Its Almost more than a month now in Europe, and almost every weekend i went to some or the other places for sight seeing and also to some neighboring European countries.and i found that allmost all the European countries looks more or less same and one non-ignorable similarities is all of them have there history as main attractions ..
Now after covering most of the sight seeing in towns .. i stumbled across the official Austrian website and in particular the Vienna [wien] official website and one particular topics catched my immediate attention, its Hiking in and around Vienna and its beautiful Woods..
After going through the complete details .. finally i decided to try for Hiking/Trek in one of the paths which is laid out by Forest Department here in Vienna,.. so i selected one particular path which includes some part of city and most part of Vienna woods and reserved an weekend for it.
The Day
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On Sunday i decided to go for this Hike/Trek which is of 11Km in distance and which includes some 30% of outskirts of city and 70% of Vienna woods .. and obviously this is special for me in many ways ,
First , Its my first Hike/Trek outside India
Second , Its my First Solo Hike/Trek
Third , I am the first BASC [Bangalore Ascenders] member who is Starting this new trend of Hike/Trek in Europe [Hopefully others will follow]
By the time i packed everything and left my Room its almost 11AM in the morning and the outside whether is a bit of cold and more cloudy [A typical European Winter], the route which i choose is from Station "Ottakring - Ottakring" which covers many places [see end of blog for routemap], and i took the Underground train [U3 Ottakring] to reach the place of Hike/Trek start point,..which is incidentally the last stop of this train. once u came out of Underground train station, u will enter the Street and just before the Street i found a big Broad from Forest Department giving complete route map of this Hike/Trek [I have already took the printout from my room], this made me bit relaxed, and after 10 min of seeing the entire place .. i started my Hike Solo.
The Hike/Trek
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As i started I had the map and name of each check points which comes along the way and My initial Start was in the City and as it was sunday there were very few people on the road as unlike in India where for us weekends are meant to be on the roads, and i felt the culture difference since i come to Europe especially on weekends [LOL...i hate to stay inside during weekend]. and one more thing to notice is the weather .. as it was winter and lot of coldness in the air.
When i reached the 3rd checkpoint, i started to notice the difference in the surrounding environment in term of buildings...roads..and the way the city is built ... here its very calm and beautiful and each house is independent with lush fresh wine-yards and the terrain some what hilly, which made me more relaxed and happy.
All this time since from starting of this Hike/Trek i was very much eager to see the Vienna Woods .. and now i am almost very much near to it ..as i can sense the freshness of air and increasing coldness and fragrance of wild and woods.
Nature Allways Wins Over Man Made Wonders
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After almost one and half hour of Hike/Trek i reached Vienna woods entrance and i was filled with joy after seeing it.. and took some time to relax a bit and checked near by boards which explains the path needs to take for different destinations through Vienna woods and also spoke to few fellow ppl there about the details of this Hike.. and as the entire path is laid by Forest Department .. they made a good marking along the way on every couple of distance they marked with different color paint on trees the for each path... and later i also come to know that in deeper woods they have put up separate boards to show the Hike/Trek Path.
As i started the Hike/Trek in woods i also surprised to see many ppl are also taking walks in these woods which made me 100% worry-less and here the coldness in the air is increasing in exponential order .. and as winter all most all the trees lost there leafs and stand there bare .. and the ground is totally covered with those dead leafs and the view of these sky high trees are really mesmerizing.
When i reached deep in to woods the visibility is very narrow and i can barely see 10feets ahead , the fog is too thick and the chill of the winds will make u freeze .. although i brought good winter jacket and glouse but due to the freezing cold my nose/lips and ears were started to pain for a while before the view around me made to forget it.
During the Hike/Trek in these woods i took ample time to relax and enjoy the view of these wonderful woods and every now and then i was able to see few Hikers in groups and as well as solo like me in these woods.
After almost two hours spending in the Vienna woods, i reached my next check point which enters the city again and i must say this part of city is also equally as beautiful as other side from which i started in to the woods.
Finally after covering the all checkpoints i reached the same place from where i started my trek.. and i was damn happy about my adventure :)
Summery
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1. This was my best weekend ever in Europe, and this place scores num 1 in my list
2. I suggest everyone who visits Europe to explore the possibilities of Hike/Trek ..Trust me u won;t regret it.
3. The route which i took is ==>U3-Ottakring --> Thaliastraße --> Gallitzinstraße --> Funkengerngasse --> Rolandweg --> Johann-Staud-Straße --> Pelzer Rennweg --> Andergasse --> Eselstiege --> Savojenstraße --> Sprengersteig --> Paulinensteig --> Wilhelminenstraße --> Kollburggasse --> Erdbrustgasse --> Ottakringer Straße --> Weinheimergasse --> U3-Ottakring
4. Total Distance 11Km
5. Map -->
Rest of the Pics here :
http://picasaweb.google.com/nagoo12345/HikeTrekInViennaWoodsAustriaEurope#
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