Wine in Wien

Vienna (Wien) is awesome. This is mostly to do with the social and friendly hostel I'm staying in, the incredible wine tour I did yesterday, and the great people I've met.

The wine tour on Friday started with an hour drive to the Wachau region of Austria, one of the main wine producing regions. We parked at a winery in Grunstein, a super old village full of cobblestone streets, window sill flower pots, and outdoor cafes. We tasted at this first winery, and briefly toured the cave where all the tanks are underground. This place has been around, by the way, since something ridiculous like 1036. Don't quote me on that though. I don't have the brochure or the name of it handy. The wines were decent, just not my preferred style (mostly whites, rather thin on flavor, not bad, but not great). Then we hopped on the bikes...

This was my second time on a bicycle in about 15 years (the first time since childhood was about a year ago in Santa Cruz). And guess what, I did just fine. It's like...well, riding a bike. Our group of 14 (3 Californias and 11 Australians) rode through the vineyards and cobblestone streets for about 6 km, stopping on the way to taste some jams and liquors, and ending up at a wine producing family's home for lunch. They run a small inn, and this wine tour is the only group that uses the place. It was great basically having a bbq in someone's backyard. More wine, and second helpings later, we crossed the road to relax by the Danube. Most people dozed, but I played soccer and beach volleyball with a few of the guys, and had a great time (two other things I haven't done since I can't remember). Back on the bikes, most of us were already a bit sore, even though the roads were mostly flat, but we caravaned back through the vineyards and towns, stopping at one more wine tasting in Durnstein.

As if that wasn't enough drinking and physical activitiy for the day, there was an optional 20 minute hike up a mountain to the ruins of the castle where Richard the Lionheart was kept captive. The views up there of the Danube and the Wachau valley vineyards were beautiful, and even though I won't have a chance to post them for a while, I tool several pictures.

The group of Aussies and Americans were great, the wines were worthwhile, and riding the bikes through the scenic towns and valley was breathtaking. I had an amazing day. I snoozed for about 15 minutes on the way back, and once back at the hostel, I reconvened with new friends from the night before who were enjoying some beers in the hostel's garden. We ended up going to dinner at the local pub, and then came back to the hostel for more beer, listening to people playing music, and meeting even more people. The hostel bar shuts down at 11:30pm so we headed out to the Kangaruh (kangaroo) Pub which all the Aussie's thought would be an Aussie bar. It wasn't, and it was actually quite slow, but our group of about 10 people brought the bar alive. We shut it down around 2am and headed back for more socializing.

This morning I slept in until 11am, enjoying a much needed sleep in. After a leaisurely cafe breakfast, it was 1:30pm and really about time to do some proper Vienna sightseeing. I took the Rick Steve's advice, and rode the tram around the rind of the Old Town, reading about sights along the way. Then I ventured inside the Old Town to check out St. Stephen's Cathedral, and window shop, before parking myself next to the Danube for a little afternoon snooze. I was back at the hostel by 5pm, and spent the evening doing laundry and having dinner with a young American couple I'd met on the previous few nights. Now it's 10:30pm, I'm exhausted, and I want to do the Schönbrunn Palace here in Vienna tomorrow morning before boarding a train for Salzburg. On Monday, I'm meeting up with an American girl I met at the hostel here in Vienna, and we are going to check out the town and do the ice caves sightseeing. I don't have gloves or anything, just a thin sweater and a fleece, but I'll survive!

I've changed my mind about Florence; it's farther than I thought. I may stay another night at the Salzburg hostel and do a day trip to Munich to just check out Oktoberfest, but obviously get back to Salzburg before the festivities get too crazy (and before there are no more trains). It's just an idea - I really don't know what I want to do in the few days before I need to be in Venice. Ah well, this is part of the fun!