To - Bratislava.
Distance - 82km
Time - 6 hours
Total - 2935km
I have had a tie for the guess the food competition. Sian guessed the Schnitzel correctly and Janet guessed the Strudel. Well done, i will have to think of prizes. First prize a fitness session with me, second prize two fitness sessions! it wasn't too difficult was it!
You will by now know thar contrary to the title of the Blog, i am going along the Daube further than Vienna. this because I am cycling further and faster than I had first thought I would. Back on the bike and travelling from the capital city of Austria to the capital city of Slovakia in one day. Winding my way out of Vienna was the first task but it was helped by the fact that it was a Sunday morning and it was extremely quiet, even in the centre. It is a holiday weekend in Austria where they have a public holiday tomorrow. It may be the same in Slovakia?
Once I had got back to the banks of the Danube families were already staking their claim to a picnic spot by the river. There seemed to be a lot of Balkan type people, I can't be sure. It is getting increasingly difficult to tell what nationalities people are. I guess there could be any Balkan country or Turkish or Hungarian or Slavic. I can't tell the languages apart. I travelled a bit further and after the picnicking families there came the naturists! Not a pretty sight. One man crossed the cycle track in front of me. It boosted my ego no end! He looked like he had stuck a piece of 'road kill' to his front! Sorry for that thought.
I bumped into a couple of young Spanish cyclists who were coming in the opposite direction. They told me that the track came to a dead end. I turned around and we travelled together for a while. I may not have made the mistake with the route if I had taken the basic precaution of having the map open at the right page! I will have to stop getting competitive. The Spanish lads were moving a a decent pace into the wind and seemed to get a little faster. I put in a bit of effort and left them behind. What a terrible person I am, competing against total strangers. I wonder how Freud would explain it?
Some might say that this whole journey is part of a mid life crisis of a man who trying to find himself in challenging times. Well if that's what you're thinking, you can mind your own business! I'm just having a great adventure with a bit of personal challenge thrown in.
Todays weather was glorious sunshine with a good head wind. I made a little detour to Eckartsau Baroque Palace. It was a lovely little interlude. It reminded me of Eckerslike Hall, near Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire!
I stopped for lunch at Hainburg which is a pleasant small town with old fortifications. The fountain and church looked good in the square. There was some kind of old festival taking place where people dressed up in medieval costumes. There was a 6 euro charge to enter and skinflint Vernon didn't fancy paying. I was told by the waitress who served me some food that it involved some tournament style fighting (no horses, just the swords etc). Anyway, I gave it a miss.
For my lunch I had the Austrian version of Black Pudding sausage on bread. It was called Blunz'n. it came with some shredded white stuff which the girl told me was 'grein', I told her it was horse radish and that confused her. I didn't know why we called it horse radish, so I couldn't explain either. It is certainly nothing to do with horses (or is it made by Findus?).
A nice easy arrival in Bratislava. Of course there was no-one checking at the border. i w a big area though fora checkpoint because it was the border between 'east' and 'west'. the young man at the hostel told me that people were regularly shot at the border, presumably trying to get o the west. On a brighter note, the old town looks nice. I enjoyed an ice cream cone with two scoops at 50 cents less than anywhere in Austria or Germany and the hostel I am staying at is cheaper although there is no breakfast. I will do most of my sightseeing tomorrow as I am staying two nights. I will have a walk around the town tonight. There is a chance that a Manchester band is on in one of the bars although my Internet search didn't seem to identify them from Manchester.
I nearly forgot the song of the day. It is 'Vienna' by Ultravox but then I heard 'Lazy Sunday Afternoon' by the Kinks. So, I think we should have two songs today.
Photo 1, As blue as you are going to see the Danube. How do you fancy one of those river cruises?
Photo 2, Eckartsau Palace.
Photo 3, Fountain and Church at Hainburg.
Photo 4, Richie"s Studio has seen better days. It's not the only one!
Photo 5, Austrian version of Black Pudding with horse radish.
Photo 6, First sight of Bratislava City Centre. Very nice.
Photo 7, Honorary Slovakian.
Photo 8, Grand building. I'll find what it is tomorrow.
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