Day 13 - Jody's Near Death in Vienna

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This is our second day in Vienna, and perhaps we should have planned our time better, but this morning instead of venturing into the city center, we are embarking on an ebike ride along the Danube into the countryside. Neither of us had ever ridden an ebike, but earlier this summer we did a 26-mile ride on our regular bikes, so we figured we could handle it. Our group consisted of 14 passengers including us, and 3 tour guides with Wolfgang taking the lead and the others following in the rear to make sure no one got lost.

Having never seen an ebike, I assumed it was some sort of electric motorcycle, but it was not. It’s basically just regular bicycle, in our case it was an 8 speed with a selection knob on the right handgrip, and a little computer with a speedometer and up/down buttons on the left handgrip. This ebike has 4 modes: Eco, Tour, Sport, & Turbo. Basically, you pedal it like a regular bike, and depending on the mode selected, and electric motor provides some assistance to make the pedaling easier. Eco mode has the least amount of assistance, and Turbo mode has the most. The ebike has regular front and rear disk handbrakes, but also brakes by pedaling backward much like a normal coaster brake bike.

It didn’t take long for either of us to get used to riding, but it was a little difficult since we haven’t ridden a coaster brake bike in a while and kept wanting to spin the pedals backward to get setup to start. But pedaling backwards would apply the brakes and make the ebike stop. And that’s what happened to Jody.

We were pedaling up along the river and it was so easy that we were really enjoying the ride. The assist still gives you a good workout on a flat surface, but really kicks in when you go uphill. As we were coming to a crossing, we had to stop and get going again, and Jody was trying to get started when the ebike stopped and she fell off the ebike. She scraped one knee pretty badly and her hands and other knee just a little. Of course, everyone stopped and came over to her rescue and to see if they could help. Jody doesn’t really like a lot of attention, and I thought she would die of embarrassment.

But Wolfgang came over and brought a first aid kit, cleaned up the wound and covered it with a dressing. Of course, there were doctors in the group as so many of the passengers seem to be doctors, and one of them made sure Jody knew what to do when we got back onboard. Fully bandaged and recovered, Jody was back on the ebike and ready to continue. It was an interesting ride as we headed up the Danube toward Klosterneuburg, just outside of Vienna in Lower Austria. Wolfgang was keeping up the pace at about 22 kph or 13 mph, but the ebike made it easy. Only some of the paths were bikes only along the river, other were segregated along the city streets, and at times we were just riding on the city street among the cars. There was also quite a bit of bicycle traffic going both ways, so we were able to experience what it’s like to ride bicycles through the city.

As we reached Klosterneuburg, we stopped at a little snack bar called Uferhaus located on the Danube at a very small ferry that crossed back and forth. It was mostly picnic tables, and there were a few locals about, and we watched the ferry shuttle one or two cars, and lots of people, bicycles, and motorcycles back and forth across the Danube. We rested at Uferhaus for a while and Wolfgang recommended we try Almdudler, which is the most popular soft drink in Austria. It’s evidently a mixture of grape and apple juice, carbonated and mixed with herbs. Wolfgang called it herbal lemonade, and it tasted pretty good, similar to ginger ale. While we were here, Wolfgang changed Jody’s bandage to something smaller and more durable since the bleeding had stopped. Rested and ready to go, we boarded the ferry with our ebikes and headed to the opposite shore. By now Wolfgang had moved to the back, and the lady tour guide moved to the lead.

Since we were now riding with the wind, she picked up the pace to about 26 kph or 17 mph. We followed the Danube back down to the locks of what she called the Little Danube and stopped to explain what the Little Danube was about. The Danube was once much wider and used to cause flooding in the local area frequently, like every 10 years. From 1972 to 1988, there was a project to build a canal parallel to the Danube and to take all the landfill that was removed to dig the canal and build an island between the Danube and the canal. The canal is now called the Little Danube by the locals and typically the canal locks remain closed and the water level in the canal is much lower than the Danube. In the event of high water, the locks can be opened and divert the overflow into the Little Danube and away from Vienna. The added benefit is that most of the time when the locks are closed, the Little Danube is more like a lake than a river because it does not flow. Because it does not flow, the river silt falls to the bottom and the water is crystal clear. The new center island is all one big park and people come for recreation and to swim in the Little Danube. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, Austrians swimming in the Little Danube don’t wear bathing suits, so we were warned that if we saw swimmers, they were likely to be nude. It was a little too cold today, so no swimmers were seen.

The ride through the island park was beautiful, and soon we are crossing back over the Danube and into the modern city of Vienna. This is where Vienna skyscrapers are located, not too many and not too tall, but it did look like a modern city. There were also 3 curved skyscrapers that are part of the United Nations as well as the Danube Tower, similar to the Space Needle in Seattle that has an observation platform and a restaurant at the top. Soon we were back at our ship and ready for lunch. At lunch we ate with Roger and his wife and told them of our escapades. Since Roger and his wife are both pediatricians, they also had plenty of medical advice.

By the time we finished lunch, there just wasn’t enough time to take the subway back into Vienna before we departed, so we relaxed, paced around the sundeck to get in the rest of our steps, and had a lazy afternoon. Tonight, we have our disembarkation briefing, and tomorrow night we pack. But tomorrow we are in Budapest, we can hardly wait!

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