the vienna countryside

on thursday, 5.2.09 i took a day hike through the country side of vienna in the towns of grinzing, kahlenberg, and nussdorf. between grinzing and kahlenberg i took some stray paths and wound up on a walking path that zigzaged its way through the vinyards of vienna. what i didnt realize at the time, was that during the tram ride to grinzing, we had slowly made a steady incline
into the courty side. by the time i had walk through the small town and made my way down the unmarked paths, i began to notice the snow and soon realized that i was in the alps. though small, they are the alps nonetheless. one thing that i noticed right away was how active the elderly still are, the walking paths were moderatly busy for the time of year with day hikers and inhabitants of the nearby villages. i have always been told that the viennese were very active and full of the love of nature, but this was my fist realization of that fact.
after i made my way off the small paths, found kahlenberger strasse. this street leads to the summit of kahlenberg mountain. once i reached the top, i ate my packed lunch of fruit and a sandwich of jam and nuttella, i admired the view that streched for inches and inches through the think fog before i made my way back down. the path was an easy one to walk as well. not too steep and it has enough twists and turns to keep it that way. there was a lot of nice scenery as well, even a graveyard dating back to the 18 hundreds with a woman named karolina trauernwieser who was said to be the most beautiful woman in
vienna in 1815. on the stone, a man inscribed "ye that ere lost an angel, pity me." naturally i took a picture of one of viennas most beautiful, but i know she doesnt compare to abbie.
but like i stated before, the path wasnt too terrible, so on the way down i got a bit more adventurous by sneaking on the closed path that was covered with snow just to see where it lead. once i found my way back to kahlenberger strasse, i took that the rest of the way into the town of nussdorf, one of the many towns that beethoven lived. next i navigated my way back to grinzing and came across the former home of albert einstein from 1927-1931.
grinzing was one of the most interesting towns i have been in, there is a lot of red vienna influence and secessionist houses as well, including the karl marx hof. it was neat to see something in person after having just studied it in my psychology class the week before.