Bruce and Elly do the Danube, Vienna and lots of vaseline!

Hotel details: Hotel Capri Vienna, Praterstraße 44-46, 1020 Wien, Österrerich

Distance cycled: 0 miles (cumulative total for Vienna: 0 miles; cumulative total for Austria: 231 miles)

So today we moved from the horrible Donauzentrum to our preferred viennese hotel, hotel Capri. It's not in Mitte (the medieval city centre), so isn't stupidly expensive, but is just across the Donalkanal in Leopoldstadt right outside the entrance to Nestroyplatz U-bahnhof (U1 line) so you can easily go from it to anywhere in Vienna.

So Elly took our bags on the U1 from Kagran U-bahnhof (just outside Donauzentrum) straight to Nestroyplatz, while I cycled Curt. Here's a map. As you can see, the cycle path wiggles a bit to take cyclists through the UN complex. I then took the U1 back to Kagran, collected Vonny and cycled him to Capri. I tried videoing the route but most of the time I had the phone pointed too low so all you can see is tarmac. I'll post it anyway when I can.

We had to return to Donauzentrum because we'd left some things in the safe in our hotel room. By then both of us were hungry so we had lunch at 'Happy Noodles' in the Donauzentrum shopping mall.

Wienfluß wanderings

I've always been curious about the way the Wienfluß seems to appear from under concrete, just before it meets the Donaukanal under Radetsky bridge/Urania, so I wanted to see some more of it. Here's some of what Wikipedia says:

The Wien has its source in the western Wienerwald near Rekawinkel and its mouth at the eastern end of the city centre of Vienna, next to the Urania, where it flows into the Donaukanal ("Danube canal"), a branch of the Danube.

Within the city limits, the river bed consists almost entirely of concrete, which was installed between 1895 and 1899 in order to stop the devastating floods, sometimes accompanied by cholera, which the river had regularly caused before that time. At the same time, the Stadtbahn ("city railway") was built, which makes use of the concrete river bed and is only separated from the river by a wall. It is now part of the Vienna U-Bahn system.

The Wien is subject to huge variations in flow. In its headwaters in the Wienerwald, the soil is underlain by sandstone. Because of this, during heavy rain the soil quickly saturates, resulting in substantial runoff. Thus, the flow of the Wien can quickly increase from a creek-like 200 litres per second to 450,000 litres per second in the heaviest rains or during the spring snowmelt in the Wienerwald, a ratio of over 2000.

Along the course of the river, the Naschmarkt and the Theater an der Wien can be found. Much of the river is covered over in the city, particularly in front of Schönbrunn palace, in the Meidling and Naschmarkt neighbourhoods and around Karlsplatz near the city centre.

For safety reasons, cycling or walking in the concrete bed of the Wienfluss is officially prohibited. A continually controversial topic is whether to build cycle paths and footpaths next to the water. Proponents believe the water flow can be safely regulated, while opponents do not believe this is possible. In 2005, a short segment was opened to the public, near Hütteldorf railway station. It features an audible and visual alarm system to warn users to leave the path if flooding is imminent. Extensions to this path have been proposed, but continue to receive much opposition. The path is open from March to October.

So we took the U-bahn from Nestroyplatz to Schwedenplatz. Then we walked

• from Schwedenplatz to the mouth of the Wienfluß
• then along the Wienfluß through Stadtpark,

then had a drinks stop where I had a Greiskirchner dunkel bier. Then we walked on

• Along Wienerstraße into Karlsplatz
• Karlsgasse
• Paniglgasse
• Wiedner Hauptstraße
• Schleifmühlgasse
• Along the Naschmarkt (being near intoxicated by the colours and smells of spices and clothes!)
• Along the Linke (left [bank]), following the resurfaced Wienfluß and Stadtbahn
• Then along the Gürtel (outer ring road and red-light district) to Loving Hut vegan restaurant for vegan wiener schnitzel with potato salad (this time made with something like mayo but vegan) and green salad, followed by chocolate cake (E) or Eiskaffee (B). I can't recommend this place highly enough, to vegans and non-vegans alike. You get to sit in a little courtyard under shady, pleasant trees and eat enjoyable food in a peaceful place. Elly's reports that the chocolate cake is very good, not just among vegan stuff but comparable to good non-vegan cake. So what can you lose by trying it?

Neither of us fancied walking back so we took the U-bahn back to Nestroyplatz and sleep!

And while we walked, this was happening in the UK.

Other emails:

Weather bearable hot but providing excuses to drink cold beers and Eiskaffee all day!

Hi again, I'm glad that all is going well. Do you really need an excuse to drink a nice cold beer? I would never need an excuse or even a reason to drink coffee. Hot, cold or with or without ice-cream or Schlag, I can take it any way that it is offered. Cheers for now, Dad

Interestingly, the vegan restaurant's waiter is a Pole. The chocolate cake was excellent, the Eiskaffee worth trying (you know I usually run away from coffee). I also had a mango lassi.

All about Pilgramgasse and the S-bahn