Vienna

Our bus and train connections all went according to plan yesterday. We found our apartment which is in a good location for getting around. It is pretty plain which is fine with us, but we were thinking that it wouldn't be such a good idea for people who need someone to help them settle in to a place. We were met, given the keys and given vague directions to the nearest metro station and supermarket. That was pretty much it. Luckily (well not really luck we did search) the nearest metro was at Karlplatz which had easy connections whichever way you wanted to go.
Vienna is really beautiful and much more dynamic and fun than I expected. When we are travelling we tend to get off to a slow start and keep going far later than we would at home. Vienna was alive at any time, maybe even more than Paris, No hunting around for somewhere to have morning tea in the afternoon, or lunch at nearly tea time - always going and ready for whatever. So much to look at and enjoy.
There was so much to see and do - first full day in Vienna we checked out the opera house a park with Mozart's statue (the boy got around, but Vienna was probably his main haunt) and a major look around Schonbrunn Palace (we didn't quite manage all 1,414 rooms, but we did a few). The main story line we followed was that of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Franz Stephan. She, in particular, seemed to have quite a story line to follow.
Another very efficient U-Bahn and the actual stations were just amazing - shopping malls with a train running through the middle.Read more