Day 27

13/09/2011 – Day 27

Tulln to Vienna – 41km

It was another hot and sunny day and only a short ride into Vienna so we were in no rush to leave. The plan was to be in the city for lunch, then find somewhere to stay. Once again the wind was behind us and we cruised along the riverside path stopping just once for a coffee. There must be a lot of people on holiday at the moment as the path was quite busy for a weekday.

The approach to Vienna is quite industrial and dirty. First there is the town of Klosterneuburg which is clean and well laid out, but all the houses are built on either stilts or the ground floor is nothing but garage, just another sign of the flooding they get frequently.

Coming into the city itself you cycle under a motorway bridge for a while, the area underneath is full of bars and cafés. We stopped at the ’Captains Bar’ for yet another beer (this probably explains why after over 1000km I am still not losing any weight).

We had emailed a woman letting a room that we found on the internet, the reviews were good so we thought it would be great, explaining that we were on bikes. When we got back on line she had replied saying the room was free. By the time we arrived at the house she had let the room as we had not replied quick enough.

So, a few phone calls to hostels and we found one that had a free room but only for tonight as it was closing for the winter the next day! It is called the Red Carpet and by the looks of it would be a good place to stay if you are a party animal (the pass word for the internet gives the game away). It solved the problem for tonight and we retried the original plan for the second night.

Vienna is a city full of traffic; it seems that everywhere you look there are streams of cars waiting at traffic lights and parked in every possible space. There is a cycle path system around the centre but you need to keep your eyes open as it flip flops from one side of the road to the other with monotonous regularity, which is OK if you are a local and know the place but for us tourists trying to read street names and look out for car and pedestrians and navigate all at the same time…..