The Austrailan bike plan to Vienna

September 9th, 2012 Sunday

We woke up feeling excellent thanks to plenty of water the night before and the extra hour of sleep we let ourselves have. We got in another shower, packed up our tent and stopped at probably the only open coffee shop for some stale bread and expensive orange juice served by a girl who seemed peeved to be at work (I guess I would be too if the whole town was partying the night before into the morning and I had to be at work to serve them all). 

lake and walking area behind our camping place

And then we were off again! Taking the last bit of map trail to the outskirts of Vienna. Less than an hour into our travels we bumped into an Australian couple, Maia and Jeff, who were also taking the trail into Vienna. Turns out Jeff is a professor on sabatical in Vienna, and he and Maia were in the midst of many travels all over (including to Los Angeles some months before). We decided to tag along with them the rest of the way and had excellent conversation as we went. They had minimal baggage compared to us, so we put our rears in gear to keep up with their excellent pace (as well as minimal stops).
For lunch we went a km off the cycle path to a small town that was having their own traditional wine festival, complete with attire, traditional music, and food. Unfortunately for us, we got there just as it was ending and missed out on most of the food options. We still were well fed, and ready to hit the trail. The map indicated that this day of travel wouldn't have too great of variations in the elevation levels, but we were fooled into thinking we would not hit any hills at all. We kept at it (me, sometimes walking) and eased our travels in some rolling hills into an eventual flat path on the way in.

fields of flowers

At last- Vienna! We made it in great time thanks to Maia and Jeff, and even had enough time before meeting up with our hosts to grab a bite to eat and a drink- a traditional Austrian soda called Almdudler (light, refreshing lemon bubbly tea taste).

We made it! No honking please.

Thanks Jeff and Maia!!!!

With that, we said our goodbyes to Jeff and Maia, and began our seemingly more difficult trek into the central part of Vienna. Lucky for us we stand out, because we caught the eye of a roadie passing us. He asked us where we were from and where we were headed and told us to follow him through the city to get to our destination. The roadie, Max, turned out to be a bike tour guide of the city of Vienna (what are the chances?) He sped us through the city with ease, only to get a flat just 500 meters from our destination. He pointed us in the right direction and bid us goodnight as he headed home just down the way to patch his flat.

In front of the mayors house. yes seriously, the mayors house.

We then waited near a subway station in the center of Vienna to meet up with our host, Erwin. He met us by bike and gave us a quick tour of some of the more prominent buildings in the center. We headed back to his flat that he shares with his girlfriend, Gerti. She made us some pasta and salad, and we talked about bikes until we started to get sleepy then headed to bed.