Here is a link to today's photos.
Here is a link to tomorrow's diary.
Here is a link to the index of the days of this holiday.
On Saturday 19th September, I spend the day looking around Krems.
The first photo is the hotel where I'm staying. This is the Schwarzes Roessl. It's near to the eastern end of the main pedestrianised street and is about 10 minutes walk from the railway station.
Although I have already entered the race, I have to go to the registration hall to get a race number and a chip and to arrange how to get to the start of the race.
The start is in Spitz, a village on the Danube about 19K upstream from Krems. The race information (all in German) says that are two options for getting there:
All of this is provided without any additional cost.
Getting the boat would be a cool way to start a half marathon. However, the boat leaves about 3K from the centre of Krems. On the Saturday morning, I investigate how easy it would be to do this by walking to the Schiffstation.
En route, I have to walk the whole length of the main pedestrianised street. At the start of this street, I take a photo of the bar where I had a few drinks the night before. Later, in one of the plazas I take some photos of a band that are playing. I also take some photos of the various cafes.
I get to the Schiffstation in about 30 minutes. As you have to get there by 7.40am, using the boat would mean leaving the hotel at about 7.10am which is a little early.
From the Schiffstation, I walk back into Krems taking the route that the race will take. Tantalisingly, it approaches the finish at about 1.5K before the end of the race and then loops around the town before a final straight to the finish in the opposite direction. I see yellow arrows on the ground at road junctions and I see white paint on the ground with the figure 19 in a circle and later see a figure 20 and a figure 21 which is really close to the finish. At the finish (the Ziel), they are setting up large amounts of equipment.
At the registration hall, I get my race number, a chip, a goody bag and sign up for the 9am bus. This is four different short queues with conversations in a mix of German and English. The chip costs 10 euros with 7 euros returned after the race.
I had hoped to get the 8.30am bus but this is either cancelled/full (my German does not cope with the handwritten change). Although advertised as a 20 minute journey, the bus ticket says the 9am bus will take 30 minutes. I'm a bit worried that this won't give me time to warm up. Later, I decide to warm up before catching the bus by running from my hotel to the 20K marker (it's only about 0.5K from my hotel) and then to the finish and then to the Bahnhof (the railway station) from where the bus leaves.
From the registration hall, I walk to the railway station to see if I can get details of the train timetable for the line from Krems to Spitz as I will need this for the walking I'm planning to do for the rest of the week. At the Bahnhof, I see a timetable for both the outward and return trips on this line. I take photographs of both. It seems that currently the raliway line is only in action from Krems to Duernstein, and that there is a replacement bus service from Duernstein to Spitz. I later learn that this is because of a landslide just beyound Duernstein.