Rolling into Vienna

Tuesday September 27th
In Which we Roll into Vienna

It is becoming harder and harder to believe that, after 24 days of cycling, we have still had only one wet day. It is almost as if we have become stuck in a sort of meteorological ground hog day, with every day exactly the same as the previous one. Once again we awoke to find ourselves gifted with another absolutely perfect day for riding.

Today we had a choice to either ride all the way to Vienna (around 80 km) or take a train part of the way to Tulln and then ride from there to Vienna. If we opted for the second approach, it would cut about 40 km of somewhat monotonous riding from the day's ride and also mean that we would have a couple of extra hours to explore the wonderful capital city of Austria. Since Maggie had never been to Vienna before, I quickly decided that I would give her as much time there as possible.

We boarded the train without any trouble and made the short journey to Tulln without incident

There was a small storage area for bicycles which allowed us to take our bikes on the train, however we would have been in trouble if all 28 riders had decided to do the same thing.

Soon we were unloading our bikes at Tulln and resuming our ride into Vienna. Much of this part of the ride was along huge elevated levee banks and made for very enjoyable cycling. It is amazing just how much work the Germans and Austrians have put into flood control over the centuries. Although the Danube does still flood regularly, the resultant damage is much less than would have been done if the waters were not contained by the hundreds of kilometres of levees.

We finally rode into Vienna around 1.30 pm and, after making a small navigational error, found ourselves riding along the wrong river. A short retreat allowed us to cross the bridge to the correct side and resume our entry into the city. We found our hotel without drama, although we arrived before our luggage. This meant that we had to explore Vienna wearing our cycling gear.

When our luggage arrived we changed into less conspicuous gear and caught the nearby metro to Stephenplatz station.

This is regarded as the centre of Vienna and is very close to the impressive St Stephan's Cathedral. This is always the very best place to begin any exploration of the city. We then spent the next couple of hours wandering out past the Spanish Riding SChool to the incredible museum quarter. Dominated by the Hofburg Palace Complex, this area contains a whole collection of world class museums. If the contents of the museums are not interesting enough, you can just admire the buildings themselves as they give a glimpse back in time to the imperial grandeur of the Austro Hungarian Empire. As you wander from one palace to another, it feels as if the entire neighbourhood must have been an almost continuous succession of palaces for just about anyone who was related to the royal family.

As the day drew to a close and night began to fall over the city, we started to look for something to eat. There are hundreds of potential outdoor eateries to choose from, but we chose one close to Stephansplatz, and I ordered a Wiener Schnitzel (what else could you choose when you are in Vienna after all ?)

When the dinner was served I was confronted with a huge schnitzel, about the same size as Texas. Fortunately it was very thin and extremely tender, so that I was able to rise to the challenge and clear the plate.

Not so pleasant was the challenge of trying to enjoy a meal while being continually assaulted by clouds of foul smelling cigarette smoke from fellow diners. The Europeans have just not realised how disgusting and dangerous the smoking habit is. From the vast numbers of young smokers it would appear evident that the tobacco companies are guaranteed a good profit for at least a generation into the future.

We slowly walked back to the Metro station. It was a balmy early autumn evening and the centre of the city was still full of people just wandering and chatting. It had been a long and most eventful day.Læs mere