Monday 3 June -- Napoleon Trail and Military Museum

Off to a late start for some reason, but by 9 I was on the train to the State Park on the other side of the Danube and hence in Lower Austria. The trip also involved a bus, which I had to hang about for. This took me to one entrance to the park, from which I had to scout about for the start of the trail. Some of the paths were signposted as to direction, but the only way to find the trail itself was to look at little 'You are Here' maps posted on poles along the way. They showed your position with a red dot; but usually the dot was at an intersection on the map when there was no intersection to be seen, or vice versa. So they weren't very helpful. I found some of the stones, however, that commemorate Napoleon's first defeat, and the burial place of some of his troops.

Otherwise it was a pleasant enough walk along a broad fire trail which was sometimes gravelled but usually paved. I didn't see any wildlife more exotic than a duck and a lizard which had been run over by a bike. And somehow the return part of the loop involved a long hot walk in the sun past a smelly refinery.

Luckily there was a beer garden near the bus stop. This area--unprepossessing though it is--is a big spot for day trips by the locals, who come out here to sit around little lakes, swim with no clothes on, and generally have as good a time as they can downwind of a big industrial area.The thoroughfares have names like 'Refinery Street' and 'Gas Supply Road'; but they're an intrepid bunch.

Back in Vienna I just had time to visit the Military Museum, which is in the old Armoury -- a fabulous building in itself, especially the upper sections. Not a lot of English signage in the older sections, but there were enough artifacts and uniforms to look at, and the downstairs sections on the First and Second World Wars were fully bilingual. The First World War display was particularly good; I suppose because it marked the end of Austria as an autonomous Empire.

Love to all,

Jon.

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