Blogs from Vienna, Austria, Europe

A day of culture and sophistication. We spent the morning on a guided walk of the old city. We went up the north tower of St Stephens Church and got rewarded with fantastic views across the city. We tried to reward ourselves with apple strudel but after not being served for 25 minutes we had to give up to rejoin the tour - oh well next time (we will just have to come back). In the evening we got dressed up and went to see the Vienna Supreme Orchestra. Their performance was amazing not only did we get to hear the Orchestra but there was also opera and ballet performances, part of it had a modern take and was a little cheeky. Tonight we finally get to sail overnight to our next destination Durnstein. Only about ... read more

Had a good nights sleep in larger quarters and another buffet breakfast 😵‍💫…. Off on our bus and walking tour of the city with our local guide … very informative and I must say the most thumping big city of monstrous buildings I have ever seen … statues ginormous!!! Finished with him around 11 am and a series of instructions for hotel shuttle times and service back to the hotel …. Had a coffee grande (everything is of grand proportions here) and lovely cake at McCafe and bought a few more souvenirs …. Found our way around to the museum of applied arts and Don enjoyed all the antique furniture I found some Austrian lace and crockery displays …. Back to the bus stop at 2.30 pm and travelled back to the hotel had a rest ... read more

Austria’s capital of Vienna is the City of Waltzes and Europe’s centre of classic music. Strauss and Mozart composed many of their finest music here. The wide boulevard circling the Inner City is lined with Baroque, neo-Renaissance, Gothic-Romanesque and other magnificent structures from the Hofburg Palace to the Vienna State Opera. They are grand and highly ornamented buildings many topped with tall statues of, I assume, famous people. Impressive massive statues are in every open space, some with fountains. Coffee houses are the order of the day, in fact some 2,400 of them. Locals gather for a delicious beverage and hours of social time. You are encouraged to stay as long as you want and enjoy your time there. First we are treated to a city tour on our bus which for me is completely boring ... read more

My train from Bratislava returned to Vienna around 3:15. I met up with Gaby, got my bag, and we said our goodbyes. Then back on the train to visit Marion. Marion had been a friend of Gaby's, I met her when she came with Gaby to Canada to visit me 25 years ago. Then she came with her friend Udo to see me in Roatan 14 years ago, and that was our last visit. She lives about 1/2 hour outside the city. She picked me up from the train station and took me back to her place. An hour or so later, Udo came to visit as well, and we had fun looking through photos and recreating some of the pics, to have a current day version. We had some munchies and a few drinks, and ... read more

Our last full day in Vienna. We have plans to do lots of things both ride related and leisure related. I doubt we'll get them all done. I'm fast out of the blocks, up early to have breakfast and work on the bike. It needed a good clean but I also needed to swap my front and back tyres around as the front tyre has a wider profile. I was done and dusted by 9:00am, a good start. Jeff had on his list to get some rim tape at a bike shop, patch a couple of tubes and rotate his front and rear tyres to even out the wear - none of which was done before we all left for the city about 10:30am. Tom, having just arrived had nothing to do on his bike. What ... read more