Paddle Boats

The Donau River cuts through the northern area of Vienna. In the canal there are paddle boats and row boats for rent. Only 4 Euro per person per hour in a 4-person paddle boat. 21 college students with 2 adventurous leaders plus paddle boats is sure to equal a good time, which is why, of course, we ventured to the river. As often happens when plans are made, everything didn’t go as smoothly as we would have liked. We had to take a couple U-bahns to the docks where the boats awaited us, and we lost a crew member along the way. Luckily good ol' Josh is used to being on his own and didn’t panic like most of us girls (including me) would have at after being left behind and having no idea where to go. Since our time was limited we departed from the shore without him.

At first the trip was leisurely and we milled about the water taking pictures of the landscape, each other, and the swans that seemed a little too used to being fed by tourists. Once Josh was called and located, Sister Minert took her boat with 2 other girls back to the dock to pick him up. On their way back Brother Minert was on the phone with his wife and decided to pull a prank, exclaiming things like, “Oh no Naomi don’t fall in! What do you mean you don’t know how to swim?!” Later he pulled a second prank, pretending that he was nearly about to fall in. I think Sister Minert was more stressed by these pranks than amused, but we all got a kick out of her reactions.

The Minert brought a delicious snack of gummy bears for the trip! When our boating time was about up, we had a race for the honor of finishing off the gummy bears. Breanne, who was in my boat, and I are both sore losers so we were determined to win. We paddled our little legs as fast as they could go and at times we felt like they would fall off, but in the end we were victorious!

The riverbanks were beautiful and I really enjoyed this excursion. Every day I tell myself to appreciate to beauty of this land because I know I won’t be able to see it forever.