So one of the things I've talked about before is how awesome I think it is that they have bikes everywhere in Europe - they're not sexy racing bikes for the most part. In fact, they're utilitarian to a fault. But how great is it that it's built into a culture that "I have to go to the store. Of course! I'll just ride a bike!" (stairs also figure prominently in daily life, FWIW).
Anyway, Vienna has a system that's really convenient, it's similar to Nice Ride in Mpls or any number of other examples. You just register, search for a bike at a local depot, "check it out" and use it, and then return it to any other depot with open spaces.
Today, we thought (ha HA!) that we would grab a few city bikes and ride to the top of Kahlenberg.
What were we thinking?!? These bikes had all of ONE gear, and it wasn't the right one. Pretty much ever. Certainly not while trying to hammer up a hill.
So we did what anyone would do. We continued on in search for adventure, pushed the bikes up the hills when it got too difficult, and then decided we had enough adventure and went home. We never got these beasties to the top of Kahlenberg, but in our Vienna trip, we went to the top 4x.
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| Ella, Maya, and Amy pushing their bikes up a hill the old-fashioned way. |
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| On the way back, Ella took some pictures. She's super fast with her phone image editing tools and has a good eye for composition. |
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| Cobbles > asphalt |
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| Dinner - all done! |
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| Ella with her new banana-stache. |
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