(Vienna, Austria to Petronell-Carnuntum)
View 2008-05-19 Vienna, Austria to Petronell-Carnuntum in a larger map
Highlights: drizzle, refineries, wind & windmills, dull towns, wobbly boat ride, barefoot stream crossing, Roman ruins
Dreary day leaving Downtown Vienna
Beautiful scenery...not! (east of Vienna)
Getting better now (near Schonau)
Hmmm...this is going to be interesting! (north of Haslau)
First barefoot crossing! (north of Haslau)
Afternoon scene (near Scharndorf)
Heidentor, Austria's most famous Roman ruin (west of Petronell-Carnuntum)
Journal: Woke up shortly after 6 so I could catch the 7:30 morning train with Gerhard from Wiener Neustadt back to Vienna. The weather was a bit dreary so I was glad I hadn't tried riding all the way back into the city. From the Vienna train station I took a short bus ride to Susanne's apartment to pick up my bike & other belongings, then rode back to central Vienna in the light drizzle. Since I had several hours to kill until meeting Joe again at noon I headed to a nearby internet cafe, something I usually tend to avoid due to the price (not cheap, about $15 US for 90 minutes).
After a successful rendez-vous with Joe, the weather improved slightly (no more drizzle, but still somewhat cool). We stopped by impressive St. Stephen's Cathedral before crossing over to the left side of the Danube and leaving town. Unlike many of the previous days of riding along the river, the scenery was quite unremarkable today (refineries, bland river scenery & eerily vacant villages with little charm).
The highlight of the day was crossing the Danube back to the right bank. First, we loaded the bikes onto a small single-engine boat (3-4 person maximum capacity) & weaved across the fast moving river to the other side. Then things got really interesting when we discovered we would need to cross a seasonal stream flowing fast from the river accross the rocky road. Since we didn't want to soak our socks & shoes we ended up walking across barefoot. First time I have had to do that in 12,000 miles of bike touring!
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