“The Danube Island – a Recreational Paradise!” – The Internet

A little tired of Museum-ing, we decided to venture a little further afield and check out the Danube and Danube Island. 
As it turns out, Donauinsel (Danube Island) sports a fine collection of pavement weeds, and an installation of punks under the rail overpass akin to modern day bridge trolls. 

So inviting!

Making our way to the “sunken city” on webguide promises of summer fun and riverside beaches, we arrive at what is essentially a collection of riverside man-made sandpits. You too can sit in an adult’s sandpit, drinking sugary cocktails and getting hissed at by swans! Good times. The highlight of our Donauinsel trip was playing river-fetch with a friendly dog using a crunched up water bottle. There may be some nicer bits of Donauinsel, but it’s 20km long and we didn’t have bikes, so the rest of it remains a mystery… Apparently there is a gravel beach somewhere else, but every Australian knows that gravel beaches aren’t real beaches. 

Stop looking at me swan!

For a superior river beach experience, I recommend the brown and sandy splendour of WAGGA BEACH. No need to waste time with the Danube, just head to the Murrumbidgee for all your river beach needs. You might still get hissed at by swans though. 

So after our adventure to Donauilsen we got on the train and headed back up the hill, where a street-side swan-free bar awaited us:

All in all, Vienna is a great city, with beautiful (but somewhat overwhelming!) architecture. Staying in the Neubau area was a great choice – it was close to the main attractions but we were away from the super busy Innere Stadt. Wandering around side streets was a definite highlight, as were the schnitties!

VIENNA STATS!

• Cats seen: ZERO. Art cats don’t count 😦
• Dogs seen: Many, plus one pride doggy.
• Grasshoppers eaten: Zero.
• Strudels eaten: One. 
• Average steps walked per day: 15,431. Oooh, we slacked off a bit!