Day 339 Zwettl - Budweis

Freemasonry and Rain!
That is all the day was about. I cycled through the rain to the Freemason Museum of Schloss Rosenau. But even after the museum I don't understand what all that freemason stuff is about. In fact I don't understand the urge to become part of any association with very abstract goals whatsoever - be it freemasons, biker gang or new age sect. I prefer to make up my own mind about what is good and worthwhile. Thus, not very enlightened I cycled through the rain towards the Czech border and celebrated my arrival with Smaženy Syr and Kofola at the first Pub right at the border post. From there on everything went easier: less mountains and less rain. Here in Europe the sunset is very late (as compared to India), which makes cycling very relaxed. I arrived in Budweis after eight and tasted the dark Budvar pivo which I found to be the perfect sports drink after a long cycling day.

Day 338 Krems - Zwettl

Up into the hills! Riverside cycling was too boring, so I went the direct way towards Czechia. Very very hilly. And very nice. Two more things we central europeans are blessed for: dark bread and wonderful weather - and when saying wonderful weather I do consider rainy summers and heaps of snow in the winter. Nevertheless: in 99% of all weather conditions we can enjoy being outside, we just need some clothes. You can always protect yourself from the wet and the cold, but there is no way to protect yourself from freaking Indian heat.

Day 337 Vienna - Krems

Again: everything is so easy here. I can ride on wonderfully paved bike lanes, there are signs everywhere, every few kilometers a snack bar caters specifically to cyclists. Even the weather got better during the day - light rain in the beginning, bright sunshine in the end. I still have to make up my mind if I all this is very relaxing or rather boring?
Anyway, we people from central Europe should definitely consider ourself blessed for many things like space (Austria has about half the inhabitants of Mumbai!), water (there are  some apocalyptic prophecies about many wars being fought about water in the future - this certainly will happen [and is happening already], but it won't happen here), the level of hygiene, our immense wealth,... Living here and not travelling somewhere else can easily make us forget that we have the possibility to live better lives than at least 90% of all people!
Pondering about all this and about the notion of god I cycled along Danube and ended up in Krems (might this be the place where the Kremser comes from?). Here my tent answered its call of duty - the first time since I had packed it under some palm trees in Oman!

Day 335 - 336 Vienna

Everything is so easy here! Within one morning I had accomplished the first of Piyushs gift-delivery-missions and found a bicycle shop that would show some affection to Arthur. Now he has new lights, a new mud guard, a perfectly working gearshift, smooth steering, a new lock, a new pump,... - Bicycle Company, close to Naschmarkt is highly recommended. While I was waiting for Arthurs repair: Music! Vienna had prepared a great cultural program for my arrival in Europe: one evening the wonderful, terrible Tiger Lillies and the next evening the Master himself, the greatest German musician of our time: Helge Schneider !!!
The Tiger Lillies were a bit handicapped as they were playing with a very confused replacement drummer - which at times made it just more funny. They seem to be big in Vienna and the audience was surprisingly old.
Helge was just Helge. Which is the best thing an artist could possibly be!
One afternoon I visited the house of music - a museum full of musical and sound games. That is my kind of thing! I spent most of the time on the floor with the sound-games. Another floor was dedicated to the most important composers of the area. And another one to the future of music: they presented some mostly dissonant electronic pseudo-futuristic sound-pulp. Very much a seventies version of the future.  I sincerely hope that this will not be what the future of music will sound like.

Day 334 Mumbai - Vienna

This was the longest day of my trip. Literally the longest day due to flying westwards through some time zones. And as nearly no sleep was involved it felt even longer.

2:00 AM Mumbai time: I was finally allowed into the airport. The check-in staff of Turkish Airlines was extremely helpful with my bicycle. I just had to turn the handlebar, deflate the tires and remove the saddle. No packing required. I prefer it this way - I reckon if the baggage handlers see that it is a bicycle they will handle it with appropriate care. The check-in lady even gave me an emergency exit seat - huuuuge leg space.

3:37 AM Mumbai time: Waiting, I am very very tired.

5:35 AM Mumbai time: boarding starts, the leg space is even larger than expected, perfect!

6:00 AM Mumbai time: We start as the sun rises. Very modern airplane, huge multimedia entertainment selection, but I am too tired for that. Only the stewardesses could smile more often - they look as tired as me. Hope the pilot is not!

11:00 AM Istanbul time: I arrived in Europe! I have no idea how long the flight was, I am time zone confused and I dosed off a dew times. Still very tired.

11:50 AM Istanbul time: I nearly missed the boarding for the flight to Vienna - even though I was lying down about 25m from the gate.

11:55 AM Istanbul time: Got my next emergency exit seat.

11:57 AM Istanbul time: The other five emergency exit seats go to a flock of Australian Hells Angels. That will surely be a funny flight.

12:15 PM Istanbul time: We are airborne. The Hells Angel on my left starts a conversation. The one to my right tries to do the same, but fails: there is no way I can understand his Australian redneck accent.

1:30 PM Istanbul time: Until now I got along well with my new friends. Then my vegetarian meal arrives. The hells angels seem to disapprove of the concept of vegetarianism. It starts getting funny, the redneck-accent guy makes jokes, of which I understand less than half.

2:00 PM Istanbul time: The redneck accent guy asks me if there are many biker gangs in Germany. Upon my honest answer (I have no freaking idea whatsoever) he inquires if I am a Bandito. I can convince him, that yes, I am very much into bike tours but no, not in the way he and his guys are used to.

2:00 PM Vienna time: Touchdown. As I look out of the window: rain. Not normal rain, more like a rainstorm.

2:25 PM Vienna time: All my luggage arrived and my bicycle survived! Bicycle travelling with Turkish Airlines is highly recommended!

2:45 PM Vienna time: I found a nearby gas station to inflate my tires. I start cycling towards Vienna. Through the rainstorm. I had expected a bit cooler weather here, but certainly not that!

3:17 PM Vienna time: I cycled through a village and saw not a single person. Culture shock! Where are all the people? Eventually I flee from the rainstorm into a pastry shop. Poppy seed cake and coffee! Perfect first meal in Europe.

3:50 PM Vienna time: The rain has stopped and even the sun comes out. I get on my bike again.

5:30 PM Vienna time: I cycled on a bike path all the way to the city center and found a hostel. Everything clean as a whistle. It all seems a bit artificial, surreal to me.

7:00 PM Vienna time: I found a mobile store and got a SIM card within minutes. Quite different to my Indian mobile adventures. New number: +43 66 48 70 62 41.

7:10 PM Vienna time: I stumble upon a vegan restaurant and order 'Veganes Backhuhn'.

7:35 PM Vienna time: All the order and cleanliness has its price. As I try to buy some more food they kick me out of the store: Ladenschluss! This is a concept I have to get used to again.

10:00 PM Vienna time: I managed to do my laundry in the hotel. Now I am tired to death. Good night.

Statistics Slovakia and Austria

Slovakia:
Days spent in country: 2,5
Cycling days: 2,5
Sun hours: 0
Rain days: 2
Distance cycled: ca. 183 km
Average km/day: ca. 73 km
Money spent: 94€
Average €/day: 37,6€
Accomodation:
- Pension/Hotel: 2 nights
Things lost: none

Austria:
Days spent in country: 1
Cycling days: 1
Distance cycled: 65,75 km
Average km/day: 65,75 km
Money spent: 4€
Average €/day: 4€
Accomodation:
- Couchsurfing: 1 night
Things lost: none
Things broke: front carrier (it probably already broke in Slovakia, but I noticed it in Austria).

Day 022 Neusiedl am See - Györ

This day had a great beginning and a great end and the inbetween was not so bad neither. In the morning my wonderful hosts and I had breakfast before I set off. Thanks a lot to Claudia and Ronny Goldschmidt and their son and their dog for being so hospitable to a dusty, tired cyclist. I once again crossed a border - this time to Hungary. There I drove along Eurovelo 6 (Danube Cycle Path), which seems to be some cycle highway - today I met more fellow cycle travellers than in all days before. One bad thing about this day: I noticed that my front carrier broke. Fortunately in a not very crucial place - I fixed it in a rough-and-ready way and hopefully will find replacement in Budapest. The long cycling today went well - no mountains here and only a little rain. In the evening I arrived in Györ, where my couchsurfing host Balázs introduced me into the Györ Saturday Night Scene, which was great and long (see the time I am posting this) - we even ended the night with an double base and nose flute session, yeah!

Day 021 Malacky - Neusiedl am See

Ok, it seems to be something personal between the guy responsible for Slovakian weather and me. When I started in Malacky the weather was ok (read: not raining). Less than an hour later the guy obviously had realized that Marek is on the road and opened the tap. So again I cycled through Slovakia in the rain, arrived at Danube in the rain, saw Bratislava in the rain, crossed the Austrian border in the rain - and about 10 min. later the rain stopped: Austria welcomed me with sunshine and a lot of wind - which in this case helped a lot in drying my drenched clothes. The ride through Austria was smooth, except for one short headwind area on Windradweg (wind cycle path). I was welcomed most wonderfully by the Goldschmidt family in Neusiedl am See and spent a very relaxing evening at their place.