Linz         11/9/2009

Thursday morning we left the beautiful Danube Bend and rode along a heavily forested valley for quite a while until the land flattened out and we rode through meadows. We eventually reached Linz - the third biggest city in Austria - where we spent two nights so we could explore the city. Our hotel was a large glass box right in the middle of the city, so quite a contrast to the resort type hotel on the bend and the quiet, very typical Austrian places we have stayed in so far. The first night we ate in an Austrian beer garden and sampled our first sturm. Sturm is very young wine - just slightly fermented grape juice with the live yeast still in it.     It is only available for a short period after the grape harvest.

Our day in Linz was a lot of fun and although we were doing well with the cycling, our backsides appreciated the day off.   Linz was abuzz as it is the Euro Cultural Capital for 2009.  While we were there they were having a regional food and wine festival with lots music and stalls up and down the streets.    Included in our tour was a little yellow train tour around the city. After that we went to a amazing high tech futurist museum called Arts Electronica where Joy and Debbie had a long conversation with a very life like robot.