The Magic Watering Hole

Vienna, Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia -- 45.2 mi, 11.2 mph, 1250 ft

Hi, it's Kylie with the blog today.  We left our apartment in Vienna this morning around 9:00 after Dad had greased the chains and pumped the tires.  I proudly wore my new stylish back and yellow helmet, and Dad and I enjoyed the smooth ride now that our warped rear wheel was fixed.

The ride through the city was nice and easy since there were designated bike paths, and it was still too early to be hot.  We eventually got onto a bike path next to the highway, which was loud but kept us away from the cars.  At one point, though, Dad turned through an opening in a cement wall, and I yelled since I couldn't see the opening and Dad is always in my way!

Leaving Vienna

Next to the highway

Big cement wall

We continued biking until some of us got hungry (we hadn't eaten breakfast).  We spotted a Billa supermarket next to the airport, so we bought food and sat in the little bit of shade we could find.

Lunch stop supermarket

Shade

When we got back onto the bikes 40 minutes later, it was really getting hot (over 90F), and the water in our Camelbacks was not very refreshing, blah!  Soon after, a sidewind picked up, which slowed us down and made it harder to ride.  The heat was really getting to me as we rode through some wheat fields on a rough dirt path.  Then, in the middle of these fields, we came to a small town.  We were super excited to see an old public water basin in the middle of town.  We stopped and splashed our faces and clothes.  We even dunked our heads and refilled our Camelbacks with cold, spring, water.  Ahh.  I call it the magic water hole because it revived us and lifted our spirits until we got to Bratislava.

The Magic Watering Hole

Unfortunately, we had lots of trouble finding our AirB&B house for the night.  And, to make it worse, we were on a very steep hill but couldn't find the address.  We eventually found it but had to climb to the top of the hill then backtrack on another narrow road.  An hour later the host came and we got inside. Dex was not very happy. We all washed up and were grateful to be cool and indoors.  For dinner, we went to the closest dining option we could find, a pizza parlor just up the hill that was exactly what we needed after a hot day of riding.

Up the hill to dinner

Bratislava Castle viewed from our street