{"id":1851,"date":"2011-06-18T14:13:06","date_gmt":"2011-06-18T12:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=1851"},"modified":"2011-10-22T20:59:12","modified_gmt":"2011-10-22T18:59:12","slug":"day-29-friday-june-17-melk-to-wienvienna-austria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=1851","title":{"rendered":"Day 29, Friday, June 17 – Melk to Wien\/Vienna, Austria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weather report this morning is overcast, in the 60’s and windy.\u00a0\"\"<\/a> We were ecstatic, with a long ride ahead of us we needed every advantage available……obviously, the wind was to our back!<\/p>\n

Our first 20 – 25 miles had to be some of the prettiest riding we’ve had.\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a>Winding through small villages,\"\"<\/a> views of castles across the river,\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>rows of grape vines,\"\"<\/a>and fruit trees \"\"<\/a>on narrow bicycle paths, as if we were the only two around in this Garden of Eden.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Look at the size of this tree and the number of cherries.<\/em>\"\"<\/a>After 50 miles we made a brief stop in Tulln an der Donau for lunch, \"\"<\/a>which looks like another interesting town to visit, but we just can’t do them all.\u00a0 Refortified after lunch with a couple of bananas for backup, we were ready to do our last stretch of 20+ miles of beautiful countryside\"\"<\/a>and towns.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At 3:00 we passed the entrance (as seen from a bicycle) \"\"<\/a>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.\u00a0 Imagine biking into New York City for the first time ever,<\/em> except all the streets, building and landmarks are mapped in a foreign language……one you can’t read! \u00a0With the exception of a couple very close calls, we made it to our hotel by 4:30.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Looks pretty fancy, well, while it is not The Savoy, it will meet our needs and it is very centrally located.\u00a0 Touring will have to wait until tomorrow, after 78 miles, we were tired and hungry.\u00a0 We found a little restaurant around the corner and enjoyed dinners of meat smothered in gravy and sauce and served with potatoes.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Ran into a group on a small stage playing some great music.\u00a0 Great people watching, but once again, no camera.\u00a0 Maybe tomorrow during our Day Off!\n\t\t