The drive began like all the others, find a cosy seat at the back and get comfy for a snooze, soon enough the road ahead is just plain highway and the sound of heavy breathing echo's through the bus. I woke up to the sun flickering in my eyes and realised we were far from the highway and starting to wind our way through a gorgeous forest of tall straight trees that lined up in every direction, small windy tracks through the long long grass paddocks and a village full of the cutest boxy mismatched houses, pointy roofs and man made picket fences from all different size an shaped sticks, it was beautiful.....

The clouds rolled around like marshmallows in the breeze and the hills were cloaked in stripes of green and yellow. The chatter on the bus was all focused on the devastating Malaysian airlines plane that crashed earlier today after it was shot down while heading from KL to Amsterdam, a massive 26 aussies were sadly killed and everyone talked about their worried calls and texts from home checking if they were ok as well as a few jokes about how they found this plane at least, unlike the last one that disappeared in March..

As we got closer to Vienna city the buildings appeared and the colourful lush paddocks drifted into the distance.. It was such a beautiful city and the main thing that makes it so different was how much space there was between everything, all the buildings (or castle's i should say) were separated by huge wide roads and parks or cobblestone pathways and in between everything were loads of huge lush trees and flower beds, it was so pretty!

I caught a taxi to my hostel and forgot that i had actually changed places so when i arrived, they didnt have my booking.. Then my thong broke so i had to throw away my old faithful beautiful havi's :( Devastating! I waved down another cab and another $14 euro's later finally made it to the right hostel! Yay..I checked in and the lady said they had to change my room for some reason so i would be in a loft... When i opened the door it was like a dream come true, after so many crowded rooms and smelly snoring people, i had a beautiful loft hotel room with windows facing the sky, a clean bathroom and even a bathmat, fresh towels and a tv! Luxury.. Now i just hoped that no one would be checking in to share it with me... I went out to explore and found the river, the sidewalk along the river was covered in graffiti and lined with little beach bars, with fake sand and sunbeds to sit on, it was such a cool vibe. I walked up and down for a bit and took pictures of the sunset over the water then headed back for some shut eye. When i got back i had a new roomie, he was a Turkish guy that didn't speak much English and left for the night to go party which was awesome because i had it all to myself again!

I got up at 7 and stuffed myself with a yummy buffet breaky then set off for a huge day on the 'grape grazing tour'. I met up with some people from my bus at the train station and about 20 others, we caught a train for an hour out into the country side and got set up with bikes. I had a sweet yellow cruiser named '41'!

We took off and rode through the sweetest little towns with the cutest shops, surrounded by hills lined with grapes, this area is all about wine and every family runs their own winery. It was so beautiful, all the valleys and the huge river that ran through the towns. There was a big castle ruin at the top of a town called Wachau so after grabbing a bottle of locally made apricot fizzy drink, we ventured up the rough, rocky, windy track to explore the castle. It was a long hot and steep walk up but the view was amazing and the castle beautiful! This was the castle where 'Richard the Lionheart' was captured and imprisoned back in the day, there was so much history and our guide Adam was amazing with telling all the stories along the way.

We set off on our bikes again to the next town where we stopped in at a local family's house for lunch. Pulled into their backyard, the barbi was fired up and wine was poured for everyone. It was delicious, we ate traditional sausage's with cheese in the middle and wrapped in bacon, big marinated steaks, local potato salads and bread plus wine from the families vineyard and schnapps' made from walnuts off the tree in their front yard - It was the best lunch i've ever had mmmmmmmmmmmm :) With buldging bellys and smiles all round, we thanked the family and set off to the next town.

We parked our bikes and hiked up a huge hill to a house perched on the top, we all sat out in the garden which overlooked the town and the river, it was so pretty. More wine was passed around which was completely different, it was this family's wine too from their vines and it was delicious, we got a lesson on how to be a true wine connoisseur and soaked up the sunshine while everyone got a bit lightheaded :)

Next stop was the ferry, we piled onto the boat and drifted across the river to the other side which was covered in farmers fruit trees. As we went along i picked apples, pears and apricots from the thousands hanging off trees, it was bliss.... The sun was burning and everyone soaked in sweat, we made it to the sandy beach and swimmers, nickers, anything went, we all ran an dove in the icy cold water. It was so refreshing and perfect timing after a big lunch and ride...

The next leg was our home stretch, we rode through the country side until we made it back to the train station, gave back my '41' and jumped on the long train ride that would take us back to civilation... I didn't ever want this day to end! It was my favourite day since i started this trip - absolutely perfect :)

But all good things come to an end eventually and with the hostel (and a shower) in sight i got ready to meet up with some friends again and head out on the town - It didn't last long, we explored a few quiet bars then found a club an made our way in, after only about 5 mins of being there i lost everyone... So i jumped in a cab an came home, it'd been a huge day and a BIG sleep was definitely needed :)

I woke up late and spent the afternoon exploring the beautiful city. Packed my bag and sadly have to say goodbye to one of the most amazing places i've been... I love you Vienna!!