Vienna has proved to be a great place to take a break from cycling and catch up with the family. The flat has been excellent – despite its dodgy electrics (we keep losing circuits and having to reset them) and a tiny lift to the 4th floor that dates from about 1906 and scares us silly every time we use it!

We have had a couple of ‘big days out’ (at the Schonbrunn Palace and Zoo, and around the big, central sights) but mostly we have just flitted around town on the underground and the trams using our one week travel pass.

One highlight was the music museum – a good combination of some physics of sound, some biology of hearing, some history of Viennese composers and some hands-on compositional rooms – all presented in the modern interactive formats. And we even got to conduct the Vienna Philharmonia! A second highlight was Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’ at the Belvedere and (not quite so high-brow but more photographable, if not photogenic) – swimming in the Alte Donau.

A third highlight was the famous fairground wheel at the Prater.

Tonight we are off out for a celebratory meal, before saying good bye to Pauline, Dan, Catherine and Luke tomorrow morning and heading off on our bikes towards Istanbul. We can’t really believe that we are lucky enough to be starting what is, effectively, a second 6-week cycling holiday – but we are both refereshed and looking forward to it. Neither of us has travelled any further east in Europe before, so this should be fun!