Day One - Bad Deutsch

Just to ease your curiosity, no one took the train even though there were gray skies and it was raining all through breakfast.  Had our trip briefing after breakfast.  There at least 40 other folks for orientation.  Went down to the garage for our bikes, helmets, panniers, etc.  Sorted out the luggage - got that down to the lobby.  It seemed like forever before we headed out of the garage.  The rain had stopped, and the sun even looked like it wanted to come out.  The temperature was cool.

Finally made it out of the garage and on to the bike path.  There were a few stops along the way to make sure we were on the right road.  The biking is extremely easy so far.  The bikes are 21 speed and very comfortable.  Gail brought her fold-up bike and she is quite something on it. The terrain is mostly flat with a hill here and there.  The group is great and we have been meeting and talking to folks along the way as well.  Lunch was in this very small town, Ortho.  It was warm and comfortable, very friendly with great pastries.

Back on the bikes after lunch and the air definitely got cooler and the skies more threatening.  We pressed on - so far to this point not a whole lot to see.  Gray skies don't help either.  The bridge to Bad Deutsch has a beautiful view but it was too dark to get any good shots.  Our total today was 50.3 km about 32 miles.  Sitting in the Hotel Gasthof Stockl, which is very nice.  The room is great and the shower has one of those multi-spray massage nozzles.  Can't wait to try that out.

Took a very quick walk around town.  Everything is very quiet because it is so cold. We will most likely eat at the hotel, which seems to have a very good menu.  The wifi here was a surprise.  I hope we have a connection tomorrow.

Dinner was great.  We found out that the building we were eating in is 300 years old.  A good time was had by all.   Tomorrow we are off to Hungary via Slovakia.  We will be biking in three countries.

On another topic:  Heard the Pats won again.  Didn't get a chance to see that game - might catch the next one in Budapest. And what's up with the Sox??? Gee, we leave the country and they totally fall apart!

Next time... Mosonmagyarovar, Hungary

The Blue Danube

Met Richard for breakfast.  Great spread here - lots to eat and choose from.  Fully sated,. we headed out for cruise along the Danube.  Sat with a wonderful young woman from England and had a great time chatting with her.  The cruise, however, left a lot to be desired.  Not much to see and once we hit the lock, we were there for a very long time.  We had booked a full round trip, but since we were all starving we decided to hop off at the half way point and grab some lunch.  We all had had enough of the Danube.  Plus I had forgot to bring Jerry B. for his river experience.  I was kinda bummed at that.  We decided that we would go down for dinner by the river tonight and have our little ceremony.

Anchor Clock

Found this great little Italian cafe and had a very nice lunch in the garden.  Geoff got fish, Richard had pizza and I am back on salads for a while.  After lunch, Richard wanted to see this old clock that is pretty special to Vienna.  It is called the Anchor Clock.  It has 12 characters and at noon it is something to see.  It wasn't noon but we looked at it anyway.  This happened to be right in the Jewish section.  So we took a short walk to the synagogue but it was closed.  Walking back to the square, we came up on a beautiful statue.  I had no idea what it was about, until a woman standing by me started to explain that it was the marriage of Mary and Joseph under the chuppah - because they were Jews. You never see statutes erected for the Jews, so this was something.  She told us where the Holocaust Memorial was and that there was something going on at the synagogue at 4:30 which she was going to be attending.

The Memorial was at the Judenplatz which was just a few short blocks away.  We trucked down there.  There was a museum but we had seen enough of Jewish history and thought that the synagogue might hold more interest.  Since it was close to 4:30 we walked back.  Everyone was very nice, however, the speaker was in the community center and not the synagogue.  There was a couple speaking from Germany who had their art on display.  We went in for a bit and chatted but never got to see the synagogue.  Oh well.

Back at the hotel, we were beat and nixed the river idea.  There would be other chances.  Geoff went down to the lobby to print some info for the bike trip.  I met him after a bit and when I got down there, our friends had all showed up.  These are the guys that we will be biking with for the next week.  They decided to go down to the river for dinner, so we quickly ran up and grabbed Jerry and headed out with them.  Wound up at what was basically a rib joint.  No English menu, but with the help of a very nice lady, we were all able to order what we wanted.  On the walk back, Geoff & I ducked under the bridge for our Jerry B. moment.  Next stop for him will be Budapest.

We are back in the room.  Have reorganized our stuff for this bike trip.  Tomorrow looks like it is going to be cold with heavy rains.  Geoff, Richard and I might start day one off on the train.  Don't care.  Not going to kill ourselves.

Next time... Going to Bad Deutsch

Wilkommen to Wein

Got a good night's rest and went down for our complimentary breakfast.  Good spread and we were able to pack a lunch as well.  Since this hotel was in the city, we decided to check out and leave our bags at the hotel and walk around a bit.

Walked down through the Museums Quartier through the Maria Therelien Platz into the plaza of the Natural History Museum and the Art Museum.  Not having a clue at all about this city, we opted for the Old Timers Tour.  Not so much money and we figured we would learn something.  So off we went in a 1949 fire wagon.  Good info but not so good for taking pictures since the roads are covered with tram tracks the ride was a bit bumpy.  Basically it was the same ride that we got from the cab driver except it was daytime and we got a narrative.  We did get a sense of the place of what we wanted to see and didn't want to see.

This city is under total construction.  Everywhere you go they are rebuilding, building, or excavating something.  It's a bit disconcerting.  Getting off the tour we ran into a Austrian band in the square.  That was a hoot.  Hung around for a while and then tried to find the Jewish Museum, having to go through the Stevinsplein, which is a huge tourist center, only to find the museum under construction.  Decided to get away from the crowds and walked up to Johann Strauss Concert Hall, which has lovely gardens.  Ate our lunch on a park bench.  Pressed on to Beethoven Square and then down to the Opera House.  Had a cafe and called it quits for the tourist thing. Made it back to the hotel, picked up our luggage and we were on our way to our next location.  Navigated the underground pretty good and found the hotel with not too much trouble.  Although this hotel is a bit larger, again, the room is very euro simple.  We have a ton of stuff from the bike company.  I hope we can sort it all out.

Met Richard for dinner - although he wasn't eating anything.  A touch of Montezuma, I'm afraid.  We went to the mall (which is the only place around here) and found the one Austrian restaurant.  I had the Weiner schnitzel and Geoff had something I can't pronounce, let alone spell, but it looked and tasted like sausages.  Richard sat and talked for a while and then he took off.  We did decide to do a boat trip together tomorrow down the Danube.

There is this very famous giant ferris wheel in Vienna, which was built about 100 years ago.  It resides in a very lively amusement park.  We had talked of going there tomorrow but a nighttime ride on a giant ferris wheel sounded like fun.  Hopped on the U and we were at the park in no time.  This thing is enormous - almost 200 feet high.  You go up in a cable car that holds about 10 people very comfortably.  It was wild seeing the park from way up there.  After that, we got on the regular ferris wheel with the open bucket and got some more views.  Walked around and gawked at all the rides and the amazing things people put their bodies through.  We had a very nice night at the fair.

We are all tucked in now.  Night, night

Next time... The Blue Danube

Going to Vienna

Leaving Paris

Took our time getting up this morning. The plan was to go down and recon the train stations and then tour the cemetery for Jim Morrison's grave.  I decided to look up and see exactly where the grave was located in the graveyard. Lo and behold, this is not where he was buried.  Somehow, someone gave us the wrong info and we just assumed it was right.  He is buried over by the cemetery near the Bastille.  With that out of the way, this gave us a bit more time for catching up on emails and trying to get our stuff together for this Vienna biking excursion.  I am bit concerned because the info that we got when we signed up doesn't seem to jive with what I received a day before we left the country and didn't really get a chance to go through.  Geoff is not worried - Geoff never worries.

Anyway, we did perform our mission of finding the train station that will take us to the airport this afternoon.  It was a bit further than we thought. We noticed that a bus that stopped on a corner near our hotel goes right to the station.  Fabulous, no schelping through the Metro or hauling stuff through the crowded streets.  Happy with ourselves for getting that together, we decided to do a quick tour of the cemetery. A mix of all faiths are here - many famous people along with people lost during the war. Took a few photos of the more interesting stones we found.  We saw as much as we had time for then went to lunch.  Popped into the neighborhood brassiere for a bagette sandwich - wrapped up half for the afternoon travel excursion.

Got back to the room in time for the 2pm check-out (which we were very grateful for) ad it was off to the bus stop.  Made it to the RER just in time for the train to Charles De Gaulle Airport.  We weren't sure which terminal we were headed for when Geoff spotted a young man with wings on his lapel.  Paolo, turned out to work for Air France and was very helpful and friendly.  We chatted the whole way to the airport.  Found our terminal and it was pretty smooth sailing until we hit Vienna.  By now it was 7:30.  There was confusion about getting the train to the hotel and then we just said uncle and got a taxi.  Had a great driver who gave us a mini tour of the city at night.  The ride was worth every penny.  We are now at our other freebie hotel, which I do not recommend.  We are only here for one night so it is not that bad.  It does happen to be very clean and that is a big plus. Tomorrow we go to the hotel where we meet up with our other biking companions. 

Just called "Big Brother" - it was good to hear his voice.

Next time ... Exploring Vienna

Versailles - Not So Much

NOTE:  New photo album:  Paris Part 2

Woke up to brilliant sunshine, which was a welcomed change of pace for us.  We took our time enjoying the luxury of not having to be anywhere. There will be plenty of that next week when we are back on the bikes. The first decision was Versailles or no Versailles.  We thought about the getting there, the crowds, and all that endless opulence, and decided to stay in the city and do some more sightseeing at our own pace.  Besides, after seeing what they did to the Louvre after 40 years, I wasn't too thrilled to see what has happened to the Palace - probably surrounded by Starbucks and MacDonalds.  That settled, we had a GREAT day!

After a quick yogurt and coffee in the room and  a leisurely shower, we were ready to hit the pavement.  Today the plan was to start out at Sacred Coeur, high on the hill at Montmartre.  As we were going to the bus stop, the aroma from the pastry shop beckoned us and we just had to have a morning cafe with a little something.  Got on the bus which took us passed the Louvre - good thing we went in the late afternoon yesterday.  This morning the place was crawling with people.  The line to get in was wrapped around outside for what seemed like miles.  We weren't sure which stop to get out and we wound up a bit further a field then we had planned.  This turned out to be a good thing.  Had a nice quiet stroll up to the church - no tourists.  We wound up at the back end and had to walk around - Bam!  That's where all the tourists were.  Not too interested in fighting the hoards, we took some pix, enjoyed the view.  Opted for a crepe and fries for lunch and sat down on a bench at the bottom of the hill.  Had to walk through the crowds to get down to the avenue to figure out our next stop - the Moulin Rouge.

Walking down the Boulevard de Clichy - which has a lovely walking path down the center, we passed through Place Pigalle (getting it's name from Pig Alley).  This part of town is lined with sex shops and I don't have to say what else.  Got to the Moulin Rouge, sneaked a peek inside and took some more stupid tourist pix.

Next on our list was the Opera House, which is the largest theater for lyric opera in the world.  Apparently everyone was at the churches because there weren't too many folks at the Opera House.  This place is amazing.  They were doing rehearsals and we caught a few lighting changes.  We took our time and enjoyed the view from the terrace, as well as being able to see where to catch our next bus.  Leaving the Opera House, I bought two small paintings from a very nice artist.  I hope he actually painted them and they were not made in China!

Our last stop was the Rodin Museum Gardens.  Again we (I) sort of miscalculated our bus route and we wound up walking a ways through St. Germain-Pres.  Not bad, since we hadn't hit this area before.  Took mainly back streets and came across some lovely neighborhoods.  Made it to the museum a little after 4pm.  Admission for the garden is only 1 euro  and well worth it.  At the end of the day, it is great to walk around, take in the sculptures, have a cafe, and put your feet up and relax on the chaises.  Today they were gearing up for a big dinner for the delegates from Azerbaijan.  The gates close at 5:45 and that was just perfect for us.  We went out to the main boulevard and caught the Metro 13 directly to our hotel!  One last stop for some morning croissants and we are now back in the room.

Headed out to a small restaurant in our neighborhood  that I found on the internet for dinner which specializes in Southern French cooking.  Unfortunately, it was too small and the place was packed.  Can't get in till 9pm.  We walked a bit further down the through the many outdoor bistros and turned down a side street.  Found another South of France restaurant that seemed very good.  The menu looked great.  Geoff had this cold meat salad that had duck stuffed with fois gras, a slice of  loaf guinea hen loaf, and a hambone.  I ordered the Coqu au Vin made the traditional way with rooster and scalloped potatoes with a small salad.  A delicious real French country dinner.  We are getting much better at picking dining options.  Stay away from the main drags!!

After dinner, we went to the Montparnasse Tower which is right down the street.  It is 210 meters high and has 360 degree views of the city.  The elevator goes up 56 stories in 38 seconds.  So we have more night shots of the City of Lights.  Don't think we would have gone out of our way to go up here but since it was in the neighborhood it was a cool thing to do.  The restaurant is being renovated otherwise we might have eaten at the top.  However, we were pretty pleased with our meal.  Stopped at the market one more time on the way back for a  yogurt for dessert and the morning to add to our croissants.

We are very used to being in Paris and getting around now.  It all feels very comfortable, which means that it must be time to go. All in all I'd say we did great on our own, We were never stressed with crowds or lines.  Our location also turned out to be very convenient.  It was great being close to buses, trains, and the metro plus having access to all the cafes and restaurants.  Our flight to Vienna tomorrow is not until 5:35, the hotel will let us check out at 2:00 which is great.  We have saved one more event for our last day.  This hotel borders the Montparnasse Cemetery which houses Jim Morrison's grave.  We will wonder through there after breakfast.  Have lunch and then be off to yet another country, language, and culture.

Next time.... Vienna

City Lights

WOW! What a day - lunch at the Eiffel Tower and dinner at the Louvre.  Sounds terribly romantic, but honestly, we are so exhausted we can hardly move.  But I am getting ahead of myself.

Breakfast was in our room this morning.  The plan for the day was to try to stay out all day and see the city lights at night.  The first stop was the Eiffel Tower.  Walked down to the Gare and hopped on the bus. We got close enough to walk.  It was still relatively early, so the crowds weren't that bad.  Bought a ticket for the summit.  Lucky to have the sunshine for the views.  Stopped on the 2nd floor on the way up and then stopped at the 1st level coming down.  Here they show a film of the tower and have lots of information about this structure.  1710 stairs to the top!  That beats the Bruges Bell Tower's 366.  Ate lunch at the 58 Tour Eiffel Restaurant and had a cafe toast to Deidre's 40th birthday.  Walked all the way down to the ground level and headed out for our next stop.

It was back on the bus to the Champs de Elysees.  Walked up to the Arc d' Triumph and hung out there for a bit.  No desire to go in and walk up to the top.  The Louvre was next.  This time we took the Metro because we couldn't quite figure out the bus route and the big M was right there.  Well a lot has certainly changed in the 40 years I last saw the Louvre.  I have to say I am not a fan of the Pyramids.  We are learning that the French are a bit unorganized. We bought our tickets in a small shop in the underground on the way up to the museum.  No one ever checked them!  There were signs everywhere saying no flash photography and people were flashing away like crazy.  We found the same kind of disorganization at the Eiffel Tower as well.  It was chaos moving the crowds of people to and from the elevators.  Anyway, back to the art.  Yes we saw a lot of it and most of the highlights.  Check out the Paris photo album for new pix.

Leaving the museum, we ended up at the Tuileries Garden and sat down with a cafe.  We were beat.  Walked down to the fountain and put our feet up.  We made our way down to the Concorde where the Egyptian Oblisk sits in the middle of the intersection.  There is a nice overlook where we sat some more and just enjoyed the sunshine. One of the great things about this city is that there are chairs and benches everywhere.  It was getting on to dinner time, so we strolled back to the gardens and sat at a cafe.  Geoff had the fish of the day which turned out to be skate.  He loved it.  I had the onion soup.  Got back to our perch in time to catch the sunset going down by the Eiffel Tower - 1/2 hour later the skies darkened and the city lights popped on.  What a sight.  Geoff went nuts trying to get some decent shots.  As we were going to the bus, the Tower started this disco light thing and lit up like a Christmas tree.  Crazy.

Caught the bus and made it back to the hotel in 15 minutes.  Decided to do some laundry in the bathtub.  They have these nice towel warmers which are great for drying clothes.  Tucked into bed now waiting a bit and will try to call Deidre to wish her a Happy Birthday.

Next time ...Versailles?

In Seine

Fell  asleep at around 10pm and then we were both up at 1:30am.  Hey, the Pats are playing the Dolphins! We were able to stream the game on our trusty netbook.  I made it to just past half time and G got through the whole 3rd quarter, when he knew they were on their way to victory for sure.  It was pretty neat being able to see it live.

Back up at around 8am and first order of business was to get yet another room.  I won't go into details but that room was marginally functional.  The bed was great but after that nothing worked.  Luckily, they transferred us to the same side of the building and this room feels like a suite compared to the other one.  Needed to kill time so they could make up the new room, so we headed out to breakfast.  Lots of bread, wrapped up the left over croissants for tomorrow.   On the way back, I decided it was time for a hair cut.  One of the problems with these long trips is that my hair turns into a mop!  So I now have a Paris do - very short - should hold me till I get home.  Not as short as the Fiji cut but close.

Quickly changed rooms and we were off  to explore Paris!  We charted a walking plan through the back streets down to Notre Dame, going through the Luxemburg Gardens and stopping for a photo-op at the palace.  The Pantheon was also in our path.  Arrived at the left bank with Notre Dame towering across the river.  Walked around and decided it was as good a time as any for a Jerry B. tribute in the Seine.  Across the way, we saw the Hotel de Ville looming.  This houses the administration.  Took a stroll around there to see what we could see.  Turned out there is a big shopping mall right there.  Shopping is crazy in this town.

While the rest of the tourists are crowding the many, many churches, we found yet another Jewish History Museum.  It was a great presentation of not only French Jews but all European and Russian Jews.  This also tied in with our printing museum, see the first Torahs printed.  Our Picasso experience talked of many of the artists that were in France at the time of the war - Chagall being one.  Most of them settled in the area where we are staying, Montparnasse.  All of these museums and exhibits have been off the beaten path with not so many tourists and certainly no lines.  It is rather refreshing.  However, tomorrow we take on the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower!

It was after 4 by the time we got out and decided to get back.  Being on the other side of the city, thought it would be best to use our transport card instead of walking.  Both pairs of feet were pretty beat.  Actually found a bus that took us straight to the hotel.  Much more civilized than the Metro plus you get to see stuff.  The bus left us off at the Gare Montparnasse, which is a huge train station.  Looked around in there hoping to get some information on how to get to the airport on Friday, but it was after 5 and info was closed.  Stopped off at the supermarket for the makings of breakfast in our room - so we don't have to keep spending mega euros just for bread and coffee.  All we need now is a spoon!  Probably "pick" one or two up at dinner tonight.

Time to shower and head for the streets but first we called Geoff's dad since today is his birthday.  Another great tool from the netbook.  Our dinner decision making is getting a bit better.  Tonight it only took us about an hour to pick a spot that looked like what we wanted.  What we wanted was escargot.  Wound up a place just down the street.  We dined inside instead of with the smokers who sit outside at the little cafe tables on the street.  They were even playing French music.  We shared an order of fabulous snails with a wonderful goat cheese salad. After dinner we headed down through our little theater district for some gelato so that we could keep the spoons for breakfast.

Back at the ranch all tucked in, I turn on the computer and Richard B. is skyping me from Venice.  He is one of the folks joining us in Vienna for the next leg of our journey.  While I was on skype, I noticed Linda, my friend in Switzerland, was on - so I skyped her and we chatted for a bit about Paris and Italy. She had just gotten back from Sicily.  Going to turn in now, hoping to have lunch at the Eiffel Tower for Deidre's birthday!

Next time ... More Paris