Wolkersdorf im Weinviertal to Vienna

 Ride day 10: 25 miles, 495’ elevation

Lodging:  Hotel Ambassador

The portion of our trip with climbing has ended. Our kind hotel keeper gifted us some chocolate wafers for the road this morning. This was after a hotel breakfast buffet that seemed especially huge due to the two tour busses of guests staying there. It was good.

Our route out of town was a little obscure with gpx points that were far apart and cut corners across city streets and bike paths. We had to zoom in and out to figure out which roads and bike paths to follow. Ultimately it worked out, though we did ride a mile or two on obscure grassy paths. 

We followed a canal upriver adjacent to the Danube a long way, wondering why. Then we crossed to an island in the middle of the river, heading towards Vienna, and it all made sense. In the water, swans were asleep with their heads tucked under their wings although it was late morning. We saw a lot of cyclists, e-bikers, runners. Our route into Vienna was a little hard to follow, but brilliant, crossing the Danube on a bikes-only bridge, turning back to cross a canal on a pedestrian bridge, then following a mural-filled bike route on the Danube Canal to the Ring Road Bikeway. There’s a lot of bike infrastructure here, including separated bike lanes with their own signals. A few blocks from our hotel, we dismounted and walked our bikes through the crowded pedestrian area. Our hotel is very nice and well located. They weren’t thrilled about putting our bikes in a storage room, but it worked out.

We took a walking tour through the central area after lunch, looking at the incredible architecture and hearing some relevant history. Then we found a place to do laundry, also important! The afternoon was warm — seems like we are alternating wet and dry days. We had a good dinner and walked through St. Stephen’s cathedral with its intricate carvings and art work. We are both in Vienna for the first time, and there is a lot to see.