Vienna

Saturday Vienna

Our last train -- from Munich to Vienna. Nice leather seats. Decent coffee. I'm going to miss the rail travel, it's been very enjoyable. Arrived in Vienna about 1:30pm and took a Utrain to Westbahnhoff. Walked to the same hostel that we stayed in on the first night of the trip. This time we got a suite. Still a double bed, but a kitchen with an oven and fridge. By the time we checked in, and researched the net for walking tours (not in winter) and bus tours, it was after 3:30pm so we went for a walk and some window shopping close to the hotel. Bought pizza back to heat for tea. Watched some Australian Open tennis.

Sunday Vienna

Bit of a sleep in as the tour didn't start till 11. Saw the first set of the Australian Open men's final before we left. First seriously bad weather of the trip. Was raining when we left, when we came out of the subway it was windy, raining and hailing. Map got wet, glasses got wet. Unfortunately we went the wrong way in the rain and had to run all the way round town in the rain to find the bus, which we did with a minute to spare. The tour was an hour and a half that had a 30 minute break in the middle where we sat at a company souvenir shop, so it wasn't a very long tour. However we got to see the main sights, and get an explanation, so we walked back to visit most of them afterwards. A very impressive Palace of the Hofbergs. Lots of museums that we didn't go into, lovely parliament and City Hall. Lots of parks, theatres and monuments dedicated to composers such as Richard Strauss, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Haydn who lived and worked in Vienna. Beethoven lived here for 35 years, but in 71 different houses. Saw memorials to Freud, Goethe and Dr Seuss. Big opera houses and obligatory huge cathedral that we couldn't get into as it was Sunday, and hundreds of Viennese musicians in traditional dress were coming out, and freezing their little butts off after a service. Went back to the restaurant we visited on our first night to have another lovely Wiener Schnitzel, and complete the cycle.