European Tour – Day 24 Vienna & Bratislava (Written by Chris & Dave)

Written by Dave – July 24 Meet My New Friend Danny The Danube

On a bicycle trip across Europe, there comes a point where experiences unfold faster than they can be absorbed. Here in Bratislava, where the gang pulled up to a back yard littered with fruit trees, decorated with heart-shaped balloons and laden with food, I have reached that point. Yesterday we were in Vienna at the UN headquarters, talking to Austrian national television and newspapers about microcredit and bike rides. Tomorrow morning we set off for Hungary. When all this is over, I’m going to have to book a week in a sensory deprivation chamber just to begin to process this parade of faces and places.

The new steed and I are fast friends. I havent decided on a name yet, though “Berlinette” is definitely in the running. We arrived together in Prague, slightly disoriented from the rapid 5 hour train ride across territory that took the rest of the group several days to cross, but my reintroduction to group life was smooth and painless. Within hours of arriving I was on a pedal boat on the river, sipping a bottle of wine and marvelling at Prague”s architectural mashup of castles and wonky postmodern towers.

From Prague it was off to Tabor. The road was 125km through some rollercoaster hills, and the heat was relentless. The new steed took the hills in stride, and after a few hours my legs were back up to the challenge of working the pedals for 5 or more hours a day.

We stayed at CESTA, an artist colony of American expatriates who fled their native land to find a culture more receptive to their ambitions. They run residency programs for musicians and artists from all around the world in their tidy little hideaway in a wooded canyon in Tabor, and they also appear to take in itinerant groups of cyclists and feed them delicious lentil stew in their spare time. We had some excellent discussions about anti-intellectualism and arts funding in North America, and the conflict between staying in your home and striving to improve the conditions there versus moving to a new, exotic land with cheap rents to ply your craft.

The next day we rolled out for a short ride and found a similar colony of expats, British this time, who had set up a communal farm and have devoted themselves to experimenting with positive, low-impact lifestyles They treated us to a pig roast and acerbic English wit.

Some time later–Im not going to even pretend to remember the specific day until Im safely confined in my sensory deprivation chamber–we sped down the longest downhill of the trip and into a whole new Danubey phase of our journey. Racing down into the Danube river valley on a 10km long descent, breaking the speed limit by over ten km/hr and watching the Austrian landscape unfold before your windswept eyes is a sensation not to be missed. For the next week and a half or so we”ll be cruising alongside the Danube, which so far has meant smooth, well maintained bike paths, flat terrain and magical riverside villas. From down the river Budapest beckons…

So much more to say, but the computer queue is long and the fingers grow week. As a delightful postscript to today”s update, I just found out that Ive been accepted to the MA English Studies program at the Free University of Berlin!

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Written by Chris – July 25 Food, Wine and Much Merriment

We are being spoiled far too much here. Our last two dinners have been with incredible hosts in Vienna and Bratislava and it may be the first time on the trip that everyone has been stuffed. In Vienna we were staying in a church and connected with the Green party who not only arranged a great dinner but also arranged photo sessions, radio interviews and a spot on at least two tv news stations. People in North America may not know who we are but it almost feels like we are becoming rockstars in Europe.

The town of Vienna itself was lovely and wandering the streets was probably my favorite part. All of the old builds were quite awesome and blasting around the city with the bike paths was a breeze. I was also chatting with one of our hosts and he informed me that Vienna has 170 theatres for a city of about 2 million people. Clearly there is a major focus on the arts there so I think another trip back is a must.

Vienna will also go down as a highlight of the trip I’m sure due to the storm that hit us as we were wandering the city at night. We were sitting at a fountain watching a lighting storm roll towards the city for about an hour when all of a sudden the thunder clapped and the wind started. Suddenly the friendly fountain we were sitting beside turned into a wall of water coming straight at us. Not to be outdone, the rain also started and quickly changed to sideways. Tree branches started to fall and we ran for shelter by a bank. Thankfully the security guard took pity on us and allowed us to watch the worst of the storm from the inside. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a storm come up so fast in my life. We heard the next day that 8 people had died across Europe as a result of it. Luckily for us we were staying inside that night, I don’t think any of our tents would have survived the night.

The next day the only reminder of the storm was the downed branches and trees. It was bright hot and sunny again, and we set off for Bratislava. We accidently wound up forming a pod of 8, all of whom happened to be guys, and rocketed off the 75km to town. I must admit after spending two days in Vienna I didn’t find Bratislava nearly as impressive but it wasn’t without its charm. Anything the city itself lacked in appeal was more than made up for by the generosity of our hosts however. We were then met by a cyclist who rode us out the extra 25km to our host’s house for the night. Upon arriving we were met by balloons, food, wine, song and smiles and I’m fairly certain most people want to bring them along for the rest of our trip.

The only slight downside was it rained very heavily last night and my tent turned into a series of rivers and streams. Not wanting to upset the natural order of the new ecosystem being created I fled and wound up sleeping out under the picnic table. It actually wasn’t that bad though, I felt much closer to all of the slugs that chose to co-habituate next to me.

It is with heavy hearts that we leave Slovakia, but new adventures now await in Hungry and we must move on.