In the morning we awoke to wet streets and the sound of a steady, significant rain.  After lying in bed for awhile and unsuccessfully wishing it away we descended for breakfast and eventually began packing, resigned to a soggy entrance to Austria.  From our window I watched a colorful procession of umbrellas in the street below, advancing toward the Sunday church service.  Over breakfast we enjoyed observing a trio of chaps happily sharing their Sunday morning beers.

We had two choices for today’s destination: Eggendorf at 35 kilometers, a small walled Austrian town near the border; or Krems on the Danube.  We left our plans open, to depend on the state of the weather.  The ride was surprisingly easy - a continuation of the previous afternoon’s flattish terrain and quiet roads, and the rain lightened significantly so that the ride was not terribly unpleasant.  We fairly soon came to the border and were in Eggendorf by one.  

It seemed silly to stop so soon, so we obtained a pair of wonderful pastries from the bakery and continued on to Krems.  We had a few spells of harder rain that worried us a bit, but nothing unrideable; and we rolled into Krems a few hours later after a fast coast down the valley.

Krems is quite a large town, with about a five block long main street that blends into the neighboring towns of Und and Stein.  The whole complex is quite lively and attractive, with several noteworthy churches medieval towers, and of course restaurants.  Arriving late in the day and needing to dry out, we were anxious to find a room and stayed at the first one we encountered - a clean, very modern affair just outside the old town.  I was a bit distressed about the cost - 550 Austrian schillings - and asked if there were other rooms around, at which point we were offered a room for 500 instead.  My distress was from misremembering the exchange rate.  I’d been thinking it was about 7 AS to the dollar, but it was actually 13.  When I realized this later I immediately felt a few thousand dollars richer and a bit sheepish about my behavior at the hotel.

Krems was a nice enough stop, but it’s most lasting significance to us may be that I got skunked at cribbage here for the third straight time.  I’ll be reminded of this unprecedented streak for years, I’m sure.

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