Randy was having a drink with a local guy a couple days ago. The guy said "I don't know why you want to ride your bikes in Austria - it always rains in Austria". And that has been the case for us though yesterday was the only day we had real riding problems because of it. [The day into Vienna] started about 8:30 - again with rain threatening - on the road to Wien. I'll just use Wien from now on - it's shorter. Chuck wanted to put the pedal to the metal again today and five of us went along to the lunch stop - Sheila, Joy, Brian, Randy and me. We cruised at 30 – 35 km/hr and did 40 km in about 1:30. After lunch Sheila and Randy opted to ride with Lincoln and Walter to the campground. Joy wanted to keep riding fast so we all rode to the campground too arriving about 12:30. Brian, Chuck and I then went in search of our hotel. We had already done our wrong turn for the day on entering Wien so we made it straight to the Mercure Nestroy without incident. [Our first rest day] Ah, laundry day, one of our favorite past-times. Chuck and Brian and I walked to the 24 hour WashaMat after breakfast for our first exercise of the day. On the way back we walked through a large park called the AuGarten. At each end of the park there was a huge tower looking like something out of Star Wars. They must have been 15 stories tall at least and 50 feet on a side with concrete shelves sticking out at the top. The one we walked close to had a fence around it and clear signs of deterioration at the top. We didn't get too close. I spent the day with Lincoln and Sheila. After lunch tried instead to catch one of three weekly tours of the Raut Haus (city hall). It is an enormous spired stone building with stained glass, lots of wood and marble and other local stone inside. It has a 3200kg chandelier in the session chambers. We made the tour but after a 25 minute German explanation and long Q and A there after we left the tour and walked around where we could go without the tour. Our brochure noted that soon a virtual tour will be on the web. Last on our agenda was a trek back into the center to look at the main church - St. Stephens. Another impressive building. Much sculpture in this one but no notable stained glass. An interesting touch is the sculptor's self portrait(sculpture) looking in through a "window" in the side of the building. It's an odd offset to all the usual saints, angels, etc, that cover the walls and ceiling. We had a pizza appetizer on way back to hotel. It's all over and good - at 2.50 for 1/4 of an 18 inch pizza - and filling. Back at the hotel I was going to go to dinner with a group but instead went in search of a concert with Joy. We had talked about it with others before and from an internet search there appeared to be a couple possibilities at the two main concert halls - Musikverein and Konzerthaus. Everyone else wanted to eat so we grabbed the subway over - both in the same area. Konzerthaus was closed but there was a Mozart concert at Musikverein. We had more pizza to hold us over. It's definitely a tourist show and I'd guess 90 percent were tourists. But the musicians were good and we enjoyed that for two hours. That was over at 10, and back to hotel at 10:30 - my latest night - and Joy continuing on to campground by subway and bus. The public transport here is excellent. Chuck asleep at this late hour so whatever transpired at dinner awaits tomorrow's discussions. I here rumors of flooding downriver from Jan and Dave. We do leave the Danube at Budapest in a few days and have seen no flooding yet. Lately the river has been controlled by dams and looks like a quarter mile wide lake. This morning [our second rest day] after breakfast I headed back to St. Stephens by subway. It was a beautiful morning finally - sunny and not a cloud visible. I had hoped to do some picture taking in the earlier light and without the usual crowds and was able to do that first around St. Stephens. After a little orientation I found the Jesuit church to explore near the big St. Stephens church. It is much newer and more colorful than other churches I have been on this tour. My guidebook says it is the most awesome "High Baroque" church in Wien. Apparently the Jesuits first appeared in Wien in 1551 in order to found a college, later university, with which the church is affiliated. The church was first consecrated in 1631. Anyway it has many large frescos and alternating re and green spiral marble columns. The pews are all carved wood. The sun was just coming in the east windows and really lighted it up. I was the only one there as it is off the beaten path a little ways and it had just opened for the day. The old center of Wien is circled the the Ring Road which is actually a series of differently named streets as they change direction. This city center is very compact with a diameter of only about one kilometer. It must be the greatest number of incredible buildings in the world in such a small space - more than Venice even. (Not to mention cafes, konditoreis, and ice cream/gelato shops.) Across the Ring Road from the south side of city center is Karlsplatz (park) which is dominated by the Karlskirche, again by the book "one of the city's finest Baroque churches” a huge Italianate dome with a Neoclassical portico, flanked by giant pillars. I didn't go in this place partly because it cost 6 euros, but mainly because I was getting tired of inside churches. Anyway the two old guys sitting in the park outside playing violin and accordian were more interesting. When a bunch of US kids (age 6 or so) came by they played Jingle Bells for them. Tomorrow we leave Austria for 2 days in Slovakia. That will be particularly disappointing for Chuck and Brian who have been going ga-ga over the Austrian women.