We took a train from the nearby station to a larger hub. While waiting for our second train we walked outside to see the trash burner designed by Freidrich Stowassser, an Austrian-born New Zealand artist and architect (aka Freidrich Regentaag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser) who had a real interest in environmental protection. It's an interesting building--some of the people in our party discussed some of his other buildings.
While waiting for our train the station was evacuated. Fortunately they posted the message in both German and English! Several firetrucks arrived on the scene, some police cars... we never figured out what happened but we were allowed to get on our train when it arrived.
We rode an hour to Kremz, where we detrained and walked to the bike storage building. Our guide Kristina, brought out the bikes--there were 3 choices: small, medium or large.
The bikes had 3 chain rings and 10 gears, but they weighed a ton! We all tried out our bikes, made the necessary adjustments and finally we were off!
There were 10 of us in addition to the guide: 2 couples from New Zealand (the women were sisters, the men their husbands), a couple from Australia, a mother and daughter from Sweden, and Diana and me.
We cycled along the Danube River. This area is famous for its vineyards. We could see a castle high on the mountain. This is where Richard the Lionhearted was imprisoned in 1193.
There is also a monument commemorating a battle won against Napoleon in more recent times. (more recent than 1193!)
We stopped at a winery and tasted several different wines. Then we were all given some free time. Diana and I and one of the couples from New Zealand decided to hike up to the castle ruins.
As we set out we could see part of the old wall that surrounded the city about the time King Richard was locked away in the castle.
It was a long steep hike. We did not find out until we were back that the ruins are infested with snakes! It was a nice view of the Danube from the top.
We had lunch then, and went through the tunnel down to the river.
Again we biked along the Danube River with vineyards on both sides of us. We stopped at another winery and sampled 4 more local wines. Kristina grew up in this area and is a font of information on
local wines, the varieties of grapes that are grown here and the families who make the wine.
We got back on the bikes and pedaled down to the river to catch the ferry. Bridges across the Danube are few and far between. The eye and nose sculptures are on opposite sides of the river, to remind us that we need to use all our senses to appreciate the wines made here!
The opposite side of the river was rich with apple orchards; there were just a few vineyards here.
We stopped at an unattended roadside stand and bought apples and pears, putting our money in a jar.
We stopped and dipped our feet into the Danube--usually there is a swim here but the beach was closed to get ready for a huge music festival. There were tents and trucks everywhere.
We got back to Klemz, crossed the bridge and rode back to the bike storage building. We then did a fast walk to the train station and made our way back to Vienna.
After showers and a short rest Diana and I set out for dinner. Again we did not find the restaurant we were looking for last night! But we had a nice dinner of lamb, rice and salad, wine and beer... life is good.
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Trashburner by Friedrich Stowasser (December 15, 1928 – February 19, 2000), better known by his pseudonym Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser, an Austrian-born New Zealand artist and architect who also worked in the field of environmental protection.
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