Vienna - day 16

It was only raining lightly when we got up, but we stuck with the plan of heading for Vienna, and left the camp ground before 10 – we just don’t seem to be able to shower, do dishes, sort out emptying water/toilet, and filling water before this time, lucky we don’t have any deadlines to meet! Driving was easy today, the roads were better, most of it was on motorways where the speed limit was either 130 or 140kph and Nico was quite comfortable doing around 110 with other cars just hooning past us. It drizzled on and off for the morning, but then our decision paid off as it at least became dry, though not very warm – around 8 degrees at lunchtime.

We stopped once at a waterfall by a dam, and the force of the water was quite incredible. Googlemaps can be useful at times for searching on places of interest nearby, and we went off the motorway to find this. We also had a couple of stops along the way, including bacon and eggs for lunch at some random carpark stop.

When we arrived in Vienna, I had the bright idea of going and getting our tickets for the Lippizaners which we are going to see next Saturday. I thought it might be a wee way out of town, and there might be somewhere to park (like the good parking at Swarkovski). Hmmm, maybe not. We ended up driving through the middle of the old part of Vienna, following horse and carts, driving through hordes of people and it brought back memories of Lucca! I don’t think we weren’t allowed there, but it certainly didn’t feel like somewhere that a big motorhome would normally be driving! When we got to our destination, there was definitely nowhere to park – maybe I should have emailled, or called to ask them. Oh well, then we pulled over as soon as we could, and googled where we might stay for the night. We ended up driving around 30 mins out of the City, and have a lovely camping ground which is next to the train station. I ordered an ACSI card before I left NZ which gives us cheaper camping in the off season. We have now used it at several sites, and is definitely saving us money. This campground is 20 euros per night plus 3 euros tourist tax. Everywhere we have stayed has a tourist tax – I can’t understand why NZ politicians think it would be so hard to accept in NZ. People here just expect it. At the non ACSI sites, I think the most we have paid is I think 41 euros which is around $55 NZ at a guess.

This evening we went out for a bike ride – yes I am feeling better! It was a nice short ride, just to see where we were. It is still quite windy here. Tomorrow we will take the train into Vienna, and we intend to take our bikes on the train. It is a 14km ride into Vienna, and we have thought about doing that, and possibly might bike back but that depends on the weather, and how sore our bums are! We are going to stay here tomorrow night as well, and then we might head for either Bratislavia or Budapest.

As you can see, our destinations are not fixed at all. It is sad that I will be missing our on Slovenia again on this trip – maybe next year Trish? But, it is hard to get keen on visiting there when it is meant to be raining all week.Read more