Last weekend in Vienna: Bike tour along U6 and on the other side of Danube / part2

Time for the second round! So far I had made around 12 kilometers in the morning by the bike mostly and a kilometer of walking. I went on the bike from Alser Strasse CityBike station until Spittelau and on the other side of Brigittenau till the Dresdner Strasse-Traisengasse and back to Spittelau. Then I jumped into the U6 in direction of Sibenhirten at Spittelau Station and recorded the whole ride and the view to the right (west) with my camera until Längenfeldgasse. Came back home to say goodbye to my Swiss flatmate and have a lunch break.

Time to visit the other side of the Danube

The farest I have ever been to the North-east was on the Danube Island or Altedonau, I went to the park behind the building of the UN and close to the Donauturm and that was it. Now I had ambitions to see what is behind that and possibly make a small circle.

Planning the route

I counted again with one hour free from the CityBike and did not plan to use more of it. Actually, when thinking right now of it, I could have used one more hour to go around but I did not know what the situation later was going to be like. There are also some things I regret (especially regarding this one hour) as I wanted to see more of the Alte Donau island and the area. But next time!

I planned to use the Ubahn lines U2 and U1 to reach the nearest station at the Reichsbrücke in order to save time before using the bike. Thus I found Vorgarten Straße to be the closest to the river and the bridge. To reach it I walked from the Floriganigasse till the Karlsplatz U2 direction, waited there a few minutes. After 3 stations you are at the Karlsplatz and have to find the red U1 in direction of Leopoldau. It takes us then four station before the Vorgartenstrasse.

Of course, I went out of the metro on the wrong side of the street, in the opposite direction of the Citybike stationary... but it was okay, I was in no hurry. I have to mention that one could see in every street at least 2-3 guys holding flowers in their hands because of the Valentine's Day. I do not remember seeing similar thing in Zagreb. Speaking of flowers, they must be a few Euros more than in Zagreb. Speaking of myself, I had noone in Vienna that day to give it so I bought non as they would rot at home. After reaching the city bike within minutes, I took the yellow one and checked my clock. It was around 1 or 2. 55h. I took the bike and headed to the bridge. While waiting at the first traffic light at Vorgartener Street I turned on my GPS navigation through the application Sports-tracker as I enjoy following the statistics and keeping track of my route online on the map.

I planed to go to the other side and then along the river bank until the bridges that would eventually lead me to Spittelau CityBike station and the metro. Whether I succeeded or not in doing all this within an hour we will find out at the end of the article.

Recording the route again till reaching the Business Tower

Fine. Let the show begin! I turned on my camera before reaching Mexikoplatz (remember it from one of the previous articles? ). There was the short tunnel and "a slope" that I wanted to have in my video so that happened.

After "flying" through the climbing part started until reaching the horizontal part of the bridge. I looked again over the motor vehicles road, the railway and the promenade on the river bank with lots of people around. I continued further with enjoying the view over the first narrow island and then behind it the skyscrapers of the Donauinsel with the Danube Tower (which is the tallest building in Austria) followed be the tallest skyscrapers of DC Tower and right behind it on the list is the Millenium Skyscraper. All of them are around around 245 and 210 m tall. Again, I have to use the chance to go to the top of the skyscrapers some other time, when I will have a better camera and more free time.

In comparison with the last weekend which was pretty sunny and warm and dragged lots of citizens out for the activities I did not notice that many now of course. It was cloudy all day but still many people were out walking, cycling and doing other stuff. All that was of course recorded on my camera. Now surpassed the Ubahn station and slowly approached the other bank of the river and Donauinsel. I continued recording until I got under the DC Tower and I love the knot and curves of the pedestrian and cyclist path above the motor vehicle rode, the UBahn tunnel and the other secondary paths near. When the curve I was riding on was going around the Tower I just felt like in the GTA San Andreas where you go on the highway with the motorcycle or the bike around the Skyscrapers in Los Santos (I am most of you who are reading this must have played the game and know what I mean). Of course, I did not want to jump with the bike from 240m tall skyscraper as I believe the landing would not be that nice.

I knew now where to go to find the path that will lead straight to the other unexplored side of the island and to the other bank of the river, "the continental part". I also wanted to check now the building, the office quarters of the United Nations but did not want to waste much time. I found my road that led me towards the Wagramerstrasse which was the one straight till the other side of the river. I turned around to see if possible everything I had missed earlier, the Kaiswerasser bay to my right side (the south-eastern side) and a bit far behind it another island I wanted to visit (next time... ).

While going straight to the street I noticed one crossing where I turned to the left my first time on the island back in December where I was looking for the park in the center of the Danube. Back then it was foggy and much more cold than this day. I needed scarf and gloves whereas now I could manage the whole trip without them.

I continued further until seeing a bridge or at least it looked so. Now I have never been so far before and was getting excited. I also passed by the UN building but could not see much of the yard and the entrance since it was above me and on some other platform. Now going over this bridge...

Moving forward to the bridge of Wagramerstrasse

Okay, on my way here I also passed by the UBahn station Kaisermühlen VIC and to my right till the bridge were the houses, and to the left park (behind the Skyscrapers) with some playfields and a terrain for athletes. Parallelly to Wagramer Street to our left you can see the UBahn Station Alte Donau. Now from the both sides of this bridge (actually it was mostly an artificially built dyke with one passage for the boats in the end just before reaching the land) I could see the wooden docks with the boats. And the area was enclosed with the fence. I wanted to go to one of them but decided not to waste time searching for the entrance. I stopped just a little bit to take a few photos and see the metro station. Again, I wanted to use one of the following days to ride till the last stop - Leopoldau - and document everything with my camera. I was only once on the other side of the river with one of my international friends few weeks earlier when it was snowing and had the beautiful view over white area. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time and problems with my studio I had not enough time to do this.

it might be around 150 m to the other side, did not feel much actually. And there we are!

To the other side of the Danube

Oh yeah! It felt great and I had "new achievement unlocked" in my head. But I was also sad a bit. Maybe because of the cloudy weather. Right on the other side I could not see some tall buildings but rather neighbourhood of mans family houses and normal residential buildings. It looked a bit boring. I did not bother myself with going further to explore the neighbourhood but wanted (because of the precious time and maybe 45 minutes left to return the bike) to go alongside the river bank. But first a little break.

I immediately noticed a short wooden dock or sort of a platform for the pedestrians and bike that went from the road to the left leading a bit under the bridge and to the right side. I decided to go there quickly and have a little break from the ride. There i saw the Donauinsel from behind, all the skyscrapers and the Ubahn about 150 m away from me (and missed the opportunity to record the one that was passing by). I believe the view from it on the concrete bridge above the river is truly amazing, especially in summer and during the sunset. Since it was cloudy it all looked a bit grayish or just suggested it is still winter there. I enjoyed for a minute or two the silence of the place. It is totally opposite to the center of Vienna and the districts I passed through every day. There was also some woman standing there on the wooden fence looking far away. She was there already before I came and left after I went further. Somehow I knew I was not going to be here again until the next visit to Vienna which made me nostalgic but then the time was running and had to make the circle as planned. Still many plans for today!

An der Oberen Alten Donau, riding parallelly with the Donauinsel

I went under the Ubahn bridge and looked to the north-east to see how far does it go above the ground and after maybe 300-350 meters it goes to the left and in the underground. Time to continue further.

Now, going alongside the river was a bit boring or actually you don't have (at least during this weather) nothing special to see or feel. I felt like in Zagreb at some borders of the neighbourhoods along the river or lakes of Savica (which are close to our city's thermal power plant). I was now riding through the 'An der Oberen Alten Donau' Street. To my left there were also properties (houses, gardens.. ) owned by the lucky people as they had a direct exit to the river or actually a bay (as I discovered later). They were enclosed by a 2m tall fence so I could not see directly and they wanted to protect they privacy of course. But then i had to hold my camera up in the air a bit to take the photographs of the area. Luckily, after a minute of the ride further I found a place without houses where there was a fence I could see through and I used the opportunity to make more shots.

I was slowly getting more and more away from the Skyscrapers of the Donauinsel and leaving the Danube Tower also far behind. The view on my side had also been changing. The part of the route looked a bit boring and the road between the houses was not the ideal one actually. Later in the second part, however, the road seemed to be new or renovated with the center for the cars and on the both sides a pedestrian or bike path. I also noticed that it must have been built in the recent years or last 2 decades as the buildings were new and lots of parks for children. On the other side on the Donauinsel I saw lots of sand beaches (at least it was yellow and suggested so) and lots of playgrounds. I guess it must be full in summer or when it's warm and sunny. Oh, I forgot to say. I took me around 3 km until reaching the bridge I decided to climb in order to go back to the western bank of the Danube. And on half of my way there I noticed that on Donauinsel the parks turned into again a neighbourhood of houses without big buildings.

About 2, 3 kilometers I spot the place where the island and the "continent" were getting closer to each other and were connected with one short small wooden bridge for cyclists and passengers (maybe 2m wide) and there was the sign before it saying 'Strandbad Angelibad' referring to the park, playground and the beach on the other side. I did not go there but just till the middle of the bridge, took a few photos and a video and went back up on my road. There is a small slope so it's a great pleasure after more or less flat road to go down without touching the pedals!

For the rest kilometer or less I continued until reaching the first bridge. On my way there there were many docks again and houses, it looked much more interesting in this 'bay' then the rest of the boring trip earlier. After reaching the bridge I checked where I was on my Google maps and it said I came to Floridsdorfer Wasserpark. Great.

Reaching Floridsdorfer Wasserpark

While getting to the center of the bridge for the passengers an cyclists (and below the one for cars and train) I saw a few more houses and docks when looking in the direction I came from. On the other side of the bridge I saw something that looked like a swamp to me at first but then realized it's some kind of a park with a lake. The name of it is Wasserpark. I had then two opportunities - to continue further and after half a kilometer reach the Ubahn Station Neue Donau which would lead me further over the narrow island and then to Handelskai Ubahn and Brigittenau, the center of it... and eventually to the very same spot I visited several hours earlier in the morning where I turned around back to Spittelau.

The other way I took had a road leading through the park along the lake. I was curious so I went there. The park itself is not something too big but rather nice little oasis between the highway and loud roads. There is also a playground for the children and lots of banks to enjoy the nature. From the park though there is a view on the skyscraper from the side. Anyway, I did not spend there much time as I had to go back to Spittelau to leave the bike within the hour. So there was the Flordisdorfer bridge right ahead and a road that was climbing up to get you on the bridge. Now being on the top again it was time to start going back.

Over the Flordisdorfer bridge back to Brigittenau and (almost) a fatal mistake

However, there was no direct path over the bridge and I had a little problem. Nothing much actually. The road had no entrance to the bridge, just being at the same level... and I had to go back on the dyke to the bridge that lead to the UBahn Station on the other side. There I saw the place where the road was not actually that popular and with cars on and a pedestrian path a bit under the road. I found a little bridge that was also had both pedestrian and car path, took a photo of the big bridge in front of me and then crossed the car road down to the pedestrian only. Now I started rushing north to the Floridsdorfer Bridge as I wasted a few precious minutes now. It took about 400 meters and I was on the bridge!

I felt happy as I was back on the track. Within a minute I crossed over to the narrow island and started recording again with my camera in the right hand.

To my right there was nothing interesting actually as it was already periphery of Vienna. To my left were then two huge white ships, behind them the railway and car bridge and the look at the buildings of Vienna. Far away now from me were the skyscrapers of Donauinsel. After 2-3 minutes I reached the western bank of Danube and back "on the continent" still holding camera in my hands. I was back in Briggitenau and found the Friedrich Engels Platz where the tram 33 was rotating and going back to the center. I had here now two options, to continue riding through the big avenue - Adalbert Stifter Straße or go left following the tram. I chose the second option and Marchfeldstraße. Far away I saw the Wiener Fernwärme and Spittelau Ubahn station so I chose this direction hoping I would reach the other side without the problem. I knew there was the pedestrian bridge I went over earlier in the morning. I also did not know at the time that the street I passed through the same day was a few hundred meter to my left.

I was getting closer now to the bridges, I went under the railway bridge and started looking for the one to get me on the other side. I had a bit more than 10 minutes which was more than enough. But then the problems occurred.

Dramatic last minutes with the CityBike

As I was approaching the banks of the Danube canal I immediately started searching for my bridge to get on the other side. I was still happy but then an unlucky moment happened where I did not notice my bridge because of one residenital building. There was only one I saw and went quickly there. It was when I reached it I realized it's some other bridge and no road for the pedestrians. I became confused as I thought I must have missed mine for a few hundred meters and started feeling a little bit under pressure as I had less than 10 minutes to get on the other side. I think it was something like 7-8 minutes left and no bridge around. Then I went into wrong direction which took me much more. I did not see that mine was just less than a minute to the left.

Instead I left more than 300 meters to the north and saw a bridge there. I thought it was mine but again Fern Wärme facility was now far to the left. Strange?! I reached this bridge and it was something else. Luckily I was able to swear (not that loud) for myself and noone was around. I was not in an unfamiliar place with no safe route to the platform above and had about 5 minutes left. So many bridges and curves, and more than a kilometer at least to reach the CityBike station!

No time to waste, I started rushing towards the "knot" of 10 roads and bridges and hope for the best. I started feeling lucky and happy again with the thing that I was now pretty close but it all turned into despair once I found out I can only go few hundreds meter more and wait by the huge motor vehicles road at zebra and then take the long path up. That would not be enough and I would be late and have to pay for the Citybike. I remembered in this situation of survival that people start sharpening their focus on the way to escape the trouble. But I was getting into more of them. I tried the other way but there were no stairs for the platform or anything, just the way inside the garage, not what I wanted.

I had around 2 and a half minute left, I already started cursing the bad luck and how stupid I was with going over the wrong bridge (yet the right one would lead me direct to the city bike station, I would have been there already 5 minutes earlier). Then I thought "well, logically, if something exists let's try the road that goes up". So I crossed the path without the cars at the moment, found some Zebra and hoped that one path that led behind the walls to the left will also lead me to CityBike. I had about a minute left.

I saw the Citybike station and the entrance to the Spittelau Ubahn and started rushing like crazy. I had about a minute before the hour expires, I got there and went straight to hit the place to leave the bike. And succeeded! Like in films, in the last second. I felt like a god.

But was sweating like a pig because of the nervous and the rush in the last 5 minutes. So I stopped my sports tracker app to see the statistics and entered the metro station. It was the 54th minute and then the 55 showed up, when an hour earlier I took my bike at Vorgarten Straße. Now it was the second half of...

Recording the other side of the ride with U6

Now I had like 'deja vu', I've seen this before, seemed like it's been days but just 4 hours earlier. Going up the same stairs until reaching the platform for the direction of Sibenhirten. I had a few minutes before the arrival so I took out the chocolate from my backpack and relaxed on the column. I was now really tired and it's been already a long day. I was waiting on the same spot like in the morning hopping to get some free seat next to the window. And I was lucky again.

Time to turn on the camera and start recording the next 10 minutes of the ride. I had problems with the left hand in the uncomfortable position but managed to find a good posture so my hand does not die till Längenfeldgasse. I started after reaching Nussdorfer Strasse and enjoyed the other side.

After 9 and something means back at Längenfeldgasse but was unlucky and forgot that there was a fence barricade between my and other train so I could not see the amazing view at the curve when the metro goes towards the ground and ends up in the underground. I stopped recording and got out. I did not bother myself with running quickly to the other side of the platform to catch the U6 Floridsdorf

Going back home tired and plans for tonight

Waited few minutes for my direction and sat down, ate the last chocolate and waited for Josefstädter U6 Station. I took the tram to my Lederergasse and went to the apartment to lay down on the couch. It was time to prepare again something to eat and had then a few hours before going to the ESN Event 'Anti-Valentine's Day' which started at 8pm.

ESN Event was pretty fun and I was lucky that it was again only few minutes away from my home (not even enough time to listen to one song). I came home satisfied and wrote a bit more on my blog and made a to-do list for the upcoming days. Eh, not as planned but still good.

Thanks for reading.

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