Vienna

I have been to Vienna many times before (for work and pleasure), and I love the place. I find it to be full of the most beautiful buildings around in such a wonderful state of maintenance, that you would believe that it was Disney. Austria has only one obvious industry – tourism, and it is a fairly slick show! There are many museums and buildings dedicated to one of the leading “empires” of Europe; they had a lot of money, so there is a lot of art and treasures on display, as well as the grandiose architecture. We saw a show at the Spanish School of Riding – a beautiful palace building, with an obvious amount of work gong in to the display; but to us, the untrained, it looked like ponies prancing for an hour and a half – it was not expensive but tickets are scarce.

Music is also everywhere, especially Mozart (strange since he was from Salzburg; you find in Europe that Mozart has the “George Washington slept here” issue), but also a lot of the native Strauss family.

We went to a concert of Strauss and Mozart music at the Kursalon, in the park near our hotel. A nightly tourist affair, but surprisingly well performed and entertaining. Music from an orchestra, opera singers and dancers – none of which was world class, but very professional and polished. The highlight for me was the orchestra playing the theme from “the third man” as an encore.

One of my favourite drinking holes, 1516 – a brewpub provided us with beer and food. Coffee at Cafe Hawelka was a highlight.

We were overcome by a morning visit to a fleamarket. And I joined in with protest to get cars off the road, which took the form of a picnic in the middle of the road.

Lots of fun!