Bicycle-Free in a Cycling City

I would definitely describe Vienna as a "cycling city" in term of its infrastructure. There is a good network of bike lanes, a bike share programme, many cyclists on the streets, and a decent system in place for integrating cycling with public transportation. All the more frustrating to be here bicycle-free! For a number of reasons, it was not practicable to either bring my own bicycle here or to rent one. I will express my Bike Rental Lament in a separate post. But for now, I give you a few images of night time Vienna - on foot.

For the purposes of sight seeing and tourism, this is not the best time to be in Vienna, as it is in between seasons. Scenic Autumn has ended, while the Weihnachten (Christmas) exuberance has not yet begun in earnest (On the photo above you can see that they've installed the holiday lights, but have not yet turned them on). Lucky for me, this matters not a bit, as I am working all day almost every single day that I am here. But don't feel too bad; I have been living in Vienna on and off for the past two years, and have already done all the sight seeing possible.

In some parts of the city center, the famous Viennese Christmas markets have already been set up. Those are the little lit-up tents you see in the foreground of the church.

Inside one of the tents. The Christmas markets sell everything from traditional foods and handmade toys, to Christmas decor, leather goods, and clothing.

Here is a stand with sausages and Glühwein (mulled wine).

A vintage roadster graces the cover of a detective novel.

For those with a fetish for fine gloves and tights (you know who I speak of, ladies!), being in Vienna around this time is especially difficult: lots of fine products by local designers are on offer. Thankfully, the high price of these prevented me from buying them - even if I did try to justify it to myself as a "cycling expense". No no no.

A traditional Viennese café: marble, dark wood, red velvet upholstery, dim lighting, waiters in crisp black and white, tiny silver trays, sugar cubes in crystal bowls, the works! If you have a chance to visit Vienna, plopping yourself down in one of these after a day of walking (or cycling) around the city, is a real treat.

I leave you now with an image of a Vienna Citybike station. Not many takers at 5:00 am!