Inzell, Germany to Vienna, Austria

3 August 2017

Today we decided to visit Vienna, this decision was helped along by the Hard Rock Cafe and my desire to get my reward card stamped.
We made use of the campsite facilities before we departed, they were immaculate and luxurious, we even had music in the showers as my phone alarm went off and I was too wet to stop it, I’m sure everyone appreciated my Metallica tune blasting out.
By 10am we were the only van left in the one night only area, the crazy morning lovers were all off and out moving on to the next place. By 12pm we realised why when we were still on the road and were beginning to heat up. At one stage our cab got up to 42 degress, our aircon is not so good on the move but we dread to think how hot it would be without it. As we approached Vienna we passed a road sign that said the road temperature was 52 degrees, we would not be walking the dogs on any pavements.
The Vienna aire was big and had plenty of spaces, we’re never keen on just go and find your own space sites and we did dither around a bit but finally decided on a pitch in the far corner with no neighbours. We much prefer sites where they tell where to park.

Just after we parked up our inverter starting making a loud high pitched noise, Neil assumed it had got too hot so turned it off and we plugged into the electrics. The noise went on for about an hour while we sat out so Neil disconnected it to wait for it to cool down. Once the alarm stopped we plugged it back in but nothing, the new inverter had died, that would be going back to Amazon on our return as it was less than a month old.
Now unless we can find a Austrian/ Slovakia Maplins we will have no aircon or movies for Lucy while we drive, we will be the up and drive before its hot people. We will be looking out for the obvious inverter shops everywhere we go.
We stayed with the dogs on site for a few hours while the van cooled down then when we were confident the site electrics were safe enough to leave our aircon running we left the dogs in while we went to sight see in Vienna.

The Vienna underground was like most others, hot and sweaty. Why do people who use the underground think it’s alright not to wear deodorant?! It should be illegal. Another amazing thunderstorm passed over while we were on the train and we emerged from the underground into the centre of Vienna to a very humid wet city.
The first sight I was looking for was The Hard Rock Cafe and this was easy to find right outside the station. We had a lovely meal and cocktail and have now added Vienna to my list of 21 visited to date, hoping for a few more this trip.

Whilst researching Vienna on route I spotted a large Ferris wheel, this wheel was not mentioned on any tourist guides or on trip advisor but we set about finding it.
The wheel turned out to be in a theme park a short walk from the centre, as we approached we got a Disney feel and as Lucy got more and more excited we realised we’d be there for a while. As it got dark the place came to life with atmosphere, lights and fun. Lucy went on high swings and then dragged me on an umbrella type ride, that would be my only one and was more than enough. Neil opted to stay on the ground – boring!

While walking around a group of girls in (not much) fancy dress tried to get Neil to agree to be in a selfie with them, I tried to encourage him and even offered to take it but he declined, they were early 20s at the most so he might have look dodge. We think they might have been a hen party or school leavers.

Fully exhausted we opted to Uber back to site rather than smell the underground again and Mohamed in his blue Volkswagen Passat arrive in 3 mins and drove us back to the van for €20, not bad as it was about half an hour drive.
Vienna was not quite what we expected, the part we saw at least had an overall American feel to it. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit, but feel there must be far more to see. We’ll be back but hopefully when it’s cooler next time.
Overnight Location: Vienna Stelpatz