Vienna from a Bike!

Today was a down day -- no scheduled biking program as we sailed Vienna this morning. There were a couple of tours planned and we again opted for the bike tour of Vienna. What a crazy, inspired idea!! It was surely more treacherous than Budapest. The streets of Vienna are so busy with car, pedestrian and bike traffic. It is difficult to navigate through all of this when you don’t understand the rules of the road. Every city has its own traffic signals, bike paths, and hierarchy on the road. So it is difficult to enjoy the sights of a magnificent city when you are constantly on the look-out for the next person, car or bike that is going to kill you!! Vienna does not command the same attention from the Danube entry as does Budapest. The city centre is set back from the river and it takes some pedalling to reach it. Once there, though, it is majestic. The circular-built Ringestrasse encircles the baroque splendor of the city. Here you will find the famous Lipizzan horses of the Spanish Horse Riding School. The famous composers Mozart, Strauss, Beethoven and Haydn are all a part of this city. The Habsburg Palace is an amazing architectural structure that takes up what appears to be an entire city block. The Hapsburgs resided here only in the winter months! We visited the Vienna Prater and viewed the oldest ferris wheel in the world - if no longer the highest. We also stopped to view Hundertwasserhaus which is an architectural conversion of public housing apartments in 1983 by Freidensreich Hundertwasser, a Austrian artist interested in architecture. He felt architecture should be closer to nature without unnatural straight lines and his project features bizarre colorful patchworks with irregular patterns and windows. The famous Vienna Woods is 600 hectares of green belt park which surrounds the city centre like a horse shoe. This land was pledged to the city of Vienna by the Hapsburg family. It was once their private park land but is now available for all Viennese to enjoy. We saw a lot in Vienna but very quickly on our bikes and not always at a great vantage point. We left feeling that Vienna is a city of art, culture and music which cannot really be captured from the street. You have to be able to take time in the city and visit the opera houses, art galleries and museums to understand the true magnificence and culture of such a city. Louisa was particularly disappointed not to have time to visit the Klimt exhibit at the Belvedere gallery. Our bike tour lasted 3 hours so we can say that we have cycled through the heart of Vienna and lived to tell the tale -- although Louisa nearly got smushed by a trolley car which seemed to think it had the right of way ! (lol) In the evening we went to a typically Austrian wine tavern for a night of musical entertainment featuring a violinist and cellist who played the beautiful Strauss music of Vienna featuring a small operetta with a soprano and tenor. They were joined by two dancers who performed typical Austrian dances. The tavern owners served us a glass of Most accompanied by fresh breads and spreads. Tomorrow is our last ride through the wine country of Austria.