Sometimes it is easier and sometimes harder to write blog entries on time. That is why we are now catching up. :)

Join us for a week with little biking and lots of sightseeing.

Saturday (29.04.)
After that wild night, we woke up in our dry tent in Thoma's backyard. Als ich den Vordereingang des Zeltes aufmachte um zu sehen, ob Thomas es noch nach Hause geschafft hat, sah ich kein rotes Zelt auf grünem Gras. I was about to tell Tilman that Thomas was probably still at the party, when suddenly a head popped up from the wet grass where the tent should have been.
"Good moorning" could just be heard. Apparently, Thomas wanted to make sure that we still said goodbye to him. And the only option, apparently, was to lie down in the grass and accidentally fall asleep. We have already grown fond of him!

First we moved him inside to a comfortable mattress to put our things away in peace. After a long goodbye we rolled down to the city to say goodbye to Thomaš - yes we know that is confusing now... The closer we got to the cycle kitchen, the louder the music got. In the end we found a sleeping Anastasia and a Thomaš partying with himself. Obviously, yesterday's evening was still quite wild! From Thomaš we learned that during the Mass there must have been some stress with the local Nazi scene - fortunately without any casualties. The farewell lasted a little longer than planned and was also funnier than expected. In the end, however, we just turned the corner and followed the Danube cycle path. END.

No, just kidding. We followed the Danube cycle path about 60km to Vienna and made a Taylor Swift party and captured a few funny photos during it. Buen Camino.

We entered Vienna via the Danube Island. A very beautiful and large recreation area just outside Vienna. In Vienna, we were first greeted with a proper shower. Not by Caro, but the sky unloaded itself once over us in the form of a downpour. Fortunately we could find refuge under a bridge! Once we arrived at Caro's, we were given access to a voluntary shower. Once we were socially acceptable, we were on a mission to find food - no easy feat in a big city like Vienna! In the end we decided on a Korean restaurant, to which Caro was driven by "Tilmans- Cargo-Taxi". We didn't find the food quite as convincing after our touring gourmet cuisine, but we enjoyed the company of Caro and Lukas. Lukas proved to be a fantastic city guide and so we walked around the city some more in the darkness. In addition to the small alleys (in which, fortunately, no cars are allowed to drive), we still visited the Vienna Imperial Palace and strolled along the canal back home.

Sunday (30.04.) we woke up in our cozy bed at Caro. After a hearty breakfast (with homemade rolls) we found it was time for an 11 o'clock Nap. Just like the Hobbits. So we had enough energy for a little city tour in the daylight.

Towards evening we drove back to Caro to eat a little something. After all, we still had a little something to do! Caro took us to Lindy Hop dancing with a preceding trial lesson on the Vienna Badeschiff. When we arrived, we didn't look bad when we found ourselves in the middle of a tap dance class! Well, you take what you can get. Now we are at least a few dance steps richer! Afterwards we were allowed to dance a little Lindy Hop until our feet hurt!

Accordingly, we then slept long on the first Mayday (01.05.), which is a holiday in Austria. Lukas has prepared a special hike for us. We met with him at the Prater and made us on the underbrush away from the usual paths. The Prater is not only an amusement park but also a huge recreation area with meadows. In this landscape we spent the first of May on our deadwood adventure trail. Quite exclusive!

At the end of this adventure, a visit to the Vienna Planetarium was on the agenda. Three of us went to a show about the Hubble Space Telescope - presented live by a student. That gives you a homey feeling right away! However, the Vienna Planetarium is much bigger than the one in Potsdam, and because of its location, it is also better attended. The coolest thing for me was an animation in which the length of a year on Neptune should be visualized. Fun fact: Neptune needs 165 years for one orbit around the sun! So Neptune ran along the horizon once around. It started in the year of its discovery in 1846. In regular intervals important milestones of mankind were shown. For example, the discovery of penicillin, lasers, the first moon landing, the telephone, the theory of evolution as well as the quantum theory - quite a productive Neptune year!

In the evening we got a tour through Brigittenau - the beautiful "ghetto" district where Caro lives - at least according to some Viennese... A very livable district, with a lot of park and at least one good pizzeria, whose food we ate later on Caro's balcony and let the weekend end in peace.

On Tuesday it was then unfortunately over with the long sleep. We said goodbye to Caro and began our stressful drive through Vienna. Here again the Viennese system for public toilets should be praised! Not super clean, but there's always one around when you need it most. Especially if you have "tourer incontinence", as Tilman so nicely describes it.
Behind Vienna, fortunately, it went on more relaxed. Actually, we drove along a canal the whole time. The monotony was interrupted when Tilman almost drove over a snake! So if I'm honest, I've never seen such a big snake in nature! We still waited until it safely crossed the bike path and then everyone drove/slithered so of his way.

While the snow-covered mountains appeared far away from us, we cycled straight along the canal until we arrived 15 km before the Semmering Pass at our warmshowers Brigit and Martin. The two have together with their family a mega cool house! That Martin is a carpenter, you could see at the house! Almost everything was made of wood and really beautifully decorated. Birgit told us about their adventurous tour to Nepal with many changes of plans - from somewhere we know that ;)

On Wednesday (03.05.) it went out for us early - with the Semmering Pass directly in front of us. The first kilometers we were led through a beautiful valley. Lots of old houses, slopes with trees and stones and a really ugly highway bridge in the middle of the valley. And in Germany you get upset about windmills....

Since we took the old pass road instead of the highway, we encountered almost no cars. In addition, we had a pleasant slope, which could be driven up almost without a break. In addition, we were rewarded with a beautiful view!

At the top I celebrated my first pass that I climbed alone on the bike with an ice cream. While a few meters away from us was still the artificial snow of the ski resort. To my regret, unfortunately, there was no pass sign :(

But a really nice departure! Our plan was to get to a welcome to my garden until shortly before Graz. We decided to first follow the river "Mürz", which then flows into the "Mur", which accompanies us to Graz. River bike paths always sound so nice and easy and halfway straight... But by now we should know better! It was still more pleasant than cycling the surrounding mountains, but you would expect a flatter profile when the railroad is on your left and the river runs on your right... After maneuvering through a poorly signposted road, we also arrived in the village outside Graz.

We were already warned by our wtmg about the hard climb at the end. When it became reality, however, it surpassed the worst nightmares. Arrived at Frydolin, Tilman was a bit sad, because he missed the Mexicans who are doing workaway there. But after 130km we were so tired that we nevertheless fell asleep immediately.

Thursday (04.05.) we went to Graz to Florina, which we still knew from our Erasmus. Graz is really to be praised for its bicycle infrastructure! And this is also reflected in the number of people riding bicycles! Continuing to follow the Mur River, we quickly arrived at Florina. After a magnificent breakfast, Florina drove to work and we lay down again for a neat 10 o'clock nap - we would be the perfect hobbits! After that we moved our "office" to the nearby park. Chilled, Tilman played frisbee and we watched dogs and cats playing freely. Graz, by the way, can not only good bike paths, but also a good density of public drinking water stations. After this relaxing day, we cooked with Florina and a friend of hers and went to bed early.

This week is not much with cycling. We stayed true to this motto and took the Friday (05.05.) to see Graz. In bright sunshine we strolled through the city. We even climbed the Schlossberg. From the very top we had a brilliant view over Graz and the surrounding mountains. Tilman also took the time for a few bee pictures :)

Back down in town, we visited the post office and met an enthusiastic clerk, who proudly showed us their stamp collection. Tilman was fully in his element and we acquired, among other things, a " plaster corona " stamp.
After this excitement, we went back to our beloved park and met the cats again. We live in quite luxury, because some time later Florina and a friend came by with ice cream :-)
We cooked together for a long time, until everyone pulled themselves together and went to the city festival "Lendwirbel". Apparently it was also the general pub district and instead of strolling long, we squeezed through a bunch of people and drank a "Spritzerl". Apparently there is a rule in Austria that no bar can serve on the street after 10pm. So we were kindly asked to leave and went back to Florina at the Muhr. This is how one imagines summer! A mild night, a little nightlife on the street and a walk home with some cool people :)

A week with lots of tourism, lots of nice people and lots of sunshine - if only it could always stay this way :) But who knows what the next few weeks have in store for us!