Weather report this morning is overcast, in the 60’s and windy.  We were ecstatic, with a long ride ahead of us we needed every advantage available……obviously, the wind was to our back!

Our first 20 – 25 miles had to be some of the prettiest riding we’ve had. Winding through small villages, views of castles across the river,rows of grape vines,and fruit trees on narrow bicycle paths, as if we were the only two around in this Garden of Eden.  We’ve noticed in both Germany and Austria, they don’t have miles of any one crop; what we would consider vineyards might run for several dozen rows, then rows of apple, pear, or cherry trees, same with fields of corn, wheat, etc.

Look at the size of this tree and the number of cherries.After 50 miles we made a brief stop in Tulln an der Donau for lunch, which looks like another interesting town to visit, but we just can’t do them all.  Refortified after lunch with a couple of bananas for backup, we were ready to do our last stretch of 20+ miles of beautiful countrysideand towns.

At 3:00 we passed the entrance (as seen from a bicycle) to the City of Wien along the Donau canal. Now the challenge, this city is huge (2.3 million people) and finding our hotel will be no easy task.  Imagine biking into New York City for the first time ever, except all the streets, building and landmarks are mapped in a foreign language……one you can’t read!  With the exception of a couple very close calls, we made it to our hotel by 4:30.

Looks pretty fancy, well, while it is not The Savoy, it will meet our needs and it is very centrally located.  Touring will have to wait until tomorrow, after 78 miles, we were tired and hungry.  We found a little restaurant around the corner and enjoyed dinners of meat smothered in gravy and sauce and served with potatoes.  Since we were done with dinner at 7:30, figured we better stroll around the block, so we didn’t go to bed too early.  Ran into a group on a small stage playing some great music.  Great people watching, but once again, no camera.  Maybe tomorrow during our Day Off!