If it’s Wednesday, it must be Vienna (again)

June 18, 2025

When we awoke this morning the Princess had moored at a town called Tulln. Apparently it’s famous for its gardens, which sound like a bit of a rival for our lovely Hamilton Gardens, having a total of 70 gardens within its boundaries. Not to be disloyal, I chose not to visit them but continued along the Danube to a town called Klosterneuberg. I cycled with Anne and Seamus- and we agreed that the route was definitely an improvement on the exposed straightness of yesterday’s one. We rode on a dyke for some of the way and things somehow seemed greener and more varied. And the company was good after the more solitary Tuesday.

We reached Klosterneuberg after 24 kms. It is the site of a magnificent abbey perched on the very top of a hillside. It was established in the 12 th century and flourishes still. They are the oldest wine producers in Austria. By that time we were hanging out for a coffee- I finally managed to get the coffee I hoped for and of course couldn’t resist an amazing looking scroll full of a sticky nut filling. I told the bakers that it was the best pastry I’ve had in Austria.

Oh dear- I fear that I’m not doing enough cycling to burn off all the calories I’m having! But to quote my 39 year old teenage son: “YOLO”!

Continued alone as had planned to meet Geli and Ian at the boat at 1. They were able to come aboard and view my eccentric home-for-the-week, which they enjoyed. The boat is moored at a fairly well to do (delubrious?) suburb of Vienna. ( Jem told me I used this word before and it doesn’t exist in the English language. He thought I probably meant salubrious- but I’m sticking to my version!)

We walked along the river for about a km, to another ancient building housing a 14 th century bar and restaurant with a beautiful courtyard. Two of the other customers were a mum and her 11 year old daughter. They’d brought a pet tortoise with them to lunch-as you do!

He was put into a soil-filled fountain with an ageing lettuce leaf for his lunch. He chose to ignore it and spent his time trying to escape. Meanwhile, the child took delivery of a large bowl of soup and huge Vienna Schnitzel with potato salad which she photographed and then polished off. By now the temperature was around 28 and we were struggling to cope with our cheese platter ( although Ian managed a Schnitzel).

Definitely needed a long shower and rest after that. The Oirish had gone to a concert and thankfully most of the Germans were out too..so I joined the Dutchies for dinner. A post-prandial stroll along the shady river path afforded me the opportunity to see nude bathers on the man-made island across the way. We were warned that if we chose to do that route today we might need to avert our eyes. Fortunately I didn’t have binocs with me, so was spared the thrill of seeing them close up.

Then back to my boudoir. But there’s no bucolic view of trees and water tonight as another boat is parked so close to us that, if my window opened, I could have chatted to the passengers having dinner. So the curtain is closed as I send off this missive once again, dear family and friends.