18May
Day 8- (Meuthausen to Linz) Those dark memories
Its was cloudy, windy and Rainy day today. We had lazy morning..we got ready by 9..had breakfast in the hotel.
Today was our rest day. We went to visit “Mauthausen concentration camp”. I would say the ride was real tough. It was hardly 3-4 km away from our hotel but the site is situated at the top of the hill. It was very steep. Almost 70 degree ascend and I am not exaggerating. Me and Lalita had to literally drag our bikes to reach the top.😃  This concentration camp area is huge. We bought audio guide device from the reception area..and started our tour to the memorial. Those bunkers for prisoners, shower area, roll call area, quarantine are, stairs of death made me feel horrified. So many innocent people had to die with such torture just because of crazy ideology of one man??? This made me really sad. My heart goes out for the victims. This is dark history of mankind. I really hope in future people will forget all such hatred about caste, religion or race. Love and compassion will help us to create harmony and the world will be more beautiful isn’t it??
The memorial site is so huge that we spend almost whole day there. At 5 pm we decided to ride till Linz. Linz is Austria’s second big city after Vienna and its hometown of Adolf Hitler too. Its was just short ride of 25 km. We booked the apartment in Linz and started our ride towards Linz. On the way we met one Indian guy named Ravi. Ravi is from Bangalore. He is a cyclist too and according to him in India it was difficult for him to pursue his passion for cycling because of lack of infrastructure for cycling..so he moved to Austria along with his family to pursue his passion. Though i don’t agree with Ravi about cycling in India, I really appreciate when people do what they love to do. After-all we all are supposed to do that to live life happily right?
After arriving to Linz, we had to do little search for the apartment. Thanks to google we made it without any hassle. Our Apartment host is very friendly. He stays just next door. It was too kind of him that he took us to one Indian restaurant for dinner. Food was finger licking good. After a long time we had curry, spices, etc. We had great time at the restaurant. The owner is from Karachi. He was friendly too. We spoke Hindi to someone after a long time. So it was great. He played audio CD of classical “Mohanveena “by “Vishwamohan Bhatt ji”. That made my day.
Every day we meet new people, we visit new place. Its super exciting.
Just remembered Gulzar Sahab’s line
सच कहू तो..अब इतनी दूर आ गये हैं कि ,
याद ही नहीं जुते कहाँ उतारे थे…
Love,
Maithili

19th May 2018
Day 9 (Linz to Engelhartszell) Riding in the dark : Our apartment at Linz was so cozy that we wanted to enjoy it some more. Therefore we got up late. Lalita went to the supermarket and got stuff for breakfast. We made our breakfast which was eggs, potatoes, beans and strawberries. When we got ready for the ride, it was already half past twelve. Weather was bright sunny. Perfect for riding. We are not following our itinerary nowadays. So we thought of riding some 60 km and taking a halt. After nearly 25 km we stopped for lunch at one lovely restaurant. There I met my furry friend (big kitty). She was too friendly. I really enjoyed my time with her. When we were about to finish our lunch suddenly weather changed and it started raining. It was pouring with lightening and thunderstorms. So we had no other option but to wait. After around an hour we thought of riding in rain as we had no option. But as we started riding weather slowly got cleared.. In the mean time we booked a hotel which was nearly at a distance 35 km away. We thought we would easily cover the distance before sunset. But in reality we took a long route to our destination which made all our calculations wrong. Here in Europe fortunately it’s summer time so it gets dark only after 8.30. But we couldn’t make it before sunset. That forced us to ride in the dark. On top of it majority of the time it was uphill. Which slowed down our speed. I must say it was one memorable ride. Finally we made it to our hotel. Hotel lady is really kind. She waited for us to receive us and to show us around. Our hotel is actually her ancestors old house. It was built in 1505. The look and feel is just awesome. Old photo frames, cupboards, furniture, windows, wall clock, oven, etc.. everything is enchanting. Feels like I have been transported to 1505 by time machine. It’s just super awesome. It’s already 12 now. There is no WiFi available here. So I will post all the pics may be tomorrow. It feels like I am writing a diary everyday. I am really enjoying it. Thank you so much each one of you for motivating me to write it further. From my heart to your heart…
Love, Maithili

20th may 2018
Day 10. Engelartszell town, Donau river festival :
Today we all three woke up feeling tired. I could feel my body needed rest badly. So we decided to rest for today. Fortunately we came to know by our land- lady that today is a celebration day of Danube river and there will be small fair at the riverfront in the evening. We all were very excited for the same. After the breakfast we went to explore the town..this small town is as beautiful as any other town in Europe. We went to the church. Its a huge structure..the paintings on the wall and over inner dome of church are mesmerizing. I love visiting churches and monasteries. What I love the most about it is “the pin drop silence”. It makes you feel peaceful inside. Helps you to self explore. In short due to few minutes of meditation I felt really calm and peaceful inside. Its a small town so everyone knows each other. Here in each village or town there are food joints where people come, grab a drink and sit for hours chatting. I really love that type of culture. Since we are the only Indians here, anywhere we go people greet us, talk to us with curiosity. We are enjoying all that attention 😉 After 2 hours of rest in the afternoon we went to riverfront to enjoy festival. I have seen these many people together for the first time in Europe I guess. There was food, liquors, wine , and live traditional music too. We enjoyed it. One thing I must confess that the food here doesn’t interest me much now a days. I miss spicy food. Being temporary vegetarian for this trip, me and Lalita have a very few options for food. Strong smell of meat in every food joint makes me nauseous..😃 I am missing “fish curry rice” made by my mother so much that sometimes I can actually feel the taste of it ..😃😃 One thing I must share with you all is the infrastructure this country provides for physically challenged people is highly commendable.. Being a Physical therapist by profession I carry up most empathy for them. I saw people with “tracheostomy”, special kids, on a specialized wheelchair, moving independently. This infrastructure helps them to be independent physically as well as emotionally..It makes me feel really happy.. Today we have decided to sleep early for tomorrow’s long ride… So bye for now..
Love, Maithili

20May, Day10 : The Firecracker Night
Here is the quick update of our heavenly experience today…
I was just about to sleep when we heard of music and firecrackers..
We ran quickly outside and witnessed something miraculous..
Specially the combination of mind-blowing firework from the other end of river and Gladiator film’s climax music piece..it left us in Aww..
It transported my mind straight away in some roman village..
The experience was so overwhelmingly beautiful that we forgot to take pics..
Hope this small video which I shot after coming back to my senses will do justice..