Day 29: Rattenberg to Kufstein

 

We were determined to have a lazy, easy day today, so we had a leisurely breakfast at 8:00am, packed our bags, and then left around 9:00am as the day was already warming up. If we were tired, the Edge 705 was exhausted. It would try to boot, and then not succeed. For the rest of our trip it was about as useful as a brick. I would later discover (with the help of Garmin tech support) that it had corrupted its own boot block, and would have to be sent back to Garmin for recovery. Fortunately, at this point we were so close to Munich and places I knew that I did not think that it would be a problem.

From Tour of the German Speaking Alps 2010

The Inn river bike path has to be the easiest bike path in Austria to follow. Unlike less major bike paths, the route does not disappear, and even detours are well signed. The path meanders from one side of the river to the other, changes from paved to unpaved, exposed to sheltered, and yet remains a distinctive character all of its own, with the Kufstein/Innsbruck symbols.

Since I no longer had the 705 as a crutch, I was forced to pay attention to where we were. When we finally saw a huge fortress, Lisa wanted to explore. I assented and upon arriving in the city realized that this was already Kufstein. We had gotten there far earlier than expected. A visit to the tourist information office yielded a huge booklet of places to stay, but our first few choices were filled up, and we ended up finding a spot at the Exerzitienhaus Maria Hilfs. We got there after having to load the tandem onto an elevator to get across the train station to discover that it was a missionary.

From Tour of the German Speaking Alps 2010

We were their only guests that night, so at least it was going to be a quiet stay. The woman in charge wanted to charge us 28EUR/person, but we showed them the tourist information posting about the price being 24EUR/person, and she relented. Coincidentally, we were put into room number 24. After taking a shower and dropping off everything, we walked back downtown and had some Kebab for lunch.

After lunch, we wanted to visit the Riedel glass factory, where there was a short presentation and a demonstration of glass making:

Visiting a glass factory on one of the hottest days of the year is not a good idea, and after that we were so warm that we took a bus back downtown and spent some time at the local bookstore, where I bought a detailed map covering the area between Schliersee and Munich.

We walked into the fortress, but it looked a bit like a tourist trap so I demurred from visiting. Lisa wanted to visit the downtown shops, but by the time we got there they were closing. I did, however, get a close look at the cannonballs embedded in the walls and their history.

From Tour of the German Speaking Alps 2010

Lisa wanted to hear the Organ concert, so we bought tickets for it and heard the 15 minute presentation of the world's biggest organ. We then went to dinner at a terrible Indonesian place, and got back to our lodging just before a big thunderstorm. It was a bit eerie being the only guests at an almost empty mission, but the alternative was that it would be full, so I guess I was OK with that.

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