Sunday May 26, 2013

Today we are traveling to Prage and I have a 4 hour bus trip tp write my blog.  It has been several days so  I hope I don’t forget anything.  Three days were spent going to and coming from Vienna.  Thursday we rode our bikes from Tullin which is known as the flower city into Vienna, stopping in Klosterneuberg on the way.  Leaving Tullin we rode on the bike path with flower gardens on either side of the bike path. 

There were several statues of medieval founders of the town.  The previous town had interactive metal characters introducing the town.  Once we got a short way out of Tullin we went through  Ybbs with the bicycle museum.  Just inside the town there was a modern sculpture made with bicycles piled high.  

The highlight of our ride was the stop in Klosterneuberg where there was an abbey from the 17^th century.  The original foundation was sometime earlier.  This was very ornate just as in Melk.  The gold abound.  We also took a tour of the abbey which included thoe church and several views of the gardens and sacristy.  We bought some wine which I hope to drink tonight as we have lots to bring with us , probably too much to bring Stephansdom.  Thee we saw a tightrope walker walking on a cable

between the two towers og the church.  There was a big fundraiser going on in town for Aids\ awareness and this could be why they had other entertainment.

Friday we went into the city and walked for 6 hours ith a few stops for cappuccino.  One of the highlights of the day was climbing up to the ceiling of Karl’s Kirche  and we saw the paintings on the ceiling as well as a panoramic view of the interior of the church.  The church ad very reminiscent of Italian churches I had seen.  The architecture of the entire city is fascinating and drew our attention constantly so as you didn’t know when to stop taking pictures.  In the evening we went to a concert in a palace.  The concert included pieces from Mozart and Strauss.  There were  two opera singers  and some ballet also.  It made for a wonderful evening. 

Saturday we started riding from Durnstein where we stopped to do some shopping, have some cappuccino and taste the schnapps.  This was less than a kilometer down the road.  The wine was so good we had to buy some.  Too bad we cant bring it all home.  We just have to come back for some another time.  All the wines were excellent at the Schneeweiss family winery.  Today we rode through wine country,  the hills were loaded with grape vines.  We then had to eat because I was getting very dizzy from the tastings.  Our tour guide recommended a small restaurant  and we stopped to have deer liver and a strudel. We sat outside but since it was cool e took sheep skins to put on the seats in order to stay warm.  Since we had akk this sopping we were late getting to the boat and had to push our own bikes up the ramp to the Boat.  All was well and we settled in for dinner and packing, since we were leaving the next morning. 

We were unable to get a rental car since the car rentals in Passau are closed on Sunday.  We decided to go by train and bus which was our original plan anyway.  So here I sit writing this and it is pouring rain out.

Arrived at the hostel and it is quite unique.  we are amidst quite a few young people in the center of the old city.  The bathrooms are down the hall as are the showers.