40 miles, 3.5 hours on bike, flat with some short climbs
Today’s route was to be only 26 miles so we added a couple of detours. The most memorable stop was at the Mauthausen Concentration Camp Memorial site. Several people said it was worth the stop.
On Augus 8, 1938, five months after the annexation of Austria to the German Reich, the first inmates arrived at Mauthausen from Dachau concentration camp.
At the end of 1942 there were 14,000 inmates in Mauthausen and some satellite camps. In March of 1945 there were more than 84,000 in these camps. From the second half of 1944 thousands of inmates were evacuated to Mauthausen from concentration camps to the east.
Barracks on the left. Infirmary and crematorium on the right.
Almost 190,000 people were deported to Mauthausen between construction of the camp in 1938 and its liberation by the US Army in May 1945.
Just outside the camp were many memorials.
Such a contrast between the barbed wire sculpture and the peaceful meadows beyond.
We are now settled in Perg at Gasthof Manner.
Definitely not our typical day.
Life in Japan and Beyond 
Elizabeth and I had the same day on our trip, and we spent three hours at Mauthausen, and really enjoyed the history. We are glad you are enjoying your thrip.
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Anita and I visited Dachau in 1974 on a trip to Western Europe. It was memorable and very solemn yet eerie. Thank you for sharing your journey.
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Hi Thelma, I’m glad you’re enjoying my blog. This place was certainly solemn but most of the eeriness was gone. It its place were many quotes and photos of elderly people who had lived through it all.
gwen
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