Weinviertel Adventures

If you visit the Wikipedia link to Lower Austria, you see on the map that this federal state is actually at the top of the country, adding a very definite WTF? aspect to the geographical nomenclature of the place.

Notice also a kind of an island in the upper right corner. That's Vienna, which is both a city and a state. Not to be confused with the situation with Salzburg, in which there is a state called Salzburg that also contains within its borders a city named Salzburg. With Vienna, the city and the state are the same thing.

Now that you're confused, let me further confusify you by saying that we drove out of Vienna (and therefore into Lower Austria, which surrounds Vienna...get it?) to a section called the Weinviertel, or "Wine Quarter." Why does it have that name? Lotsa grape vines, therefore grapes, therefore wine.

Our destination: the Urgeschichtemuseum Niederösterreich, or as the website calls it The Museum of Prehistory of Lower Austria. 

The museum is contained within an old castle, and its grounds. Outside there are recreations of dwellings dating from prehistoric times up until the time of the Celts. Evidently there are a significant number of archaeological finds in Austria, proving that people have lived in these parts for many thousands of years. Check out this page for a photo slide show that gives you an idea of the different structures people may have used since before recorded history.

What they suppose a Celt lodge might have looked like.

The exhibits inside were just as impressive, including one that explains prehistoric mining.

The only bummer part for me was that the info was presented only in German, though you could rent one of those audio devices that will tell you what's what as you walk along, in your native language. Problem was, I didn't know about the existence of those devices and the lady selling the tickets didn't bother to mention it, either. I only learned about it when B mentioned seeing someone using one of the things.

That done, we drove to a nearby small town that had a pretty impressive health food store, where we bought rolls and cheese, which the proprietor gladly turned into sandwiches for us. Lunch finished, we drove through the countryside. Which I quite liked----mostly farmland with (of course) vineyards, wheat or hay, and millions of sunflowers that were so heavy with seeds that their heads drooped toward the ground instead of toward the sun.

As we'd drive through each village I noticed how quiet it was...I guess everyone was at work, or sitting in their gardens. There was basically no street life to be seen...the ghost villages of Austria.

Austria has working oil wells. B's dad told me today that Austria produces 25% of its own petroleum. The rest is imported. Not sure if that's accurate or not, but I sure enough saw some pumps in action:

Oklahoma in Austria? A rift in the time-space continuum.

I stumbled upon an interesting blog post from a guy who spent some time with one of the Weinviertel locals. Which is really the best way to experience a new place, if you can manage it.

Here's a video to give you a feel for the lay of the land, and the wine cellars: