Day 72: Braunau to Holzoster, Austria: New, photos from Fucking, Austria

July 30, 2012

The camping at Braunau again helped us out by having an area with covered tables and power that could be tapped in to. We packed up happily under the shelter and ran the computer while charging the cell phone. Cool!

All grocery stores had been closed on Sunday (at least the one or two that we were able to spot) so restocking supplies was a priority. We found a large shopping centre, anchored by a large Interspar store. This had everything, and Dodie came out with a goodly selection of interesting European packaged foods, plus strawberries from Italy, pretzels, and lots of other stuff.

Look Laurie, they have varieties of Ritter Sport we have never seen before.

European packaged foods - are generally of high quality.

While waiting with the bikes I had time to swap out one set of rear brake pads. We have now worn out front and rear on both bikes, but should make it home on the newly installed ones. While in front of the store I attracted Usual Questions from three of four people. None spoke English, but we still managed to communicate the basics: from Canada, yes- all by bike, going to Vienna and Amsterdam, started in England, etc. The fifth man to speak to us turned out to be one who had given us directions yesterday (in basic English). He inquired about how we were doing and whether we had successfully found the camping. How nice of him! I also noticed that his coat was trimmed out with that characteristic green found in traditional Austrian dress. I commented on the trim and found that he considered it just normal.

It was then time to go into Braunau itself. Tricia Graham had reminded us in the guestbook that this was the location of Hitler’s birth house. Tricia said it was outside the city gate and that there was a rock in front of it. Although we had known about the house, we planned to avoid it. Now we decided to have a look at it. It is on the main street that passes through the gate, about a block or two down. The house is completely unmarked, and the rock in front does not explain why it is there. Rather, there is an inscription that we translate as:

Millions of dead cry out for Peace, Freedom, and Democracy, and never again Fascism"

Looking at the house I did not pick up any vibes or experience any special feelings. That was strange for a place where I assume some pure evil from another dimension had leaked into our world (like in Time Bandits). I felt nothing until I looked at the other side of the rock. The inscription says it is from Mathausen concentration camp. That, for us, was too hard to take.

Braunau is a thriving town that has moved beyond the house on its main street. The house is abandoned and unmarked, and the rough rock quite eloquent. They are content to leave it like that, and we think that’s ok.

The rock in front of Hitler's birth house.

Behind the rock - it came from Mauthausen.

We did our usual spinning in circles routine as we tried to pick up the right path out of town. We took advice from two or three nice ladies, and a farmer who jumped off his tractor and jogged over to give us directions in German, since we looked lost to him. The GPS also chipped in some intelligence, and in under and hour (!) we were on our way.

People joined in to give us directions in Braunau.

Not too far up the Inn, the Salzach River joins in, after coming from Salzburg. This was to be our ticket to the big city, and the way looked pretty simple. As usual, we have not idea what we are getting in to as we sail merrily from town to town. The town of Ach looked like one more point on our map, and we noted casually Burghausen, the German town on the other side of the river.

As we approached Ach we had to descend the steepest hill we have every seen. The sign stated cyclists should dismount, and this was a no brainer. Walking beside the bikes, the brakes were on all the way down. As we descended the hill, we looked over at Burghausen. Golly! The whole cliff opposite had been fortified, and the top was lined with giant buildings. Now, if we had internet, we would be finding out what in heaven’s name it was all about!

The signage died at the bottom of the hill, and it seemed natural to cross the bridge there. We resisted that, because we knew we had to follow the river on the Austrian side. So we turned and ascended another hill, and another, slowly climbing back up the ridge. When the time came to push up yet another hill, we balked, since for all we knew we were pushing in completely the wrong direction. The GPS helped here, letting us know that we would soon joined what we took to be Austrian cycle route R3A, the one we wanted!

So eventually Ach and its hills let us go. By now it was getting late – we had played too long in the covered shelter, in the grocery store, at Hitler’s house, spinning around Braunau, and digging out of Ach. However we had one more must do.

The confluence of the Inn and the Salzach

People at the "blick" (view) somehow find it romantic.

After a time on the gravel of R3, we get a turn on a road like this - just like what we are used to in North America

Here is another example of construction with those clay building blocks. I wonder how they do insulation, plumbing, and electrical with them.

The garden featured tasteful wooden accessories

Here is the cold water arm bath of the Kneipp garden. For years we worked with cooling processed chickens in cold water baths, spending a lot of time with our arms in, fishing them out. We must now be super healthy!

There seem to be custom "Kneipp" accessories, like this rubber mat.

After the climb out of Ach we could ride on these small paved roads.

The land opened out into broad valleys after Ach

At Tarsdorf, graves have many live flowers.

Fucking Austria is the place to be if you are in this area! Fucking is just by Hucking and Franking. Honestly. So we wanted to be able to say we had gone to Fucking Austria. We hoped for a souvenir that could say “My Grandparents went to Europe and all they brought me back was this Fucking T-shirt” We knew we could not steal the town sign, someone else had already done that!

What we did get was some excellent photos.

My GPS says it's hard to get off the Fucking road.

The area of Fucking also now revealed some of the special Austrian scenes we expect to see a lot more of: Open grassy hills (like Julie Andrews ran on in the Sound of Music), Alp-like mountains, and two story houses with wood trim. We are sure we have not quite seen the “real thing” in these categories, but the area was lovely nonetheless.

We found the campingplatz as shown on one of our maps, having gone only one town too far before a man we asked steered us to the correct spot. One town too far actually amounts to only one or two km, so no problem.

Again, as I write this, I have a covered table with power. That is so great! On the other hand, internet is a problem. We decided to see how it goes in terms of finding wifi, before buying an Austrian SIM and megabytes, for the only two weeks or so we will be in the country. However on this second night here, we will be using up some meagre supplies of UK based roaming time. That means no photos right now, but stay tuned!

The mountains "suddenly" appeared in the distance

It's starting to look like Sound of Music land.

Look Irina, they have horses here too, at Holzlithen!

This is Franking, but we swung around 1 km and camped at Holzoster.

Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 3,399 km (2,111 miles)

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