Europe 2011

Vienna, Austria

Week 1;

Monday, 16 May

Susanna meets me at the VienneseAirport and takes me back to her parents place. No jet lag this time and we walk to a local resturant for a late lunch.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Susanna and I go into town to shop and to buy her new laptap (German keyboard).

On the Thursday, we end up at the University Quarter at a lecture given by one of the Yes Men, a couple of social media activists who have gained considerable notoriety by imitating senior WTO officials and others. They also published a version of the New Yort Times which had articles and letters of news they (and other social and environmental activists) had put together. They had only printed 50,000 but it came out in the Main Stream Media as a million, who are they to tell MSM it was only 50k? They were also raising money by selling spare copies - I still have ours.

Susanna's parents at the nearest eating place, Wienner Schnitzel the specialty.

Avove, the Viennese Opera House and Susanna, and turning 180 degrees, myself and the back of the Neue Hofburg.

One of the many high end shops in the middle of Vienna.

On the Friday, we drive to Salzburg where we stay at Susanna's ex business partner/boss's place. Willie and Roswita were in Berlin and were flying back on Sunday, we were to pick them up.

Saturday, 21 May, Susanna catching up with a local friend at a cafe near Willies' place, above. We met up with Alex and his girlfriend, Alex is renting Susanna's flat. His girlfriend is a roadie and so Alex has just discovered road riding. Their bikes are very high end, and impeciably clean - we are talking about country kilometres that are measured vertically! Susanna retrieves her hardtail mountain bike and I borrow Alex's ancient carbon fibre dualie. I ride Willie's hardtail to the biggest bike shop I have ever seen, just across the Austrian German border.

Untersberg mountain in the background, above, the very new wooden bridge across the border to Germany, below. The roof is probably not there for the shade, but to stop ice forming on the steep bits.

On the Sunday, after picking Willie and Roswita up, we ride to over to Germany again. This time for lunch and icecream. This pub, below, is right beside the river, Saalch (a triputory to the Salza), which has major cycle routes both sides, you can see how most people get there - some with lycra, most without. An observation onf helmets, there - only those in lycra, roadies or mountain bikers had them, nobody else did.

Deeper into Germany, the ice cream shop.

The rest of the day is spent driving to Susanna's parents' little flat in Hof Gastein, the Gastein valley is a very old tourist place in the Alps, used to service Royalty back in the day, now getting old and decrepit (not unlike Katoomba).

Austria Week 2