As we get closer to our final destination of Bratislava, we begin to tick off a series of “last ones”. This morning is the last time we will pack up our tent, since this is the last campsite of the trip. The last time we’ll unpack the stove to make tea/coffee. Then when we get into Vienna, that will be the last place we will stay until we get to Bratislava. It feels a bit surreal to contemplate that we will not simply keep going.
But, one day at a time! We enjoy our coffee before setting out on our 50 mile ride. The weather forecast for a number of days has shown that we will be getting heavy rain starting tonight, and so we have booked a place in Vienna for three nights to avoid getting soaked. Yet, in the morning when we headed out the forecast has changed. The storm has pushed out one day, and so the rains will still be there when we leave on Monday. Oh well…today will be dry.
Getting in and out of large cities gracefully is often a challenge. The outskirts of cities often sprawl and offer little that can be considered scenic. Such was the case getting into Vienna – the riding and scenery were blah but well organized and easy. As we entered the city, the landscape became cityscape with tall buildings and bridges, trains shooting by, cars and trucks on elevated roadways and lots of traffic. It’s different!
Today we had a moderate headwind all day, and so we were happy to check into our very nice apartment just on the edge of the old city of Vienna. We shopped for dinner and opened a bottle of wine and spent our first evening in our apartment. It was lovely.
The second day we explored the city, doing another walking tour covering churches, squares and other historic buildings, making plans for what to visit in our next day. We took advantage of an organ recital in one church, and had some coffee when some rain passed over. Vienna has tons of attractions so it would be easy to spend a week here, hearing a different concert each day or going to a museum.
Our third day started with going to the public training of the Lipizzaner horses in the morning, followed by going up a giant Ferris wheel, going out for dinner at a fabulous Indian restaurant and then going to a string quartet concert in a church. Full day and lots of fun! Chris gets full credit for the planning of that wonderful day! We were tired and full as we got home. But no rain. It’s delayed again.
Coming home from the concert, we passed some lovely shop windows. Below are a few pictures.
The forecast for Monday, the day we will ride to Bratislava, is for heavy rain and there are dire warnings from the weather service. We made tentative plans to take a train but we really want to finish this section of our ride on two wheels. Going to bed we figure that the morning will come and we’ll decide what to do – ride or take a train.
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