It began with Prof. Stuart, Sara, Stephanie, Harrison (an alum from last year's Vienna program) and myself renting bicycles at Pedal Power, then running through the U-bahn lines to catch a train to Krems, a little town up some distance on the Danube River, towards the west.
And from there, the plan was just to simply bike...
And bike we did along the Danube, passing through many small towns, innumerable vineyards, several medieval ruins on the hilltops...among these ruins, the most notable one was the Castle Dürnstein, in the town of the same name. This was where Leopold V held Richard I of England for ransom; that same ransom money was later used to fortify the defenses of Vienna. The town of Dürnstein itself was a fairly pretty sight too, and the plums that a local encouraged me to pick off a tree by the river were undeniably tasty.
There were many more bicyclists along this path than just us. I learned, in fact, that this particular path runs from Passau on the German border all the way to Budapest, and people can bike the entire path in a few days while spending nights in little towns like the ones we were passing through! This sounds like something I'd like to try someday, maybe once I'm a bit better in German.
It was absolutely necessary to stop for food a few times, and we tried to find real heurigen to eat at. We did find one that was truly authentic (I believe it was in the town of Spitz). The wine and blutwurst were great as was the atmosphere; it felt like a really cozy, local place. This was the kind of place that Rick Steves would stop at if he was bicycling along the Danube. He might also have done what I did shortly thereafter: I purchased a jar of apricot preserves and a bottle of apricot schnapps from a roadside stand, both homemade. I had heard that apricot products were big in the Danube valley back at the orientation meeting last February, and these stands were something I was looking forward to. And I can assure that the schnapps is quite the stuff!!
All the little things we found along the way were wonderful. The heurigen, the schnapps, the ruins on the hillsides...Professor Stuart was especially fond of the altar made of human bones and skulls in one town just short of Spitz. I won't put up a picture of that, as I'm not into the macabre as much as she is! Instead, here's the beautiful view I caught from the top of the church's tower:
Eventually, evening came around, and with it our time to head back to Vienna. This proved remarkably simple: our single train ticket (good for the whole group) allowed us to hop on at any station we needed to, so we simply got on a train at Melk and spent the rest of the way back chatting animatedly with each other and with a few Austrians who learned we were from California ("Oh, you know Arnold Schwarzenegger?"). I cannot say just how glad I am that instead of trying to visit a whole other city, I took the time to see a different side of this country, and it was for sure one of my favorite days here.
The German word of the day is "vielleicht," meaning "maybe."
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