Ed and Annette's Excellent European Adventure: On the bike in Vienna

With the sun tucked behind the clouds and the rain looming, we rented bikes to tour this grand city. Not initially knowing that today was a national holiday with most stores and offices closed, the streets were pretty empty for the Kelly clan to cruise the streets of Vienna. This gave us a great head start before the other tourists woke up. Sitting upright and humming the Wizard of Oz tune (without Toto) on the cruisers ended up being much better than anticipated. We were able to cover a lot more ground and felt we got to many places that we would not have if we were on foot. Vienna is a very bike friendly community and the vehicle traffic is at ease with all the bikes. Plus this gave our feet a much-needed rest.

There is a ring road that circles the historical city is in about the same position as the ancient wall that once protected the city. This ring gave us an easy path to stay on track. We headed to the University, and then to the city hall (Rathaus). What a huge place and very elegantly designed. There were several workers constuction the lights and bleachers for an upcoming celebrate life, AIDS awareness event.

The Parliament building was spectacular with its crystal clear water fountain and grand sweeping drive to the front doors. The details and architecture were amazing. I continue to get joy out of the beauty of the old world building styles. It is so uncommon in America.

We headed to the Belvedere Palace just off the main ring road. It was similar to what we have seen in other countries with the elegant buildings, large pools and expansive gardens but this one was not as meticulously maintained and lacked the flora we had come to appreciate. With a light rain we ventured through the gardens and on to the Kinder Garten where the boys had fun on the teeter totter. Some kids never grow up - glad they still found joy in child play! We enjoyed the museum shop where we learned more about a famous artist Gustav Klimt. His work is in many museums, bookstores and souvenir shops.

We headed across town to a unique building, the Hundertwasser Haus (see pics below) an artist inspired complex that you just have to see. A light lunch there and back on the bikes to explore more of the city. We headed to one of the many parks as the sun started shining and heating up the air.

A few other notations - Vienna is a "tap" water friendly city. Although you have to buy it in the restaurants for about 80 cents, we also had the ability to get a fresh drink of water in the park. We also learned to go to the bathroom "when you can - not when you have to." If you don't use the WC in the restaurants you usually pay 50 cents to one Euro to use the facility. They are nice and clean but just an anomaly for us.

Next to St Stephan's church. This is in the center of the city and is the tallest structure around, so easy to find. The surrounding square is very popular and even more today with a special event happening. We squeezed around the crowd for a bit, before trekking off across town through some of the cobble stone streets.

More searching for buildings, having fun and stopping for coffee before taking the bikes back. We thought we would only have them for a couple hours, but it was so much fun and so easy to get around we had them for about seven hours. Now walking feels funny, but we head back toward St Stephan's for a beer and sausage, a dessert and a tea at Starbucks (YEAH!!!). before heading back to the hotel.

It was a very full day and we covered a ton of territory; we all decided bikes are a great way to see Vienna.