We got up and toured the Roman Ruin. It was VERY neat to see the things that the Romans had built so long ago still be recognizable - like the "Heidentor" (that is the large arch in the picture) and the large bathhouse ("Place Ruins"). The Amphitheater had been excavated as well. The military camp was much more primitive -- of course.

We then toured the other castle we had seen the night before (at the top of a STEEP hill) with another really good view of the Danube, and then hit the road.

We checked the map, and Teresa was interested in looping down to the Southeast part of Austria. They had a "See" there (it turns out that See means Lake in German, rather than sea).

My only comment is that the Austrians must be DESPERATE for the beach. First off, the place was crowded: VERY crowded. We had trouble finding a parking spot in the large lot for day trippers. This was separate from the campers (which were pretty much just as crowded).

Second� well, it was not a beach I would have been comfortable on. Think gravel here� admittedly, fairly smooth gravel from the waves, but I didn't see ANY sand.

The see water was brown.

Nonetheless, people were having quite a time and evidently enjoying themselves.

A heat wave was occuring , all over the Northern Hemisphere (while it was hot over in the U.S , it was also so hot in Europe - which usually doesn't get that hot at all).

The Opel didn't have air conditioning, and Teresa and I were both about to melt. We actually found an outlet mall (the only one that we saw) and checked it out -- most of it was brands from America. Then, we headed towards Vienna. On the way, after trying hard to find some non-carbonated water (with no luck), I told Teresa that, if I could find a refrigerator big enough for me, I would be happy to climb in and settle down for a while.

This comment was going to come back to me later.

We headed towards Vienna, and actually encountered traffic (things had been pretty easy up until that point). Other than tour buses zooming by and cars (usually) passing us, traffic had been light.

This wasn't the case in Vienna; we encountered heavy, interstate like traffic.

By-the-way, they have some REALLY STRANGE cars over there (check out this web site:

http://www.smartcar-owner.co.uk

including this "Smart" Car. Driving into Vienna, we saw a car dealership for these "things". They had a round, glass tower with different floors (looked like an old style 45 rpm tower) with about five of these on each floor. Odd sight. We both thought it looked like a display for matchbox cars.

We finally looped off the Autobahn, found a "geusthaus", flowers were planted in the window boxes. We took a nap and then had dinner outside on the patio beside the stream, Jon ordered more pancake soup (delicious, it is actually crepes cut into strips and simmered in a yummy beef broth). Later we went for a walk before we retired to our room.

Day 4