Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Eastern Europe: Mikulov, CZ to Vienna, Aus

We’re leaving the Czech Republic today.  We cycle from Mikulov to Mistelbach, Aus and then take a bus into Vienna.  At 5 km we cross the border but would have never known it had our guide not paint “BORDER” on the pavement.  We carried our passports because the authorities sometimes check due to the migrants.  But we never saw an official of any type.

The farming country didn’t change when we changed countries.  We did detect a couple of new crops, beets and potatoes.

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At Mistelbach, the bike riding is over.  We celebrate with pizza and many Radler’s, thankful that the ride is over.  Brenda and I are thankful there were no major injuries.  One person fell in a spa, one fell in the shower and a tandem couple fell on their bike but no one was seriously injured.  So we board the  bus for Vienna.  Bikes go various directions depending whether they were rented or personally owned.

Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria, and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million (2.6 million within the metropolitan area, nearly one third of Austria's population), and its cultural, economic, and political centre.  It is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union.  Until the beginning of the 20th century, it was the largest German-speaking city in the world, and before the splitting of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I the city had 2 million inhabitants. Today it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin. Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC.  The city is located in the eastern part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.

Vienna is also where Brenda and I spent our tenth anniversary.  Today, and for the next 3 days, we are staying in the Stefanie hotel, the city’s oldest.  I remember  the opening.  Very nice digs.

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