brodie mcculloch » Austria

Vienna for a few days of quiet

Brodie McCulloch — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:40:26 +0000

I had a few days in Vienna on my own after flying back from Rotterdam. I managed to look around the city and see some sights, Vienna is a nice city but by this stage I was starting to get a bit cultured out.

one of the many old buildings in Vienna

I stayed in the Wombat hostel, guess what he primary nationality was there? Australians. But it was good fun, a defiantly think that hostels need a bar, it makes them far better.

random jazz festival

We had left our bikes at the Palace hostel that was quite far out of town on a hill, so after I had finished at the Wombat hostel I headed to the Palace hostel to make sure our bikes were still there. Lucky for us they were there and we will be able to continue our trip to Bratislava. Ryan returned the night before we were cycling to Bratislava he had spent a long time waiting for ferries and flights from Greece to get back to Vienna. Fun times.

Vienna to Rotterdam to see the ms Eurodam

Brodie McCulloch — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:29:39 +0000

So luck came by way when I got an email from Holland America Lines wanting to interview me for the position of Manager On-Board Marketing. So I had a phone interview which went well and they asked me to fly from Vienna to Rotterdam to visit their new ship the ms Eurodam.

While I flew to Rotterdam Ryan flew to Greece, Eos to party down for a week.

ms Eurodam

I flew to Amsterdam and got the train to Rotterdam. I staid where I was a month before when we were cycling through Rotterdam, it was just across the river from where the ms Eurodam was docked. That day I went and watched the opening ceremony (it was a long day) then the next day I went on board for a tour and interview with the existing On-Board Marketing Manager and the Seattle Office Manager. So I looked around the ship which is shiny and new talked about the position.

the ms Eurodam opening

Anyway all went well and a few days later I got an email saying I got the job and they wanted me to start immediately. This was a problem as my medical was not valid and I still had another month of traveling to do with Ryan.

But once I have got all this stuff I will be boarding the ms Eurodam for 20 days training in the North Sea and then will be flying back to the Mediterranean to board the ms Noordam where I will be until I cross the Atlantic to the Caribbean.

Not sure when I will be home. Maybe February.

Vienna for the Euro 08 finals

Brodie McCulloch — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:20:04 +0000

So even though we were a day early to Vienna because it turned out we had no idea what the date was we did get a chance to sleep in a bed and be a bit fresher for the Euro 08 finals.

Big day out for the city

The city was going crazy, people were selling the Euro 08 tickets for 2500 euro each, a little pricey for us. There were big screens set up everywhere and the shops had cleared food out of the refrigerator space so they could fit more beer in.

into the game

We started the day finding internet as we had been out of contact for the last week. We needed to organise the next part of our trip into eastern Europe, although we have started to wing it a bit more.

the game

After the interneting and watching the city go crazy we went for a walk to where everyone was watching the finals, there were buses full of Germans and many Spanish people all over the place. The venue for watching the game was huge and I am not sure how many people would have been there.

So Spain won and they had a concert until the early hours of the morning. Good night though.

The Danube in four days

Brodie McCulloch — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:09:37 +0000

So we rode down the Danube to Vienna in 4 days, it was going to be five but we wanted to get to Vienna for the Euro 08 Finals between Germany and Spain.

The sights were all really good and we got to see some amazing stuff so here are some photos below. There was a hard day with flat tires (3 in total between us).

Ryan on a Hydrodam

flat tire day .........testing

Almost at the next stop

good riding weather

View from castle ruins

One of the many towns

Munich to Passau by train and the Danube day one

Brodie McCulloch — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:57:00 +0000

The train from Munich to Passau was no problem, there were other cyclists on board who were doing the same thing so it was a good sign.

Riding out of Passau, Germany

When we got there we rode into the tourist information center and asked for a cycling map of the Danube, here is another tip, they give detailed books on how to ride down the Danube for free, they have everything in them from maps, to bike repair to food to camp grounds, all good stuff.

One of the many bike ferrys for crossing the Danube

So we set off, it was a hotter day but that is fine, I liked it better when it was hot than raining anyway.

The plan was to make as much ground on the first day so that we can take our time for the other days. There was some really amazing terrain and castles around which was great to see.

The Danube

So we rode 80km through towns and villages along the Danube, there were many other riders however they were a fair bit older than we were.

Our tent on the first night

The first night or camping there was thunderstorms, the weather could change really quickly, I had read about June / July thunderstorms but I figured it would not be a problem. It was not a problem because we were sleeping when it all happened. It was a big day so we went to bed early so we could get a good start in the morning.