Gray with colors

Winter in Vienna generally means gray. A lot of gray sky. It's cloudy and foggy. If at least it would snow! But it very rarely does. What to do?

I survive this time of the year by wearing some colorful clothes. An additional benefit of this brightening up is that it also increases visibility. Today I set off with Paula for a short gift shopping trip. Since it's cold one has to wear proper protection anyhow. My choice of the day was a blue and red woolen combination. Feels much warmer already, doesn't it? What are you favorite winter cycling clothes?

Ready ...

... and go!

First I had to cycle on some narrow bike lanes. I get by by cycling on the outer edge of  it, otherwise I'm too close to parked cars.

 

Before getting to the ring, I can ride in the opponent direction of a one-way street. That's a really nice treat for cyclists heading towards the center.

Next I could ride a long stretch along the ring bike path. It's incredibly beautiful in autumn when there are a lot of yellow leaves everywhere, but rather bare-branched in November. I passed a few Christmas markets. Well, not really my piece of cake, certainly not yet. Too much consumerism and drunk people everywhere. Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier each year. And each year we have less Christkind and more imported Santa Claus.

I was heading towards Mariahilferstraße, generally a hopelessly crowded shopping street. Although it was not so bad on the stretch that I visited, I still could not find bike parking and had to attach Paula to a traffic sign post.

The shop I went to was crowded but at least they don't play Christmas songs. I found some nice birthday present for my mum, and that was all in needed. Great that I could combine with a relaxed bike ride through town on a Saturday morning :-).