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Today’s the day we pack up the good ol’ tandem and move on to doing the tourista thing in Vienna. Here’s Chris packing the bike in the lobby of this fancy 4-star hotel lobby.

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Once the bike was packed we checked out, leaving our luggage at the hotel and walked through a giant park to the Donauturm or Danube Tower. It is the tallest structure in Austira (827 ft.) and among the 75 tallest towers in the world.

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From the top you could see forever – almost. This view shows the route we took coming into the city a couple of days ago. We rode along the south (opposite) bank of the Danube coming from the far right of the picture, then as we got closer we crossed to the “island” in the middle, rode along that for awhile and then across the bridge to this side and into town.

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After a little picnic in the park on the way back to our hotel we took a taxi to our new “home” for the next several days, the Pension Hargita.

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It’s a pretty funky little place in a great location and right on one of the busy bustling walking streets.

Our room is very hot (as have many on this trip) so we set off to explore. Here’s a statue of Mozart, who spent much of his life here.

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This is the Schmetterlinghaus. At the far end is home to hundreds of butterflies housed in a tropical rainforest setting (which was closed).

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The large middle section is a restaurant.

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And a few more sites we passed by.

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We are in the old part of Vienna and what I find so striking is the stark contrast between the very old and the very new. Here are some interesting examples.

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And now for a couple of other out of the ordinary sitings. This shop sells glasses frames made of wood.

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And I think some of you know exactly who this reminds me of.

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Even the sky seems out of the ordinary.

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We finished out our day with a light dinner at a Vegan restaurant near our hotel. And one last interesting shot for you.

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P.S. It’s after 9pm, it’s 76 degrees outside, our room is still hot so our window is open and remember the busy walking street? Well it’s still bustling. But that’s ok – who needs sleep anyway.