This is actually the 24th and last stretch of the Rundumadum hiking trail around Vienna, but it is where we started a little over two weeks ago. The weather was beautiful, although really too hot for the time of year, and I got sun and wind burn!
This stretch is 6.8 kilometers (which is longer than it sounds!) and starts in Vienna’s 21st district with a walk along this little river or canal in the direction of the Danube. It was special to see the red foliage as fall in Vienna is dominated by spectacular golds and yellows–beautiful in its own way but a bit strange for a New Englander. And it was quite something for me to re-visit this part of Vienna, where I used to come quite often to run courses at companies like Alcatel and Siemens that no longer have offices there.
As we got closer to the Danube there was some uncertainty how we should carry on. (Maps of the Vienna hiking trails are not always easy to follow and can lead to some adventures.) We spent some time rather nervously walking parallel to the Autobahn until we came to a bridge that let us cross that and walk along the (New) Danube instead. Ah, much better!
Then we walked along wondering if we had somehow missed the Jedleseer Bridge that would get us across to the Danube Island. Luckily we hadn’t. We found it and managed to cross, with some resistance from Maylo (it was really windy and a bit scary for a little dog). We transversed the Island, enjoying a bit of Vienna we had never been to before, and continued south to cross the Danube itself on the North Bridge–another adventure for Maylo–and wove our way around the flyovers and bike paths and canals on rather complicated and confusing footpaths to finally near our destination, passing on our way the Vienna Model Basin Ltd. (how they get that name from “SCHIFFBAUTECHNISCHE VERSUCHSANSTALT IN WIEN GMBH” somewhat mystifies me, but never mind), a lock, and various other rather industrial but, as is often the case in Vienna, also rather elegant constructions. There are some photos here for those who wish to take a look, along with an explanation in German.
Finally, we managed to cross the canal and come out on the other side in Nussdorf as we were meant to do. Success! And this inspired us (I hope Maylo agrees, I’m kind of assuming he does) to carry on and try to walk the whole way around Vienna on this trail.
Distance: 6.8 km
Time: unknown
ecbinvienna 
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