Day 6: Tulln to Vienna

And on the sixth day, there were saddle sores! :-(  Thought I thoroughly applied the anti-chafing stuff this morning but I guess not!

The day started gray and dreary, and as I headed out it began to sprinkle. I rode out to the road, thought, then turned back. Bags are supposed to be in the lobby by 9 am but I noted that the closer I got to Vienna, the later my bags were picked up. So I ducked in to the hotel and got my jacket out of my suitcase. Smart move - as I rode in to Tulln, it started to rain,and I would also need the jacket later in the day as the warmth that was forecast never appeared.

I loitered in front of the Egon Schiele museum for 1.5 minutes until opening time, then went through the small museum. I vaguely recall his trial and jailing from art history but not his art, so it was somewhat interesting.There wasn't much of his work - for that I need to go to the Leopold Museum in Vienna.

By the time I finished, the rain had stopped. The ride was pretty uninteresting through Korneuburg (although I added an 11 km detour to a boring town), where I was thoroughly frustrated by the bad signage. I wanted to see the fountain of the pied piper - the town claimed the Hamlin legend as their own. I never did find it, and hunger won out so I headed to the ferry.

I crossed to Klosterneuburg and had a tasty lunch of cream of carrot soup (!) and pork with carrot gravy and a HUGE ball of potato dumpling. Yum. Then I biked up the hill (argh!) to the abbey.

The abbey was founded in the early 1100s by the ruler of Austria. He had a huge plan, but only 1/8 of that plan was ever fulfilled/built - and it is pretty darn huge. I took a tour which was in German, but they gave me an English audioguide so I listened to that while the actual guide spoke. But she said a lot more, so I would listen after my audio ended and try to pick up stuff. One couple had been at Egon Schiele at the same time as me in the morning so they filled me in on some parts, and another woman joined in at the end, telling me the "bricks" we were standing on were wood! So the horses didn't clatter as loudly when they passed through the hall.

After the tour it was onward to the hotel in Vienna. All was fine until I got in to Vienna, at which point the ever changing road names became difficult, and the bike lanes only on some streets complicated matters. By the time I made it to the hotel, my 40 k ride had become 60 km - bringing the grand total to 494 km from Passau.

I rewarded myself with dinner and beer down the street, then headed to a brewery for more beer. After my 1st (small) beer, the guy next to me started chatting - he was from San Francisco. We chatted over my 2nd (small) beer then parted ways. That's one of the fun mysteries of travel - meeting people and chatting, ships passing in the night (or bar or plane or museum), never to meet again. Connecting to other people just as you connect to the places you visit for a moment in time.

Tomorrow, museum(s)!