The feeling is gone, only you and I, it means nothing to me. This means nothing to me. Oh, Vienna.

From the Ultravox earworm that has been plaguing me for weeks

There are so many churches here in Vienna, and they make good use of them – not just for church services or for prayer or letting hordes of tourists clomp around oooh-aaahing about the absolute religious decadence. Many of the churches are used for concerts. Yep, take music and set it in a grand ornate church and it seems you have a sellout event.

It’s so hot here in Europe’s 2023 heatwave that hanging about in the cool of a church is very enticing. We start our church/music tour by visiting the oldest organ in Vienna, which is buried away inside the Franciscan Church. On Fridays they hold one hour tours where you learn about this organ and hear it played. Our group even has a budding organ maestro (about 10 years old) who gives the organ a good go after the main event.

In the evening we attend a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in the very grand and imposing St Stephen’s cathedral. By the good fortune of our seats already being occupied we wind up in the front row, with a grand view of the ensemble as they perform. The church is packed for the Saturday night performance and it is well worth doing, except that when we get out at 9:30 it’s quite hard to find somewhere to eat dinner. Paris this city is not!

There’s also the afternoon organ concert at St Peter’s church, a baroque church that’s just kind of plonked in the middle of some winding and narrow streets. This one is “free at three” and an organist puts the main organ through its paces in a series of grand old works.

I need to revisit my old favourite Karlskirche where we attended a Vivaldi concert on our last visit to Vienna ten years ago. It is still as spectacularly beautiful as it was last time and it remains my favourite church here in Vienna.

Though the weather is hot we attempt a walk around in the Ringstraße, first stumbling across the Votivekirche, built after a failed attempt on Emperor Franz Joseph’s life. His brother started a campaign, convincing people to donate money to build the church because Franz Joseph wasn’t dead. Now that’s brotherly love. Or something.

The Rathaus area is buzzing because the Wien film festival is on. It runs for two months every year showing music films in the evening for free. It’s a shame we only find out about it as we are walking around on our last day. We also wander past the Hapsburg Palace area but it is way too hot to linger even though I just love the ornate buildings and statues. We have a mission: ice cream! Europeans know well that an ice cream on a hot day can soothe a hot body from the inside, and I subscribe to the same theory.

Just to prove tht Vienna isn’t all about churches, music and fabulous buildings, we also take a ride on the historic Reisendrad, a giant Ferris wheel that is more than 100 years old. It’s one of the iconic symbols and most popular attractions in Vienna and while the ride is a bit tame compared to the wild rides in the adjoining amusement park and you don’t really get great views of the city or even of the Donau river, it is a lovely thing to do. You ride around in wooden gondolas that remind me of Melbourne trams.

On our last evening in Vienna we finally catch up with Jeremy and Sally, a Kiwi couple we first met on our second riding day way back in France. We’ve been always within a day or so’s ride of each other but it’s not until Vienna that we are in the same place at the same time. It’s great fun swapping travel stories and, as luck would have it, our waiter is a Viennese man named Christian who has the broadest Australian accent having lived in Beaumaris in Melbourne for twelve years. He seems to enjoy sitting and talking with us and keeps us back late at night bringing out schnapps and other drinks long after the restaurant has closed.

So will all this frivolity in Vienna get that ear worm out? That remains to be seen as we continue on the last part of this long bike journey.