Milton Keynes to Vienna, Part 3
23rd May and we are leaving Southern Austria for Vienne, more correctly Klosternueburg which is a few miles outside of the City. We were grateful for TomTom as we negotiated our way across Vienna as we had to cross the Danube and then head west along the northern bank of the river and return to the southern bank to get to our destination. This involved tunnels, bridge, road words etc. We could tell when we were not far from our destination as soon as we caught sight of the massive Klosternueburg Monastery which towers above the town, more of that later. We soon arrived at Donaupark Camping. Reception gave us a choice of three pitches, one of which was already occupied! We found ourselves a place which was a bit tight for a motorhome 7.5 mts long with bikes on the back but we did fit, just! Although we had room enough on our pitch I was concerned that we could have difficulty getting off the pitch so I spied a drive through pitch a couple of rows across and we moved there the next day, in the rain of course!!!
When it brightened up we decided to take a stroll into the town, stopping first to check the times of trains into Vienne. The station is conveniently almost outside the campsite gates. It was quite a hike up to the Monastery and you soon start to appreciate the scale of the building. Rather interestingly they are well known for producing fine wines, which, of course, can be purchased from the shop. Having looked round mainly the outside of the Monastery we wandered into the town and then back to the campsite.
I had not fully realised that Klosternueburg was not directly on the banks of the Danube, in fact the river was about a kilometre away. As the weather was still a bit changeable we put off going into Vienna for another day and set off on the bikes to find the Danube. Having found the river we set off in the other direction to try and find a supermarket that we knew was at the far end of town. The problem was that even with electric bikes the path was too steep so naturally we got off and pushed. I suggested to Margaret that she used the throttle to ease the bike up the hill. Unbeknown to me it was still set on the highest speed so in a blink the bike had taken with Margaret in tow and she soon ended up on her back with the bike on top of her and almost in one of the adjacent gardens!! In some circumstances this might be the occasion for some mirth but eighteen months ago Margaret had a heart bypass operation so immediately nasty scenarios started to flash through the mind. Fortunately she seemed OK but in the following days and weeks she was a bit sore.
Thursday dawned brighter so we decided that today would be the day to “do” Vienna. Trouble was that it was another blessed Bank Holiday which has a knock on effect of train timetables etc. We got to the station ten minutes before the train was due. The ticket machine had an English button but it would not go through the whole process so I had to revert to the German screen for payment. As I was leaving the ticket office the train was pulling into the station!!! Our tickets was only valid to Heiligenstadt station where we joined the U-Bahn. This involved buying more tickets but these would give us access to the whole of Vienna’s transport system. Our first port of call was the Schonbrunn Palace. Being a Bank Holiday it was pretty busy and we discovered there was three hour delay to tour the Palace fortunately we were told there was no charge or delay if we wanted to visit the gardens. We are not overly keen on conducted tours anyway. The one thing I will remember about the gardens were the roses with scents that drifted across the air. We enjoyed a tradition Bratwurst before heading back to the U-Bahn.
Our next stop was a revisit to the Prater which is a pleasure gardens originally given to the people of Vienna by Josef 11 250 years ago. Perhaps better known as the home of the Reisenrad Ferris Wheel originally constructed in 1897 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Emperor Franz Josef. Probably even better known for films like The Third Man and James Bond. The Reisenrad is only one part of the Prater which also includes a large funfair which I am sure is the model for much more modern theme parks across the world. Back at Heiligenstadt station it looked as if we had just missed a train but we knew there was also a bus from outside the station and we only had minutes to wait for it to arrive. Bus travels always gives you a different perspective of whatever town or city you happen to be.
This was our last day in Klosternueburg before starting our journey westwards home. More of this story and many more pictures can be seen on my website here
To be continued.