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Tuesday, August 27th - Furstenfeld to Graz, Austria, 9875 km
It’s a leisurely morning, another day of sunshine. We have covered about two-thirds of the distance from Keszthely to Graz yesterday so today will be much lighter. I am up and showered by 8:15 and Jochen is not far behind. We head for the kitchen in the youth hostel to have our continental breakfast. Jochen puts and couple rolls and pads of butter and jam in his pocket for Mathias, knowing he will not make it down before breakfast ends at 9.
We return to the dorm to drop off the rolls. Mathias is still asleep with his back to the world, his blond hair pointing in many a tortured direction. Jochen suggests we go for a walk. It is still a bit cool, the way I like it when I am building up a sweat cycling. It’s the perfect time of day, before all the shadows are gone from the road and the traffic increases, but I let that go because I know it will at least an hour before Mathias will be ready. We stroll around the three blocks that comprise Furstenfeld’s business centre, and then find a sunny bench to relax on in the main square.
Jochen asks about my trip in a way that I can tell he is imagining going such a trip himself. Jochen says many Germans boys find a best friend and stay loyal to that friendship from kindergarten to university. He and Mathias have been friends since his early school days, spending the summers together with various members of their families. Since they were seventeen, they have spent most of their free weekends and holidays alone together, cycling, hiking and going to another town together. They left their town in south Germany two weeks ago a similar route to mine. I might have run into them at any point along the route other than Keszthely.
Mathias has to return home in a week’s time. Jochen could stay longer but he doesn’t want to travel by himself. I guess that’s where I fit in. I tell Jochen I am headed for Venice and he likes that idea. Maybe I can join you, he suggests. Sounds good, I say. Let’s just see how the next few days unfold.
With our minds still fantasizing about Venice, we return to the hostel to rouse Mathias. He is awake when we find him, or at least he is sitting up on the bed eating the rolls Jochen left for him, looking a little disoriented like a bear coming out of hibernation. From this point, it’s like a play in slow motion. He takes a couple hours to be comfortably ready to cycle. By then it is past noon. We have a lunch of bought sandwiches before we head off.
Jochen and Mathias cycle at a steady moderate pace with few breaks, much the way I cycle when I am alone. Even still, there are always things one must get used to when cycling with others, other than our start times. They are both more considerate than Mike was, and more communicative, but Mathias has a nasty habit of blowing his nose while cycling. When I have been following him closely, his spray often lands on my face and glasses. This is not easy to get used to.
The first half of the day, done in full on afternoon sun, takes us to the end of our gently climbing valley. There are a couple hills to cross to drop into the next valley to the town of Gleisdorf. Here we have cloud cover for an hour or so, but the town is quaint, 
pristine and colourful even without the sun. Gleisdorf sits at a confluence of three valleys. We take the valley of the Rabnitz River to Brodingberg, and then begin a climb over a 200 m ridge that separates us from Graz. The sun comes out again while we are climbing, but once over the ridge we only need to coast or pedal lightly to take us the last 15 km into Graz.
Even with our late start, we are into the centre shortly after 5. We find the hostel, check in, find the tourist office and walk around the centre. It is a photogenic town with cobbled streets, storybook houses and commercial buildings and marketplaces. A small spire of a mountain juts up right by the core. Once the site of a castle, it now houses a clock tower that has become the symbol of Graz. Jochen and Mathias climb the massive, switch-backing staircase to the tower, but I opt to poke around the shop windows instead. A woman at the tourist office tells us that this is the home town or Arnold Schwarzenegger. I suppose that is better than advertising their enthusiastic reception of Hitler after he took control of Austria.
In spite of Mathias’s nose blowing, I think the three of us are getting along famously. It has been a light day, only 65 km, but after three full days, that’s a pleasant change.
PHOTO 1: country road, ideal for cycling
PHOTO 2: Gliesdorf, half-way to Graz
PHOTO 3: foothills before reaching Graz
PHOTO 4: clock tower on hill overlooking Graz
PHOTO 5: Graz market square
PHOTO 6: Haupstrasse, where our youth hostel is
PHOTO 7: former townhouse of Archduke Ferdinand
PHOTO 8: early evening in Graz
PHOTO 9: Jurgen and I at youth hostel
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