With our good luck, we don't mind a little rain at all
We started the day with a problem at check out. When we booked the night before Erika had made double certain that the price would be 69 Eu. When the clerk told us it was 95 Eu, Erika stuck to her guns, so the clerk told us she would have to call her manager who told us that for sure, the 69 was for a single only and the cost of a double was 95. But since Erika insisted she had asked for a double, the manager said that it wasn't our fault and it wasn't theirs and the clerk who gave us the wrong price would have to make up the difference. We of course could not name the clerk, but I think they might have been trying to make us feel bad for the clerk and hoping we would capitulate. They let us go for 69. If we would have felt like giving in, a couple of things kept us from it: The room and the service was nice enough, but not worth 95. Second, Erika had ordered a meal the night before that turned out to be the wrong choice for her so she didn't eat it and while they were sorry it wasn't to her liking, they just charged us for it anyway and didn't try to make up for it in any way. That's fair enough but not the common practice we have seen in North America. Finally, as nice as the hotel was, it was in a very stinky part of town due to some brewery or something like that that wasn't far away.
So with that in mind we headed out regardless of the fact that it was starting to rain.
Very comfortable day, only up to 26 C at the end of the day in the city. During the day and while it was raining it was slightly below or above 20 C.
A rainy start to the day. But it was still comfortable and enjoyable. It has been so hot that the odd bit of rain has been quite refreshing. We prefer not to cycle in the big down pours but a slow steady rain is okay.
As you can see, we were wearing our light jackets. They don't keep us dry but they keep us from feeling cold, and they dry out quickly when the rain stops
About 25 km into the day we started up the path as it was bypassing Donaustettan and we ran into some work on electrical wires where they weren't going to let us pass, so we went back and crossed the river into Donaustettan where we had some lunch and then found our way back to the river downstream from where the work was being done. It turned out that the next day, this was exactly where we would follow the Donauradweg back to and then depart from it and turn south on the Donau-Bodensee radweg.
As we were retracing the short distance we had to go back to get across the bridge, we stopped at this sign to see what it was about. It appears that despite how good the corn looks to us for eating, this sign was advertising the number of animals that would be fed by the cornfields in this operation.
The river has gained a lot more water at this point. I started wondering when I would see evidence of commercial navigation or even recreational navigation larger than canoes.
I took this one because it shows the much bigger and stronger flow of water in the river. I learned from our host two days later in Ravensburg that there is a canyon just downstream from Ulm and when the river emerges from there it then becomes the large navigable river that I have been watching for.
This lady helped us find the tourist information by walking us to it and then she went in to make sure that Erika was getting the attention she needed. She was very sweet.
Many of the frescoes are quite faded and a wealthy patron would be needed to restore them. Unlike what we saw in the Netherlands, in Germany churches do not charge tourists for entry.
Prices were high in Ulm, but this room was only 70 eu including breakfast because it shared a bathroom and bath. The hotel was very clean and the bathrooms modern. What a difference in cost the willingness to share a bathroom makes.
So we had a really great day, overall and it ended with room # 1 in the Hotel Acker. The only unfortunate thing was that we discovered we had used up all our data on our current contract and there was no way to renew it. The hotel wifi only worked on our phones because it would not work with Windows 10, so I couldn't get anything done on the blog. I tried going into one of the downtown bookstores and using their wifi but it kept blocking sites that were not in the country, so I gave up. More on that story tomorrow.
We enjoyed a relaxed evening going for a walk around the square and listening to the bells. It is interesting to note that even though the church was right next to us, due to the height of the spire, the bells do not overwhelm. They also have a lovely rich tone.
Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles) Total: 1,894 km (1,176 miles)
