Vienna

Well that clears that up.

Since making the snap decision to go to Vienna, this time i thought i would plan ahead and book somewhere to stay. This worked out much cheaper, but true to form in the rush i forgot to take a note of the address or directions from the train station. So first stop is an internet cafe while i get those details then onwards to the underground. The underground was very easy to follow, the ticket machines all have an english language menu and even with a change of line i was fine. The only problem came at the far end where they are digging up a main station to improve it, so there are roadworks everywhere which channel pedestrians round large diversions. It's kinda like Edinburgh in that respect.

The hotel didn't look like much from the outside, but it has the best hotel room i've stayed in so far. The hotel was in the north of the city, between the Danube and the Danube canal, so perhaps 1.5 miles from the centre. It wasn't too far from the UN headquarters that i didn't even know were here, the other main UN posts are Brussels, New York and Nairobi. There are tours at the UN building but with the holiday weekend they were not operating. It's unfortunate as i would liked to have seen it, i've always thought about working somewhere like the UN, trying to help people, but i'm not sure how i would do in a large bureaucracy.

On Saturday night i went out for a walk and i managed to get myself completely turned around which was odd, as my sense of direction is usually excellent. I think it's the travelling catching up with me, so i headed back to the hotel so sort through the photographs taken so far and update some of the blog.This gave me a chance to pick up the tourist bumph in the hotel and read through it and plan what i'd do on Sunday.

On Sunday i was up early and i wandered into the city to find a bus tour. It was only when i was on the bus and passing the Hofburg that i realised may have made a mistake as i could have seen a performance of the Lipizzaner stallions. Sure enough when the bus tour ended and i got to the riding school the days performance was over and again due to the holiday there was no performance on the Monday. I could have taken a tour of the stables and facilities, but i'm not really that keen on horses it was more the training i wanted to see.If i can make the timings work i may come back for a day with the bike and try to see the horses and the UN building.

The city is very impressive, huge buildings, some centuries old all in first class condition. St Stephen's cathedral is one of the largest buildings in the city. It's easy to see from far away but you lose it once you get closer, as it's "hidden" in a pedestrian precinct, you turn a corner and suddenly you're looking all the way up at the huge spire.

It does feel like a capital, lots of tourists like me wandering around with maps, but it's also more stressed like a capital with cars horns sounding far more often. i'd only ever heard one horn sound in Linz (at me naturally), but here it's far more common. There aren't any buses but with the trams and the underground you don't really need them, and the city seems far cleaner without them.

Johann Strauss is a big figure in the city for his waltz's, but apparently he couldn't dance at all. This affliction continues to affect men to this day.