Hello Comrades - welcome to Ceske something starting with B

We have today arrived at Ceske Budejovice, the capitol of the Bohemia region of the Czech Republic (despite weeks of practice, we still have no idea how to pronounce this place. Even our Google translate says, ‘You’ve got to be kidding, mate). We are at Ceske for two nights, a shortish stopover on our way to Prague, although it was only a three and a half hour trip. Our hotel, the Grand Zvon, is as its name suggests, grand in every respect. The rooms are decorated as if from the nineteenth century, but not old and decrepit like our Salzburg accommodation, which was probably the worst of our trip so far. The Hotel Grand Zvon reminds me of the sort of hotel the Communist Party officials would have used a mere twenty-five years ago in Cold War Czechoslovakia. You know what they say, all comrades are equal, but some are more equal than others (I’m not sure I can get away with saying this even in modern Czech Republic, so I’m going to type quietly).

Even though it's gloomy, Salzburg is still a lovely city

We left Salzburg after four of the dreariest days you could imagine. Although we arrived in sunshine, we awoke the next morning to thick cloud and drizzle which did not lift for our entire stay. To be perfectly honest, it really clouded (pardon the pun) our perception of this city to the extent that we left pretty unimpressed. I’m certain in sunshine it is lovely, but you get sick of walking in the rain and fog, which pretty much blanketed the city obscuring almost all views. The other thing which stands out about Salzburg is the saturation bombing of tourists of all things Mozart. I was honestly sick to death of Mozart t-shirts, Mozart pens, Mozart stuffed toys, even Mozart strudel. I don’t care if the guys was a genius, I think even he would have thought it over the top. 

Our lovely hotel in Ceske, the Grand Zvon

If you ever consider visiting Salzburg, be aware that it is the most expensive city we’ve ever visited anywhere. Alison and I needed to take out a second mortgage on our home back in Wangaratta just to buy a cup of hot chocolate (we had to take our first mortgage out to buy a bun to go with it). Yesterday, we paid close to $10 AUD to go up and back in an elevator of literally ten seconds duration, just so we could go for a walk through the elevated parkland. And too bad if you need to go to the toilet while you’re out walking; for two people (there’s something about one person going that makes the other person also want to go) that’s going to set you back almost $2 AUD. Out of pure principal, we’ve refused to pay, which probably explains why we’re both suffering from massive bladder infections (just joking).We’ve been on the road now almost four weeks, and the jadedness is starting to manifest itself. Our weather since leaving Greece has been pretty terrible. We counted three half-days of sun in two weeks, and I swear yesterday in Salzburg the temperature never crept above 6 or 7 degrees all day. The pattern has been that we have cloud and rain until the day we are due to leave a place, and then the sun comes out. It has become somewhat an exercise in looking for things to do to keep busy, rather than really enjoying places. 

Premysla Otakara II Square - this is the view from our window (lucky, aren't we)

The same square at night - simply stunning

Fortunately, it has been fine all day today. The rail trip from Austria through Bohemia was absolutely lovely. One thing you have to give Europe is its lovely scenery. The mountainous terrain of the eastern Alps today gave way to the rolling farm land of Eastern Europe. I could really see myself driving a tractor on a few acres of dirt here, and I reckon it’d be pretty affordable. In fact, the contrast in the cost of living between Austria and the Czech Republic couldn’t be starker. We just went shopping here for a few freshly baked rolls, a pizza sub, two apples, some milk and a drink and it came to around 80 koruna. My god, 80 koruna for that! Oh yeah, forgot to mention 80 koruna is around $4 AUD. In Salzburg, we’d have had to sell the car to buy this. Ceske is a really love place, and hopefully we'll get a chance to explore it better tomorrow (if the bloody rain can hold off for one day).

I've heard it's a small world, but this is damn ridiculous

We left Innsbruck at lunchtime today for our ninety minute trip to Salzburg. Before leaving Innsbruck, we managed one last trip up into the mountains to look down on the city bathed in sunshine. Although the city itself was in full sun, the mountains behind us were covered in thick fog, vindicating our decision not to take the cable car to the top. By the time we were on the train, however, the fog had cleared completely and we were able to see these most imposing peaks for the first time since arriving. Looking up at these monsters, almost able to touch them they appeared so close, is a little bit surreal. It’s as if they are keeping watch over the city below, some ancient gods (well, I’ve no doubt that European skiers worship them).

The mountains rise above Innsbruck like sentinels guarding over the city

The train from Innsbruck to Salzburg takes you through some of the most spectacular rural scenery, it really is like something out of a picture book. That’s the problem travelling through Europe; every bend in the road or the track reveals something even more breathtaking than the one before. It is very easy to start turning off, until of course you remember you’re only here once and all you’ll have in a few weeks are the memories, so you shake yourself out of your half-sleep and fix your eyes once again out the window.

The trains in Austria in particular are amazing. In typically Austrian fashion they are incredibly clean, fast and punctual. You can also take whatever you like on board: beers, wines, a full Austrian feast if that takes your fancy, and everybody is remarkable comfortable with it. Speaking of drinking, we are incredulous at just how cheap and plentiful alcohol is in this part of Europe. In Australia, you might go down to the local milk bar to get bread, milk and maybe the paper. What you could never buy would be alcohol. Over here, every little shop and supermarket have beer and wine next to the bottles of coke and bottled water. In fact, the bottled water is frequently more expensive than the beer. We have purchased 500 ml cans of beer for around 45 Euro cents, which is around 65 cents Australian. But if you think this ubiquitous exposure to alcohol would translate directly into alcohol abuse, you’d be wrong. We’ve not seen a single incidence of drunkenness since we arrived. It would appear that it’s not the exposure and access to alcohol which is the problem, rather the culture surrounding its consumption. Take note Australia.

Beautiful Salzburg, with a castle atop the hill (just about every European city has a bloody castle atop a hill)

A very pretty walking path along the Salzach River

Now, this next part is going to blow your socks off, so make sure you’re wearing some. We arrived at our Salzburg hotel after about a ten minute walk from the station. On the whole, our accommodation hitherto has been first rate, so when we arrived at our Salzburg accommodation we were a little bit disappointed, based on its appearance. The lady at reception was very welcoming and when we went to take out our passports, something you must do in every European hotel, she insisted she didn’t need to see them. ‘Are you sure’, we asked, ‘we’re from Australia’.

‘I know’, she said, ‘it’s written here on the reservation’.

‘Do you have many Australians staying’, we asked, trying to be friendly.

‘Not too many, maybe one’.

At this point I thought, great, we’ve doubled her Australian contingent in one booking. She then went on to say, ‘maybe, how do you say, one group per year’. Okay, so that made sense, she has a tour group from Australia book each year.

‘So you have a group from Australia?’, we said.

‘Yes, ah, Trev… um, I mean wick…, sorry I can’t quite think straight’.

At this stage, and I don’t know why, but my mind wanted to fill in some gaps that should never, in a thousand lifetimes, have been there. I found myself saying if you put those two utterances together you get ‘trev wick’, which sounds remarkably like someone from Wangaratta who runs tours for cashed-up pensioners (well, I’m sorry, but that’s pretty much the reality). The next thing which happened I could never have believed had I not experienced myself, and even now I’m not sure I wasn’t dreaming it.

‘Wanga, Wangaratta, he comes from a place in Australia called Wangaratta. He brings a group of people from Wangaratta.’ At this point, we almost went into cardiac arrest. We then explained that we also came from Wangaratta (not the sort of thing I normally confess to people when I travel), that we knew Trevor Wickham and that Alison’s mother travelled with Trevor and, therefore, most likely had stayed in this very same hotel.

I cannot help but attempt to do the maths of how unlikely this coincidence can possible be. There are probably three or four hundred hotels in Salzburg. Most of these, at some stage, would have tour groups staying from all around the world. What would be the chance that a hotel we picked totally at random from Trip Advisor would be the very same hotel that a tour guide from our home city of Wangaratta would also pick for his tours?  And what would the chance be that this piece of information would even come up in conversation with the lady at reception?

We’ve experienced some amazing coincidences in our travels, but this definitely takes the cake. I’m still pinching myself to see whether I’m dreaming.

Looking towards the older section of Salzburg

Look up in the sky, it's bird, it's a plane; no, it's the sun!

Hallelujah hallelujah, rejoice rejoice, the sun has finally emerged on Innsbruck.  Now that it’s finally out, what a magnificent place this is. We have taken a few bus and tram trips around the city today to make the most of the sunny weather, and the views are, well, spectacular. One bus in particular, what they call the peak-to-peak, took us to two ski villages on opposite sides of the city, with views from one range across to the other. 

For those with a geographic bent, the two highest peaks aren’t actually that much higher than our highest, Kosciusko, but because they rise above the city almost vertically they do seem most imposing. We were considering taking the cable car to the top of Nordkette Range, but it has been shrouded in fog and cloud so, at close to $100 AUD for the round trip, you’d really want to make certain you get your money’s worth from the views. We will check it again tomorrow before we leave and make a decision then. 

Not much to write today, so I leave with a few photos of the mountains around this lovely city.

Some wannabe snow bunny who kept jumping in front of the camera

Innsbruck, we know you're there somewhere

We left Slovenia yesterday for a six hour train trip to Innsbruck, Austria. It was drizzling rain when we left Ljubljana, but the rain soon cleared and it wasn’t long until we were bathed in sunshine. This welcomed change in our meteorological fortunes continued until about one hour out of Innsbruck, when things took a turn for the worse. The fog started to descend and the rain got heavier. By the time we arrived at Innsbruck station, it had well and truly set in. It’s a real pity, because the scenery all the way from Slovenia was simply stunning. The mountains are very steep, very high and very rugged, the result of glaciation in past ice-ages. The pasture is a vibrant green, and the cows all seemed very contented, and why wouldn’t they be. The myriad villages we passed on our journey were like something straight out of The Sound of Music (yes, I know that was Swiss, but they are almost interchangeable here).

Innsbruck has a lovely river running through it, but the rain has made it very murky

It is now the evening of our second day here and it has not really stopped raining for more than a few minutes. This is a real shame, as you just know that Innsbruck is a beautiful city with the most stunning of views. Unfortunately, our views have been probably limited to a few hundred metres. We can only hope that the rain eases tomorrow, if not, we may not even get the opportunity to take the cable car to the very top of the mountains – a definite must-do in this city.

Very pretty, but not at its best in the rain

Given that we couldn’t really do much outside today, we decided to take the opportunity to recharge the batteries, as it were. Fortunately, our magnificent hotel has the full array of ways in which to pamper yourself. There is the heated pool, which we used, the hot room, which we also used, and an area they call the ‘Well Being Centre’. This is basically a series of sauna rooms, along with showers and a number of relaxing lounges. What we didn’t quite understand at the time was that this area of the hotel is strictly sans clothes. That’s right, to use these facilities you are not allowed to be clothed. Just to make this clear, if you want the sauna, you have to remove all your clothing and be prepared to walk around naked. This seems to be very much an Innsbruck tradition, as the Centre is always heavily patronized.

Hmmm, what a dilemma; we definitely wanted to try the sauna and were we going to let a little thing like our birthday suits stop us – absolutely not. The other thing which was a deal breaker for Alison was that the Well Being Centre was the only place in the hotel, other than breakfast, where you could get a cup of tea. I’m not sure how many people realize this, but Alison needs at least three cups of tea a day, in addition to her breakfast. This meant that every time she got the urge, we had to shed our clothes, don the robes and endure twenty minutes of fifty-plus degrees in a room no larger than a garden shed followed by a cold shower. That’s what I call an addiction. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos for the blog of the Wellness Centre, well, we do have some but they are destined for a separate restricted site (lol).

A speck shop. The Austrians love their speck, which is a cured meat similar to prosciutto

Day trip to Bled

Today we went to the village of Bled, which is about a ninety minute bus trip from Ljubljana. Bled is really only famous for two things; Lake Bled and Bled Castle, both of which we managed to see. Lake Bled is a glacial lake, a remnant of an earlier ice-age, and you can walk the entire six kilometre circumference in about ninety minutes, which is exactly what we did. Although the weather was not kind to us today, with low fog at times almost closing visibility of the lake at times, the sun did shine through once or twice and it was a lovely walk, despite the conditions. Fortunately, there was no wind so it was never really too cold.

Lake Bled has a very small island in the middle which has a very old church - very picturesque 

Beautiful Lake Bled in cloud

Bled Castle is reputed to be the oldest castle in Slovenia, and may well date back to the eleventh century. The walk up to the castle from the lake is very steep, although you can actually drive there. We didn’t have a car, so driving was never an option, however, even if we had I think we’d have walked – driving so how seems like cheating. The view from the castle is certainly spectacular, even if clouds obscured some of the surrounding hills. 

Bled Castle

The other thing Bled is famous for is a particular cake which, of course, Alison just had to try (thanks for the tip, Imogen). Although Bled claims it as their own, to us it seemed pretty much a vanilla slice. We didn’t have the heart to tell the locals us Aussies had been eating vanilla slices since the time of the pyramids; it was nice, but no better than what we get back home. 

Bled cake, what we Aussie's call a vanilla slice

Tomorrow we leave Ljubljana and Slovenia for Innsbruck, at the base of the Austrian Alps. Although our weather wasn’t great for our stay, we really enjoyed Slovenia. It was far more modern and progressive than I expected it to be, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Ljubljana becomes a very popular tourist attraction for those wanting something a little different. The people seemed very nice, and we never felt unsafe. We certainly owe Imogen a debt of gratitude for insisting we put it on our itinerary – she can be very persistent.

Welcome to Lubxiljullrghghu (how the hell do you spell this place)

The trip today from Vienna to Ljubljana was the stuff of picture postcards around almost every bend of the railway line. We climbed very high on our way from Vienna until we were almost among the clouds and the snow-covered peaks of the Alps were clearly visible. The trains passes through many smaller villages, and some large cities, the former being our favourites. The architecture of the houses and farm buildings is so typically Austrian or Swiss in appearance, and just as you see it on travel programs of the area. Obviously, the topography is anything other than flat and the grass is a vibrant green.  

As luck would have it, we arrived in Ljubljana just in time for a hamburger and beer festival - two of my favourite things in the world

We needed to change trains just near the Slovenian border, and had just seven minutes in which to get from one train to the next. Not a problem, we thought (Austrian trains are always on time). However, we followed the crowd, thinking they were also going to Ljubljana, until the crowd led us to a bus outside the station. Realizing we had made a mistake, and don’t forget we had just seven minutes to find the right train, we managed to ask someone which platform we needed to be on and hastily ran up two flights of stairs only to find our train preparing to leave. Had we missed it, we would not have been in Ljubljana on Saturday evening as planned, but probably on a well-appointed park bench somewhere in Villach. We flung open the doors, threw our luggage in, and hopped on just as the train pulled out from the platform. That was just a little too close for comfort, the moral being; don’t blindly follow the crowd in a foreign country unless you know where they’re going.

What Ljubljanans call 'the red church' - it's actually faded to more of a pink colour

We settled into our compartment, which had only one other person, and prepared for two and a half hours of relaxing sightseeing, or so we thought. The other person in our compartment was a Croatian national living in Hamburg on her way home to visit her Croatian mother. She’d been on the train for about nine hours already and had another five or six to go, so I think she relished the company. Her English was reasonably good, but our Croation was non-existent, so our conversation was interesting, if at times laboured. Although we saw almost none of the scenery (what we did see was stunningly beautiful), we really enjoyed the time we spent with her. We learnt all about her two children, and she about ours, her upbringing in Croatia and how she dreamed of returning one day, and how Germany was changing forever due to the influx of migrants from Syria. We really enjoyed the opportunity to interact with someone who could explain the recent history of this area, including the time under Tito (when Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia) and the terrible Balkans War.

This is the oldest building in Ljubljana, somehow it survived the 1895 earthquake (although I reckon it looks like it didn't survive)

Today, we spent most of the day walking the streets of Ljubljana by doing one of the ‘free’ walking tours (payment is by way of a tip – our tip was for the guide to love his mum, lol). The tour went for a little over two and a half hours and was really very informative. Following the tour, we took a forty-five minute trip on a boat on the river; very relaxing. The old part of Ljubljana is very lovely, and is really divided in half by the Ljubljanica River. One side is very old and features mainly baroque architecture, while the other half, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1895, was rebuilt in the Austrian secession style (Slovenia was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). 

Some typical streets in the old city, looking towards Ljubljana Castle

That's the castle on the hill

The old city looks very medieval and is best described as quaint. The newer parts of Ljubljana are best described as a mix of Cold War Soviet architecture and twentieth century Western styles. Tomorrow we plan on going to Bled, a town probably best known for its lovely lake. It’s about ninety minutes away by bus, and should give us a second chance to take in the beautiful countryside. Note to self; don’t get dragged into conversations with locals this time.

The lovely river running right through the old city

Our little boat - handmade out of wood by a man from Bled

Auf Wiedersehen Vienna

Today is our final full day in Vienna, as we leave early tomorrow morning by train for Ljubljana, the capitol of Slovenia. Because of this, we decided to cram as much into today as possible, beginning with the Vienna Zoo. The zoo at Vienna is the oldest in the world, having been here for over three centuries. We arrived pretty early and it was bitterly cold, no rain today, just still and cold. In fact, it was so cold that even many of the animals decided to stay indoors. It wasn’t until quite late into the morning before the animals came to life. 

This is the winter palace of the Habsburgs, known as the Schonbrunn Palace. The palace has extensive gardens and it's own zoo, the Vienna Zoo

The Schonbrunn Palace

A fully enclosed exhibition of palms within the palace gardens

More of the palace's lovely gardens

Our favourites were the polar bear, who looked so incredibly cuddly swimming less than a few feet from the protective glass; the elephants, in particular a young one who showed no manners in gobbling up more than his fair share of carrots; and, without doubt our favourite of them all, the orang-utans. These incredibly lovely animals sat right up against the glass which separated them from the human animals on the other side, and put their hands to the hands of the visitors. It was a very special moment, and I just could not drag myself away from them. It was a lovely zoo, but the inclement weather meant we couldn’t enjoy it as much as we’d like to. In any event, it paled in comparison to Toronga Zoo in Sydney, with its incomparable views of the harbour.

This adorable orangutans were so close only a few millimeters of glass separated us

This little fellow kept putting his hand to the glass in an effort to make contact with his very close relatives

This is an authentic Austrian barn in the zoo. It had some alpine sheep housed in the lower level, which I attempted to pat. Unfortunately, they wanted no part of it (bloody aloof Austrian sheep)

This afternoon we are planning to ride the giant ferris wheel, a must-do in Vienna; visit Demel’s cakes and pastry shop, world famous for its creations, which have fed many an Archduke over the centuries; and walk through the gardens of the Belvedere Palace, which is only a short walk from where we are staying at Rennweg.

Demel's famous cake shop - at 5 euro a slice, a piece of heaven you can afford

This is the magnificent Belvedere Palace, which now serves as an art gallery and museum

It’s quite remarkable, but after only a few days here we are negotiating the subways and the tram network like we’ve lived here for years. The public transport is excellent, and there’re very few places you can’t reach by either tram or train. Yesterday we strolled through the famous Nasch-Markt, which is a bit like Melbourne’s Queen Victoria market on steroids. The range of foods for sale is staggering, and they all looked totally delectable. We’ve noticed on our travels that food outside Australia seems to have a much greater cultural significance than it does back home. Perhaps we’re too young a nation or perhaps we don’t have a unique cuisine, or maybe a lack of food variety reflects our geographic isolation. Whatever the reason, we have nowhere near the variety of food readily available in Australia as we see in our travels.

The Nasch-Markt has almost every type of food you could imagine

The streets of Vienna are beautiful

St. Stephens church, right in the heart of Vienna (our first glimpse of sun)

The thought of leaving Vienna does make us sad. Even though the weather is very ordinary, the city itself is anything but. I do think Vienna is a city we could easily live in for a year or so. If the city itself is easy to fall in love with, the Viennese people are not so easy. They are helpful enough, but there is a coldness, a reservation about them which makes any meaningful interaction almost impossible. I had heard this about the Austrians and the Germans, and I think there might be an element of truth to the stereotype. Nonetheless, we will be sorry to leave tomorrow, although we return to Austria via Innsbruck and Salzburg in a few days. We are really looking forward to this part of Austria, but being right at the base of the Alps, we’re preparing ourselves for some sub-Antarctic temperatures; so glad we purchased those beanies. 

Vienna's skyline from the Giant Ferris Wheel

Grandeur and horseplay

Day 2 in Vienna and, once again, grey skies and drizzle. It reminds us a lot of our time in London, which was also grey skies and drizzle. Despite the weather, there is no doubting Vienna is a truly lovely city, perhaps one of the loveliest we've seen. The buildings can only be described as grandiose and imperial, and put anything we have back home to shame. I guess you can afford to do that when you are the centre of an empire that ruled over much of Europe for a few centuries. The Habsburgs weren’t afraid of spending a few quid on decent renovations, that’s for sure.

The entrance to Vienna Target (lol). Just joking, this is the Imperial Palace, Hofburg

That's me at the back of the palace

We’ve been making good use of the excellent public transport here, the trams in particular. Actually, Vienna does tend to remind us somewhat of Melbourne. The grey granite buildings, the city’s trams, the crappy weather, yep, very Melbourne. What it doesn’t remind us at all of is Athens. The streets are clean, there are functioning traffic lights and drivers actually obey them, there are very few motorbikes, and everything actually works. One thing which is hard not to notice is the cars they drive here; every second car is either a Benz, a Beamer, an Audi or a Porsche. I presume these luxury cars, out of the reach of most Australians, are relatively inexpensive here, either that or their salaries must be pretty damn good.

We’ve been quite surprised that there is virtually no written English in the entire city. Although many people seem to speak at least some, and quite a few have excellent command of English, when it comes to written English to cater for tourists you can just about forget it. We were at a museum today walking through the Egyptology section and had to leave as all of the information was in Austrian/German only. This is the same on train stations, supermarkets, etc. It’s made things a little tricky for us on occasions but we are managing.

This morning we visited the Spanish Riding School. This world famous attraction dates back four hundred and fifty years. There are 106 very lovely horses in various stages of training at the moment, but only a much smaller number are trained well enough to actually perform. All of the horses undergo training for up to eight years before they know all of the moves, and today we got to see around twenty undergo their training. They are the most beautiful animals and we really enjoyed seeing each horse’s personality shine through in the way they went about their practice. The building in which they train is itself absolutely magnificent, having been purpose built by the Kaiser many centuries ago.

Inside the Spanish Riding School (file footage)

We also visited the KHM gallery (it has a much longer name, of course, but I could never spell it, much less pronounce it). It is one of the world’s great museums/galleries and has collections from all the modern masters, such as Raphael, Reubens, Caravaggio, etc. The collection is absolutely stunning, but equally stunning is the building itself. Built by Franz Josef (he was the guy who led the Austro-Hungarian Empire into World War One) to display the considerable collections of generations of Habsburg rulers, it was worth the thirty euro admission just to marvel at the architecture alone.

Inside the KHM gallery - beautiful, isn't it

We were planning on doing another trip into the old part of Vienna this evening, to sample some more lovely ice cream or maybe some magnificent Viennese cakes, but the rain is now pretty consistent, so we may have to give it a miss. Last night we took a train into the city and walked to the famous Danube. The Danube is to Vienna as the Yarra is to Melbourne, although maybe a little more illustrious. It snakes its way through the city, carrying tourists on very large barges (at very large prices).

The Vienna Bibliotech - don't let the blue sky fool you, this is more file footage 

There are more fountains here than any place else we've seen with the exception of Rome. They just love their fountains

Speaking of prices, Vienna is certainly not the cheapest city to visit. I’m afraid free entry to attractions is something the Viennese are not familiar with. By contrast, a tourist coming to Melbourne or Sydney could visit our national galleries and museums, and many of our finest public buildings, for free. Not so here; almost everything attracts an entry fee, and they are not cheap at that, the average being around 15 to 20 Euro (that’s around $23 to $30 AUD). However, despite what we had read and heard before coming here, the price of food is quite reasonable. We had croissant and pastries this morning for breakfast (yes, I know, but toast is so, well, boring) and they came to well under two euro for the lot. I think one freshly made croissant in Australia would set you back this much alone.

A wet welcome to Austria

This morning we flew out of Athens and, with it, said goodbye to Greece. In a very fitting gesture for our last few hours in Greece, our plane broke down on the tarmac and we all had to disembark, hop on buses and board another plane. In all, we were 90 minutes late on our departure. This seemed to sum up our experience of Greece; nothing quite worked the way it was supposed to. Greece is organised chaos, with the emphasis on chaos. It is often dirty and many, definitely not all, Greeks are a little ruder than we are accustomed to.

Although this looks like a church, it's actually the city hall

By contrast, our arrival in Vienna was to an airport clinically clean and exceptionally well organised. I think that if the Austrians weren’t Austrian they’d be German, and if they weren’t German they’d be Swiss, such is their obsession with order and punctuality.

The Austrian Parliament building

One of the many museums in Vienna (we lost count of how many)

Unfortunately, one thing the Viennese cannot organise is fine weather. It was raining when we arrived and has been for most of the day. It is a beautiful city, without question, but the grey sky seems to augment the predominantly grey buildings. We’ve no doubt that in the sun, the city’s wide avenues and incredibly stately buildings would look resplendent in their glory, but today, they look a little drenched, just like us. The forecast for the next few days is actually no better to slightly worse, so it is possible we may not get to experience Vienna in the sun. Oh well, I guess there are lots of galleries, museums and palaces to keep us busy.