Monday - Vienna

Today we drove from Salzburg to Vienna.  It's about a 4 hour drive, but our tour manager, Julian managed to make it a fun trip.  I didn't sleep well the night before, so I definitely took a couple of cat naps.  Once again it was raining, so the bus photos weren't that great.

We arrived at the Christmas market and had a little over an hour to get lunch and wander about before our walking tour started.  Luckily we had about 45 minutes before the rain started.  

For lunch we had kaiserkainer sausages, essentially, it's a large hot dog with cheese in the middle.  They take uncut buns and put a hole in the middle, then add your condiment of choice and the sausage.  Great way to do it!

Not long after we got our lunch it started raining, and this was not the gentle drizzle from yesterday, no this was a downpour.  In Austria though, the tour must go on.  We walked from the Christmas Market to Albertini Hall, past government offices, museums, the home of the Lipzaner Stallions and beautiful buildings.  A couple of people from our group got drenched when we were walking on the sidewalk of a small street and a lovely driver seemed to aim directly for the biggest puddle on the street and even folks closest to the building got soaked.  Here are few rain filled photos

The prime ministers office

Dinner was at a local place close to the hotel.  Jackie got her veal schnitzel and I had sirloin steak with fried onions.  The server was very funny.  He spoke English, as many do here, but we couldn't figure out if he thought we were useless Americans or he thought we were funny.  He was always very serious when taking with us, but then he would have this little smirk on his face when he walked away. In the end we had a nice chat with him.  Another couple from our group joined us and he asked where we were from.  I told him California, Alabama and Iowa.  He seemed confused that we were from so many different places.  I explained that we were on the tour together.  Anyway, delicious. Food and good company.

Then we were off to the concert, selections from various Vienese composers with chamber orchestra, opera singers and dancers.  The principal violinist was playing on a Stradavarius from 1706, a much prized instrument in their collection, so that was exciting to see and hear.  The hall was small, but besitiful and the music and dancing were excellent.  I'm so glad we decided to do that!

Not much in the way of Internet access so I may not be able to most till I get to the airport.  

One more day left to wander the city.......