Our first reaction to Austria was how beautiful it was with the traditional houses, farmland, and the Danube. Our second reaction when we paid for lunch was how expensive it is! From 90c beers and $3 meals at restaurants in Hungary to $5 beers and $12-18 lunches here. Well, it will take some adjustment. We have started eating a big lunch out and making breakfast and dinner from the supermarket.
Vienna
Vienna absolutely astounded us. It was literally like walking through a museum. Every corner has a unique amazing piece of architecture.
Look up anywhere in Vienna and see gorgeous architecture and stunning foliage. What an incredible city!
And practical too! Shop hours are strictly limited to be closed on Sundays and have only so many hours per week open. It’s great for the workers, but if you need condoms and lube after-hours, where do you go? Well, there are vending machines to take up the slack!
Vienna is starting to speak up against animal exploitation for tourism, and we support this.
We toured the magnificent opera house. Here is a chamber you can rent during and opera performance for your event.
Pink bunny…
Beautiful views from the Volksgarten, the people’s garden.
Goethe statue.
We heard about this movie being shown for free during Vienna’s film festival, so we had to attend! Discofootball… It was… Weird… Very weird…
Yikes, did somebody slip something into my drink?
Nope, everything’s normal here.
St. Stephan’s in reflection.
The film festival before the film.
Karlskirche.
This reminded us our our Coffee Cycle friend in San Diego!!
Interior of the Opera.
On the road
Cycling into Vienna, we holed up under this bridge while a rain shower passed by. The street art is excellent near the rivers; I wish we had time to see more.
Steve’s bike in an alley along the Danube.
The Danube valley really does not disappoint! We’ve heard many amazing things about how beautiful it is here, and I can say with certainty that it is not at all over-rated! All of the compliments are fully deserved.
The cycle path takes you through small villages with amazing historic houses, vineyards, wineries, and shops. You will see none of this in one of the luxury cruises or by car. Cycling is truly the only way to see this part of Austria! Many of the most scenic paths are restricted to bicycles or pedestrians only.
The network of bicycle routes in Austria is truly world class. They are all signed and numbered, and they keep you out of traffic even as much as to send you through tunnels just to avoid a traffic circle. Everyone knows about the Danube cycle path, but there are dozens of others just as nice all through the country.
Melk Archabbey.
Cycling through vineyards and farmland.
Tractor parked in its home.
Our bikes overlooking a street in Vienna.
We cycled through a number of FKK, or Freikörper-Kultur (free body culture, aka nudism) areas, where people shamelessly sunbathe, swim, cycle, and hike in their birthday suits. It’s great to see a country support this, when there is so much body shaming happening elsewhere in the world. I would have joined, but my bike seat is not comfortable without padding!
We caught a water rapids race on the way into Vienna.
We are back to camping, and it’s nice! We loved our first campground in Austria, next to a lake, with fantastic showers and bathrooms. It was nice to sleep under the stars, even though Steve got spooked by a possom at 3am!
Photos can’t really capture the vast beauty of the Danube valley, especially the Wachau region.
More of the Danube.
Wood stacked by the Danube. We didn’t see many freight ships, but I imagine they use boats to transport all the wood.
Food
Okay here’s my favorite part!
Steve’s first dish in Austria, the classic Wiener schnitzl!
A staple of our diet on the road, a wurst (sausage), bread, mustard, and horseradish.
Cheese spaetzl! Omg, one of my favorites!
Turkey schnitzel with cranberries.
Vienna’s film festival had all sorts of international food, from curry to tacos.
Austrian food stall.
Traditional Vienna style sausage.
One of my favorite bottled beers is the delicious Stiegl Weisse beer, brewed in Salzburg, so luckily we see more and more of it as we get closer.
A mildly spicy and delicate cheese from Wels, one of our overnight stops.
Steve at a famous sausage stand in Vienna.
I tried this Danube-caught Serbian-style fish and it was incredible.
More of our typical lunch.
Can you get enough sausage?
I couldn’t be happier than with a pint of craft beer and a pretzel the size of my head. Austria rules!
Sound of Music
So we are headed towards Salzburg, and of course, we are preparing to see all the famous Sound of Music sights!
Stay tuned and we’ll share them with you!
Brings back the memories! Marty and I spent a gorgeous New Year’s Eve in Vienna many moons ago! Enjoy!
Stunning… scenery and food (Kasespaetzl is one of my favorites as well). It’s so great to be able to share your adventures again. Don’t forget to post a video of Steve spinning in “the hills”.
Of course! We are preparing the cinematography! 🙂
Great going guys!
Your passports must be weighing you down now with so many stamps 😉
Great narrative Tim, I feel like I’m experiencing the journey with you.
Emma (aus)