Day 1 of 3 in Vienna

Monday 6th October was a travel day. We left Barcelona on the very efficient airport bus and flew to Vienna to meet up with family from the US and family/friends from CT. My nephew Ian was our very efficient guide for the next few days, shooing us along and helping us navigate Vienna's very effective transport system. The city is steeped in history, and certainly, the buildings demonstrate the wealth of the Hapsburg dynasty. Huge buildings often with gilded gold and large statues ( religious or historical). Lots of parks all great for a morning run. Much more expensive and definitely much colder than Spain. We explored the city on Tuesday morning and opted for a visit to the Spanish Riding Schools training session in the late morning. While the building and the horses were spectacular, the session was a little less exciting. We headed to explore the Nachsmarket - a huge food (and flea) market, a culinary delight, but prohibitive prices. Late afternoon, we celebrated Lucilles birthday with her, Mickey, and Biddy at their apartment in Prater. They provided tea with sache tort, esterhazy, stollen, and bee sting. Esterhazy won the day - it is a Hungarian cake named after a Hungarian who was a diplomat in Austria. Day 1 showed us there are lots of choices ahead.Read more