Vines

Lovely day. C, K and I cycled into Vienna this morning, making a nice early start in Tulln. The first part was along a dyke by the side of the Danube, and high above some houses which were well below river level. I guess the dyke acts as flood prevention, but it didn't look too convincing to me....

The second part took us in towards Vienna, passing lots of summer houses and back waters. The third part was quite cool. We joined up with some other cyclists from our boat who weren't sure which way to go and I led them along the Danube Kanal, and then through the streets of Vienna to the boat, making sure we didn't lose anyone along the way. We were at the boat by 12.30, so had our picnic on the sundeck before taking a rest.

At 4.00pm, we set off again on foot, using the U bahn to get to Heiligenstadt where we were greeted by RB, who took the opportunity to show us the Karl Marx Hof, perhaps the best known piece of public housing built by the radical leftwing Vienna government in the late 1920s to house workers. This had been on K's must see list, so that was a good thing to tick off.

We spent the evening in a local Heuriger (wine tavern), very close to R and S's house. Superb wine and food. Great to see them, and also to introduce them to C and K. As predicted, everyone got on really well. Before we travelled back to the centre on public transport, R showed us the local vineyards, supplying me with my blip, just as the moon was popping out.