Lazy Bike Tour 2007

So, i am back in Vienna now to tell my story. Actually we returned almost a week ago... making what was supposed to be a bike tour from Vienna, Austria down through Italy for an indefinite amount of time, possibly the whole summer, performing and making crafts on the street to earn money for food, and possibly going to the island of Sardenga to live in caves near the beach for a while... making it actually a one-week bike tour of southeastern Austria, and parts of Hungary.
which is just fine.
as i said before, Sigh, the other American going with us, decided not to come, going back to the States a day before we left on our bicycles. We were sad about this for many reasons, one being that he is Super Bicycle Repair Man. oh well, we´ll miss you, Bye Sigh.

Day 1: Thursday: Finally!!
So we took off on our bikes from Soffi´s apartment in Vienna...
We didn´t leave until 5 in the evening, giving us a late start, but at least we could get out of the city. The Danube River flows right through Vienna, and there are really good bike paths along it, so we followed those east, toward Slovakia and Hungary. We only rode for about an hour or two before we decided to find a spot in the forest to sleep.
It was a beautiful place to sleep, the moon full, and no tent this night. It is such a wonderful experience to wake up at dawn to the sound of hundreds of birds, open your eyes, look up, and see the trees and the sky. This is where i first heard the sound of the cuckoo bird, which would wake me up every morning for the next week.

Day 2: Friday: Lazy Day
We took our time getting out of our sleeping bags, drinking tea, and eating rice and beans for breakfast. By 10 or 11 in the morning we were back on our bikes, riding east along the Danube. This route is almost completely flat, making it a good way to start the trip, since we had done no physical training.
I think we rode only for a few hours before we stopped in a town called Orth to buy food and rest a little, and then we found ourselves a nice grassy field outside of the little town, and ate lunch there. We ended up sitting there for at least 2 hours, napping, because none of us slept very well the night before on the hard forest floor.
I was starting to think we should hurry up and keep going, but then i asked myself why? We don´t have to hurry. This is our time, our bike tour, and if we want to lie around in the sun all day, then we will. So this is when i accepted the fact that this was to be a lazy bike tour.
While we sat there, we decided that we would like to visit the Neusiedlr See, a large lake south of Vienna, which would be beautiful, and also on the way to Soffi´s friends´ house in the countryside. So, since we were on the north side of the river, we decided to take the "ferry" across to the south side. We took our bikes down onto a kind of boat i am used to being a ferry. Then the man working there, opened a gate on the side, and started putting our bikes on this little wooden motor boat, that only had room for us, our bikes and the ferry man. Less than 5 minutes later, we were on the other side of the river, looking for the bike route.
Now, we hadn´t brought on any bike maps, just a couple of road atlases, so we were relying on signs, people, and Axel´s compass (which had helped us on a long walk we took in Spain a couple months ago). Luckily, Austria has great bike routes, with a lot of signs, so just when we thought maybe we didn´t know where we were going, a sign would appear to help us.
We rode a few more hours on dirt roads through farmlands, seeing many big rabbits, pheasants, and storks. Eventually, when it was starting to get dark, we walked our bikes into some forest, making sure no one saw us, and put up the tent. I was going to sleep outside again, but just as i got in my sleeping bag, it started to rain, so i climbed into the tent with Soffi and Axel. I´m really glad we brought a tent.

Day 3: Saturday: The Lake
Sleeping in the tent, as we would do for the rest of the week, makes it easier to sleep later, because you don´t realize how late it is. So in the late morning, we started again, following the signs we had found yesterday toward the lake. That day, we rode through lots of farmland and small towns, and by the evening, we had made it to the lake. This time, we were in a national park, so we had to find a really good hiding place to camp, and we did, but it was right next to the bike path, and when we heard people going by, we would have to duck down, and be really quiet. I think we could have gotten a ticket if we had gotten caught.
It rained again that night, and was still a little rainy in the morning, and we were thinking we should stop being so lazy, so we could get to the friends´ house, where it would be dry. I think rain is one of the worst things that can happen to a bike tour, even if you do have a tent and rain gear.

Day 4: Sunday, Axel´s Unlucky Day
Aaaah...Sunday, cloudy, cool, wet, a little rainy... so we might as well sleep in. This we did very well--i think until 11 or 12. We took our time getting packed and ready to go. As we sneaked out of our perfect hiding place, i looked over at Axel, struggling to push his beautiful bicycle up the bumpy, grassy hill.
Axel´s bicycle: fire sticks tied in place, folder with art paper for painting safe and dry under the waterproof cover, and even a hand-painted flag, one side a pirate flag, the other a star. But there was something not right about it all:
"How are your tires, Axel?" i asked, hoping that i was wrong. Looking down, "they are both totally flat" he said with a smile on his face.
We spent another hour, while Axel repaired the three holes in his tubes, probably caused by the rose bushes we were camping in. At least, now i have learned how to use a patch repair kit.
We ride less than 8 kilometers to the next town, and there is the surfing World Cup (windsurfing - this is a lake). But we only stop so Axel can fix his flag, which is falling down. We don´t stay for the Surf World Cup because we want to make it as far as we can toward Soffi´s friends´ house because we are tired of being wet. So we decided not to stop until we get to Sopron, a town in Hungary, down the eastern side of the lake, around the southern side, and a little bit south. It should only take us about 2 hours, we thought.
We were making pretty good time, riding riding riding, to the border, almost to Hungary. And then the man asks for our passports. Shiza! Axel has forgotten his. So we turn around, going back to the last town, not far, to eat and reorganize.
This is when Axel says it is his unlucky day. The flat tires, the flag, the passport, and we remember that the zipper on the bag carrying his tent also broke. Poor Axel... But he is still smiling, even when he is says, "I AM SO ANGRY!!" - he is laughing.
We decide to take the ferry across the lake the next day, but tonight, we just watch the sunset over the lake, and cute little goose families (even though i hate geese because they´re mean), drink some magic tea, zauber!, laugh a lot and go to sleep hidden in some trees.

Day 5: Monday: Goodbye Axel :(
Unfortunately, when we woke up this morning, it was still Axel´s unlucky day. He was in a lot of pain, and needed to go home. I mean, he was okay, but not enough to ride the bike anymore. So we spent our laziest day at the lake, lying in the sun, eating and drinking. Around 4:30, we took the ferry boat to the other side, and waited for Axel´s mom to come and pick him up. It was so strange to think that after 4 days of riding our bikes (okay, 4 lazy days), his mother could drive only an hour to come pick him up.
Soffi and i actually left before his mother came because it was getting dark, and we wanted to get to Sopron -- we could go there now, since Axel without his passport was going home -- and find a place to camp before dark...
As soon as we left Axel, it took us about 10 minutes to get to the border, and this is when the hills began. They weren´t so hard, but i was definitely thinking about getting off and walking a couple times. We made it to the city, and asked some people where a camping place was. Some people spoke English, and the others spoke German, so we were lucky because Hungarian is a very hard language, and neither of us knew any. Three separate groups of people sent us to the same camping place, our first time camping legally. And when we get there, the guy working there has to call his boss to see if it´s okay. We are confused, and then when he says it´s okay, and he´s showing us to a grassy field where we can put our tent, we ask him how much it costs, and he says nothing. We are more confused, but happy.
Later, the only other camper there, a German woman, who is on a walking tour, tells us that the campground is actually closed, and that´s why it is free. So, we still haven´t paid for sleeping once on this whole trip. Cool.

Day 6: Tuesday: no maps
No more lazy bike tour for Soffi and me. We really want to make it to her friend´s house by Wednesday, the next day, and compared to the distance we had already gone, it looked like a long way. So we ate a good breakfast in Hungary, and then headed south toward Austria again. As soon, as we started riding, it started raining, of course. And as soon as it started raining, my bike chain got stuck. As i was trying to fix it, it started raining cats and dogs... and chickens and pigs. i was soaked in 5 minutes. I started walking my bike, wondering where Super Bicycle Repair Man was at that moment, and when i started coasting my bike downhill, playing with the gears, my chain fixed itself. cool. and then it stopped raining, and the sun came out. awesome. and then we were at the border. All this in 15 minutes.
Then we spent the rest of the day riding up big hills through farmland, and forest, And riding Down big hills, which is why i didn´t mind the hills, because it was so fun to go down these big hills, i couldn´t stop laughing sometimes.
This is the day i really wish we had some sort of bike route map, but really, i don´t think they exist. We stopped in every small town, every 15 minutes, looking at all the different directions of bike routes, checking our road atlas and compass, and hoping we were choosing the right direction. But in the end it all worked out. We made it back into Hungary and to a camping place, where all the people were older German people, and we only had to pay 3 euros each, and we got hot showers!

Day 7: Wednesday: 9 hours
More big hills, more beautiful farmland and forest, more rabbits, deer, more rain, feeling lost on dirt roads in Hungarian forest, more bike chain trouble (but not too bad), until finally 9 hours later, we made it to Soffi´s friends´ house.
Maria and Norbert, are an older couple, living in a very very small town in the southeast of Austria. She is an herbalist and gardener, and he is a builder and an artist. When we arrived, just as the streetlights were turning on, we found no one in the house. So we went back to the gardens, and found them with their flashlights looking at frogs in their pond. If i hadn´t been so tired, i would have been really excited and wanted to look too. But they took us into the house, told us to take hot showers, and made us a wonderful dinner. They even washed our clothes. We ate and ate and then went to bed. Aahhh, bed. so comfortable. i felt so lucky to be there, and also like i had really earned it.

Day 8: Thursday: Discovery
We slept until 11 in the morning, unable to make ourselves leave such comfortable beds. And when we went into the kitchen, there was bread and jam and tea on the table waiting for us. Thank you so much!
We ate breakfast for a long time, and then took a tour of the place.
Soffi had told me that i had to see this house a lot before we even left on our bike tour, because they had built it all themselves and there were beautiful gardens, and everything, but i was not prepared for what i found.
Norbert had studied theater set design in a university, so entering each room was like entering a whole new world. A bathroom was designed in a Tuscany style. And it sounds like it would be really cheesy, but it´s exactly the opposite. Each room feels completely natural and perfect and real, not fake at all. I don´t even know if i could describe it. There are many spaces for painting and other artwork, an herb drying room, a sewing room, little doors to the roof, oh, you really have to see it to believe it. There is even a beautiful meditation room. Sorry i can´t show you pictures here.
The gardens are so beautiful, and they even have four ducks, and then finally we made it to the pond that they had built. Soffi and i spent the rest of the day sitting on the wooden walkways on the pond, talking, resting, watching frogs and fish and birds, and drinking tea with Maria and Norbert. This place is truly magical. I really want to live in a place like this one day.
After our relaxing day, Norbert put our bikes in his van and took us to the train station. Completely satisfied with our bike tour, Soffi and i were happy to take a train back to Vienna. Maybe one day, i will return to Europe, and we can actually do a bike tour through Italy...or maybe to Istanbul...or to Greece?