Vienna

Emily came out of her coma as we crossed the border to Austria.  Got us to the door of the B&B in the time promised.  Donna is ecstatic to have her back.  Saves her taking out contacts repeatedly to look at the map, which is in small enough form that I need reading glasses.........The b&b is called "the beds" and is really nice.  Good room with brazil wood floors and a large bath.  Went into town this morning at 9:30--10 minutes by train.  Took the tram in the wrong direction to a beautiful park, where we reboarded and headed back to where we needed to go.  (Donna had wanted to ride the ring tram so I accomodated her by leading us in the wrong drection-----she loved it! :)  (Saved us $60 for the city bus tour.) Got to the Hapsburg palace about 10:30 and decided that we'd go it alone without the tour.  Well worth it.  Tons of silver and plates, gold and crystal in the first part.  The second part is Sisi's digs.  She apparently was the Dianna of her day, and it appears that her husband was a great leader.  Met with anybody of the Hapsburg empire at the castle.  It averaged about 100 meetings a day, and the people could talk with him about anything.  Though the locals were required to be dressed well, people from the othere regions he ruled were allowed to wear their ordinary clothes, as long as "they were clean".  Saw the royal apartments afterwards, then went to the Sacher hotel for some Sacher torte.  What an ambiance............  Strolled around for a few hours and went to the Opera house for a tour.  Both my brother and Charlene reccomended it and we're grateful.  It's an absolutely beautiful building ,with a great history and a huge modern day following.  They stage operas and ballets for ten months of the year, working five years in advance to schedule.  We could have spent 185 euros to sit in the good seats for tonites performance, or 4 euros for standing room only.

Vienna surprised me.  I was ready to skip it altogether, but am happily surprised by the city.  It's buildngs rival Berlins, but are much more approachable.  there are a few pedestrian walking streets, that go for a mile or so in a couple of directions, and the locals use them constantly.  To and from work, meeting for lunch, or just shopping.   The transportation system, subways, trams and busses seem to go everywhere, and are heavily used.  The lack of cars in the core is cool.

Went to dinner at Figlmuller.  This place is known for "Schnitzel that covers the plate".  Even though the plates are only about 10 inches, the schnitzels are at least 12 in diameter.  thin as you can imagine, they have there own mill that grinds their grain for the coating.  Donnas struggled to have half of hers, and needless to say, I didn't.  Squeezed fresh lemon on it and though it actually took me an effort, I managed to get it done.  Our side of potato salad made me ask for the recipe, which our waiter gladly gave me.  With some practice, I'll be able to replicate it.  Donna said it was the best ever, and I concur.  Back to the subway for the ten minutes home and it was a perfect day. 

Watching a game on Eurosport that is pretty much soccer, played on a basketball court, that involves throwing a ball into a net, protected by a goalie.  Think the movie "Dodgeball" with rules........... they call it handball.    Snooker is on next, followed by this week in soccer and probably another obscure sport that Donna won't like.  Tomorrow we leave for Budapest.  The weather today was cool and breezy, and tomorrow when we hit Budapest is supposed to be cool, but getting nicer as the week goes on.