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| Facing west from Dounainsel before dinner. |
Its started on Friday around noon, as most of the workforce here is allowed to start their Easter holiday a few hours early. Skipping lunch because my 9AM meeting included a dessert you could only find at a finer restaurant in the States, I had to get the running shoes on and burn off whatever that creation was. I went little further than the next metro stop, Donauinsel. That means Danube Island in English. Years ago, the government here created an Island in the River for flood protection and also as a recreational area. Its far from a sandbar, its complete with infrastructure (no vehicle traffic allowed), restaurants, bars, trails, beaches, playgrounds, picnic tables, and area to hold the largest festival in Europe. The weekend long festival gets over 2 million annually and the likes of Madonna and Falco have performed over the years. It was a rather nice environment. I couldn't run the length of the island, its 20km, so i just started running in one direction and turned around when I thought I was about halfway gassed. Turns out I was about three quarters gassed, and had to leg it out. Oh well, it was an awesome run and my shuffled playlist produced David Allen Coe (The Ride) and Shooter Jennings (4th of July). I bet those aren't common on that running path. Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures, because i dont pack anything when i run other than the iPod, which, just now it dawned on me my iPod has a camera, another lesson to be learned. The island was full of people biking, running, walking, just enjoying. It was a very nice day and sites were not pristine, but were unique and plenty colorful.
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| The view from my seat. Notice the food...I am much better at ordering en Espanol. |
Last night I decided to head to city center to see if I could tell the difference in a weekend crowd. It was packed with tourists just like normal. I walked a few hours, then decided to head back to Donauinsel to try out some restaurants that I had noticed during my exploration earlier in the afternoon. One would think on an awesome night, it would be packed!! Well...not so much, there was a crowd, but it was far from being crowded. I think the Insel crowd really gets going past midnight. For most of the social crowd, the night starts around midnight and runs until 5AM here. Thats sleep time for me. Regardless, I had been craving some Mexican food and found a Spanish place that was very good! It was a tick up from El Porton and most definitely hit the spot.
This morning I am getting ready to go exercise for a little bit. I am either going to walk to Prater or take the metro to Schonnbrunn so I will be surrounded in sights. What I don't do today I'll do tomorrow perhaps. Its just too nice not to be outside, and really do you see me actually enjoying an art museum more than to just say I have been there? Now a history museum definitely, but it needs to be in English. So lets wait for a cloudy day for those ventures. An Easter weekend with sunny weather, tired feet, and perhaps a few Ottakringers will suit me just fine.
