Vienna Days 2,3 and start cycle tour

Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Friday 14th June:
The day dawned warm again and the days plan was to first take further advantage of our 2-day hop-on hop-off bus service (which doesn’t start running till 10.15 and call at the shops at the nearby train station to see if I could buy a SIM card for an old phone and have access to some cost-effective European calls (as I had done while in Russia) - I did find and buy a  SIM card but to cut a long story short, the outcome wasn’t as I hoped.
To fill in the time we opted for breakfast in the hotel and took advantage of a wide range of fruit, cereal, eggs and meats, breads of course (not me) and sweet options. Thus fed we headed out, found the (futile exercise) SIM card and hopped on the first bus which we took as far as the Danube Tower. 
My pictures tell the story of the 256m tower surrounded by spectacular gardens. The gardens are extremely peaceful, very well maintained and quiet. Following a fairly thorough wander, duck and swan admiration, and smiles on seeing the multicoloured train that winds its way around, we hopped into the lift and zoomed up (gazing through the glass ceiling and listening to mission impossible theme music - lol) to the viewing platform.
Again my pics tell the story of the fabulous 360 degree view, with the chance to see the course of the various bits of the Danube (main channel, canal and a bit of the original river that is now dammed and forms a recreational lake).
Then to the revolving cafe (above which there is also another layer with a more formal restaurant) to enjoy the good Viennese coffee and inevitable gooey cake! While enjoying the quite speedy passing 360 degree view as entertainment. 
Next stop via the red bus was to see the Votivkirke, a gothic style church built in the 1400’s and impressive in and out - see pics.
Then back into another bus and completed the city tour once again, before hopping off at Augarten, yet another huge garden, with a top class facility with a very nice bar, porcelain shop ( beautiful) and I think a restaurant. It was far too hot (about 34 degrees) to wander the gardens so we headed to the bar for a cool drink, but the most interesting thing here on that afternoon was the caterers setting up a dinner table the full length of the driveway (see pic) which would seat maybe 200 guests, complete with white tablecloth and candelabra! I would love to have come back later to see how the event was run! 
Back to the hotel, the obligatory late afternoon Prosecco in the delightful hotel garden, before showers and out to wander the neighbourhood to find somewhere for dinner. Another Italian restaurant was the venue, again with the menu well marked with a host of allergies so I settled on grilled pork with beans and potatoes (the start of getting used to the meat and potato diet which will be common in Slovakia and Hungary for a week or so, starting in a couple of days). The heavily tree lined street no pics sorry) was a busy one with dedicated bike lanes, so watching the cyclists and scooter riders travelling at speed along these was good mental preparation for the upcoming ride. 
Dinner done the wander through the winding streets back to the hotel was as always, interesting ... but still warm and quite humid.
Saturday 15th June: 
We awoke to another clear blue sky and the promise of another 32+ degree day, headed out for breakfast in the same street as dinner last night in a particular enjoying the Viennese late which is often served with a glass of water and a small cake (very civilised) with consistently light, soft froth. 
Next adventure was into an Uber and off to see a performance of the Spanish Riding School. Established in Vienna in the late 1700’s, the school is ousted in the same huge Palace complex where we went to the classical concert the other night (almost back to back). 
As with most venues in Vienna, the crowd (albeit not very bad as the venue riding school venue does not fit huge numbers) was ushered in efficiently, instructions were given about no photos or putting things on the balustrade (we were on the top level poking down on the arena) and the show began. 
Each section with 4, 6 or 8 horses was introduced before the horses entered, all to tones of classical music. Various levels and ages of horses performed - young ones doing simple patterns (ie simple to them, not an amateur rider), one group worked from the ground showing training techniques, then other groups doing the more complex moves including the dancing and kicking that they are famous. The performances were very impressive - not entirely flawless (they are horses after all) but well synchronised and captivating!
The performance over too soon and we headed out into the very busy Saturday crowds and headed to the previous ritual stables - now a bunch of museums, and checked out the contemporary art museum. Interesting!
Then back to the hotel for a bit of time out, including lunch in the leafy hotel courtyard and a bit of blog writing!
Then it was time to start the Cycle the Danube tour. At 6pm we met with the 25 member tour group, tour leader Jerry ( an adaptation of her Slovakian name), tour assistant Martine and van driver, bike fixer Tin. After a lengthy briefing including the do’s and don’ts, what to expect, how to prepare and of course introductions, we reassembled and walked about 15 mins to a local bar type restaurant for a fairly typical Viennese type meal - large pieces of meat (including of course schnitzels), potatoes (often chips) and a few vegetables. The food was good and both food and wines very reasonably priced! 
Naturally there was lots of getting to know you chatting and stories of previous groups from our leader. We wandered back to the hotel via a supermarket to pick up a few riding supplies, and once again sleep came easily! 
Sunday 16 June.
Today was the day that the cycling started! Breakfast in the hotel was followed by introductions to bicycles, fitting, instructions on how to check them each day, rules of the road ( and paths), hand signals, group etiquette and so on. After some preliminary riding around the park we set off on a riding tour of the city. 
My e-bike turned out to be excellent and while most of the riding this day was straight forward, I took advantage of the ramps up from the canal to test the 4 assist levels, and was impressed enough to think that maybe this bike would actually be able to help me do the impossible, and ride to Budapest!!!!
The next 4-5 hours riding around the city certainly gave a different perspective to the one that the on-off bus had given (ie the twists and turns of the bus route screwed with my sense of direction / perspective) - some places were much closer than I thought, and we saw different perspectives of other things. We stopped numerous times and tour leader Jerry filled us in on interesting historic and cultural things, covering a lot of what the bus covered, but also going into some more depth about history and culture.
It was also very interesting seeing Vienna from a cyclists perspective as cyclists are very well caters for and treated, along with the many tiny-scooter riders who whizz around the city! 
So city checked over, bikes tested and some more group chats, we had free time (relaxing and dinner) till pack and leave in the morning, with warnings about don’t be late!
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Comments

Sally
2019-06-20

Great entry Mum! Looks beautiful xx

Maureen
2019-06-20

Agreed - great entry. 34 degrees sounds absolutely blissful. It was -4 when I went for my walk at 6.30 this morning!

Heather
2019-06-20

Great pics Jenny - glad the bike riding is going so well!

2025-02-10

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