somewhere. In the past we had spent the night near the airport; but this time did so in Kewanee, Il. It is ideal because the evening train gets there at 7:27PM, the morning train departs at 8:07AM, and there is a nice mom-n-pop motel within walking distance of the station.

Our itinerary:
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