In Vienna - Saturday, August 28, 2010

I had a nice morning ride to Vienna. On the left is a statue of Marcus Arellius one of the emporers of Rome. I do not know why it was in Tulln, Austria. I continued to play leap frog with the family from yesterday. They are from Salzburg and on a holiday. We rode together for about 15 km. They were nice to talk with for the first half of the way. They departed to take the northern route and I took the southern route. We took pictures of each other.

The road to Vienna was uneventful until I got to the big city. Vienna has about 1.9 million residents not counting the outlying areas (according to the desk clerk). In the city there were no more Donau Radweg signs as I have left the bike path. Needless to say I had an interesting tour of the city trying to find landmarks I remembered from September of last year. I did find my way to my hotel and checked in. It will be my last major ride. Monday I ride 1 km to the train station. They have bike paths on evey major road. The bike path have thier own traffic signals. You really do need to pay attention to these signals. That is one on the left.

I passed by the famous Vienna Prader Ferris Wheel. Each car on the wheel is large enough for a party of twenty. I also found Beth a bright red car. It is a French car, Citroen's version of the Volkswagon. I have been in love with this car since my first trip to Europe in 1980.

After check-in, I went back to the center of town for some sightseeing. I went to the main shopping area. They have eleventy billion shops. People were every where. I also visited the main Catheral, St. Stephens. It was awesome. I lit candles.

I later went to St. Peter's Church to visit and light candles. As I got there they were starting Saturday evening High Mass. I stayed. The organ and choir was as beautiful as the church. It was so moving, I unashamedly wept. The service was in German, go figure. The order of the service was very familiar. I knew all that going on. I understood the sermon as much as usual. We passed the peace and it was very good. The music on some of the hymns was familiar. All in all it was one of those rare God experiences. I am glad I was there.

After watching a puppet show on the Stephansplatz, I returned to my room to put on warmer clothes as the high temperature for the day was 65. The low tonight will be in the lower 50's. I went back downtown to eat in an area called the Naschmarkt. The food and the beer was good. With today's ride I have ridden over 1200 km (about 750 miles) not bad for and old bald fat guy with a bad heart. I thank you for your support and comments.

Pax,

Bob