Sweet relief

In case you haven't heard, Europe is experiencing a bit of a heat wave. (If you've talked to me at all this week, I'm sure you've heard.) The temperature in Vienna reached 100 degrees yesterday, but today, fortunately, the heat is starting to tamper off. For those of you interested, today's high should reach 93 degrees. And next week -- highs in the 80s.

But this past week has been almost unbearable. So what do you do in a city with no a/c when it's 100 degrees outside? The popular answer seems to be "go swimming." So swimming we did go! The Danube River is the pride and joy of many Viennese and, fortunately for us, the portion of the river known as the Old Danube (Alte Donau) is just about three blocks from where we're staying. (Click here for a visual.)

The river has been very nice. The water is cool. It's not too crowded. It's clean except for the reeds. And the majority of the people have been surprisingly modest. Sharkdog doesn't seem to like the water, but he's pretty content sitting on the shore. Sorry for the lack of pictures today. I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate to snap photos at the river. But if we go back today I'll try to remember my camera. In the meantime, I added a lovely weather thingy to the sidebar so I won't have to tell you how hot it is in Vienna.