Guten Tag from Vienna

Forgot to mention in our last post that one of the benefits of the super long and mostly drunken train ride here was that it was our first journey that we could actually see substantial changes in the landscape along the way. It was also by far the most scenic trip yet, going between mountains covered with pine trees and tipped with snow, and through valleys that looked as well tended as a golf course but were complete wilderness.

The contrast of what we´ve seen of this whole country thus far with dirty, disorganised Rome is amazing. Everything here is absolutely immaculate and clean, even the metro stations and public toilets! The traffic is sedate and polite, the drivers readily give way to pedestrians, and the whole pace of this place is slower and more relaxed. You´d hardly guess it was such a big city until you try to walk all over it, like we did.

After our last post we were surprised to discover (particularly after our experience in Spain and Italy with the siesta) that none of the restaurants nearby were open at quarter past nine. So we decided that we weren´t really hungry anyway and skipped dinner altogether in preference of an early night.

The following morning we availed ourselves of the very generous and excellent breakfast here - at last, no more overly sweet pastries and cake. There were some other bizzare additions, such as cold meats, brie and swiss cheese, bread rolls and savoury dips, as well as the usual bread, eggs, bacon, cereal, yoghurt, etc. Surprisingly the coffee here is quite good too, even from an automatic machine, and far better than anything we had in Italy. OK, I´ll stop talking about food now.

After breakfast we started our tour of the city, checking out some of the numerous churches and palaces. The highlight was a quick tour of the catacombs beneath St Stephen´s Place, which displayed old statues that had been removed from the outer of the church as well as some more grisly scenes, such as centuries old bones stacked like firewood in individual rooms.

We also went into the Lipizzaner Museum, which chronicles some of the history of the Spanish Riding School as well as the care and training of the Lipizzaner stallions that perform in the show we´ll be seeing tomorrow. Now I´m even more excited about going.

Other than that we just walked absolutely everywhere in our usual pattern, came back to the hotel for a too-short rest before heading out to a restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet guide. It was called the "Gulaschmuseum", and suprisingly enough it served numerous different goulashes, including a chocolate dessert one, which we unfortunately couldn´t possible consider trying after our enormous main courses.

Today we mastered the metro system and did a little less walking. We went to the Hapsburg´s summer palace, a gargantuan palace with 1440 rooms and set on an enormous estate. We didn´t go inside but went for a big walk around the gardens, climbed a monument with a great view of the palace and grounds as well as a good bit of the city, then got ourselves lost in the maze. After this we had a tasty lunch at a cool jazz bar and were served by a grumpy cow of a waiter who wouldn´t even look at us when we spoke to her. She got no tip for her troubles.

Then we went to the House of Music, which was this bizarre interactive museum type thing where you could learn more about the theories of sound and music through a series of hands-on auditory experiments. It was weird.

Tonight we´re heading out to find an area of Heurigen, wine houses that serve their own wine fermented on the premises and are apparently very cool.

Not sure if I mentioned that tomorrow we´re going to the Spanish Riding School...?

Auf weidersehen.