Anticipating Austria...

Today started @ 5:45am and we reached the tube by 6:20. We made it to the airport with time to spare as our flight to Vienna was scheduledtoff 9:50. Going through security wasn't too bad, comparable to the USA...TSA equivalents with the same lovely demeanor. Having only ventured on the arrival side of Heathrow, we were surprised by the mall atmosphere that you were forced to stroll prior to getting to your gate. It was quite a site and it was full of shoppers. Need any liquor, perfume or chocolates? The flight was ordinary, but we visited with a lovely British chap that traveled extensively. He shared a few tidbits with us and we reciprocated with traveling options in the good 'ol USA. Upon arrival we found customs to be a breeze, less than 5 minutes! But...the transportation into the center city was not so easy, we did not find too many English speaking people and all signage was in German. We knew the main train would get us to town, but where? We bought train tickets and took a 16 minute ride (that's what the brochure said) and landed in what is called "The City center". The building was under construction and there were no signs that indicated a bearing we could understand. Fortunately, 2 younger ladies that worked there gave us some directions and even looked up our hotel address. We hopped on the U4 for 2 stops and got off near a city park. Now where? Based on the Google map the transit ladies gave us we only needed to walk 10-12 blocks. Sounds easy once you have your directional bearings. We asked one street vendor, but the language barrier did not allow other than a point in a direction that sounded like go that way.....so we did. The two of us gambled and took off...and sure enough we made it to our hotel in less than 15 minutes. By now, the day was well into the late afternoon, but we wanted to get our bearings of Wien aka Vienna. After a quick change in to our shorts off we went to explore this famous and historic city. Being the adventurous sorts we decided to jump on the local tram system and give it a whirl. We lucked out and got on the right one, but didn't get off in the right place. We thought it might be fun to ride it for a bit to see some of the city but soon realized it was taking us far outside where we wanted to be. Lance convinced me to take a different train and we ended up on the interesting side of town....if you know what I mean. We soon got on the correct train to the area we wanted to go in the first place...thank goodness :) Upon arriving in the heart of Vienna we topped the tube entrance to see St. Stephens Cathedral, and it was dominating. Kind of reminded us of the Duomo in Florence from a size standpoint. Once inside the architecture was absolutely beautiful. The stained glass gave a red and blue hue to the entire sanctuary. Pics to follow as they did not charge and it was OK to take a photo. Being in the center square we strolled through the streets and found ourselves in Wien's version of Rodeo Drive in BH, CA. Brands of the who's who and no price tag! No time to shop so we headed onto the Hofburg Palace. What a grandeur building, not to mention all the other buildings nearby. What a gorgeous town. As we were walking back in the general direction of our hotel (not exactly how far away or the exact direction) we discovered an open market, but this one was two full blocks of restaurant on each side. Needless to say, we could not resist and chose a Viennese cuisine. Note: heavy influence of Asian cuisines which we found interesting. We tried a local brew, Grosser that Hit the spot. With a fine local meal and brew, we decided it was time to find our hotel. Without any native guidance we virtually walked right to it, not quite 15 minutes away. Got our Internet access going and brought you up to date. Important note here: Chase safely arrived in London and is now spending the day with big brother and sister-in-law. Life is good in Europe for us...more tomorrow.