September 17, 2011
past Vienna on our way to Slovakia and Hungary
We left Tulln fairly early as we had a long day planned and it was Saturday when we always get a little nervous about accommodation. We had decided that we would ride straight past Vienna and on towards Slovakia and Hungary. Then on our way back from Budapest to Passau have a night in Vienna .
It all worked extremely well and we managed to keep on the route, Going through Vienna was fun because it was all through parks, the famous Prater with the Viennese out to enjoy themselves on this lovely Saturday morning. What I enjoyed most was the 'grill zone'. This goes on for about 2km and has people who have set up their barbeques check by jowl. They are not just your regular barbeques either, there were whole pigs on spits and although it was not yet 11am they were golden brown and smelt delicious, I thought of offering myself as an official taster as I had already ridden nearly 50km and was getting a bit hungry. Ken however felt sorry for the pigs. They must set up very early to get a good spot. Up and down the area were some very important officials parading, they wore special luminous jackets and were labeled 'grill polizei'. Don't know what important laws you break barbequing.
After that we struck an Umleigung (my new word it means detour). Luckily it was well signposted but went on for about 10km through all sorts of remote roads and forests. We had decided to stop at Hainburg which is the last town in Austria before the border with Slovakia. Ken was keep to stop here as Michael and Joseph Haydn went to school here and if you like trivia, in 1683 8500 people from this town were killed or captured by the Turks, A hundred escaped and one of these was Thomas Haydn which was lucky for the world of music as he was Michael and Joseph's grandfather.
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Today's ride: 93 km (58 miles)
Total: 2,568 km (1,595 miles)
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