Day 5: Wine and Bikes in Vienna

At the close of only Day 4 I was mentally exhausted and couldn't possibly make another decision. So when Jeremy suggested a wine and bike tour, an excursion he stumbled across while researching bike rentals, I was all in. Because at that point nothing in the world sounded better than bikes, wine and not having to make a single decision for myself. Also, I've never been to a wine tasting so I figure Vienna might be a great place to have that first.

So after a full night of sleep we met up with our group at a train station (all Aussies and Americans) and took an hour long ride to the Wachau Valley. We got our cruisers and went along our way.









At our first winery we tried four different white wines and learned how to say "cheers" in German - which is by looking each other in the eye and saying "prost". It's also another way of saying "I have not poisoned your wine."










We learned the 5 S's to wine tasting:
1. Swirl
2. Smell
3. Sip
4. Savor
5. Swallow

We studied the legs on our tastings and began to develop an new-found appreciation for white wine (I've always been a red drinker). From there we rode our bikes to a restaurant where Jeremy and I ate roasted root veggies with a fried egg on top - followed by local chocolates and schnapps. Then we split up to explore the town a bit. Jeremy and I decided to climb to the top of some mountain ruins - once inhabited by Richard the Lionheart.











The coolest part about climbing these ruins was how unmanicured it all was. There wasn't an abundance of signage and there were zero safety precautions. No guards keeping me from climbing to the highest point of the caste - no safety rails to keep us from jumping over the edge. I loved that.





From there we met up with our group and made our way to the next winery where we sampled three more whites and shared chocolate bars with our tour buddies. We all picked up a bottle or two of wine and made our way by ferry across the river.







Making the decision to take a dip in the Danube wasn't difficult but damn it was cold. My Aussie friends, Allison and Suzy, were completely unfazed and dove in head first. I was a little more ... timid ... about the freezing water and perhaps a little distracted by the baby duckies!

I chatted with Suzy and Allison on the long stretch back into town and on the train ride back we busted open another bottle of wine to enjoy as we talked politics and art with our new friends. It was such a fun day. All-in-all we tasted seven wines over 16 miles - and it was probably one of the best days we had the entire trip. And I've decided I want to retire to the Wachau Valley and grow grapes when I'm 50. Wouldn't that be a dream?