This morning we woke up in Vienna, Austria. Despite the weather forecast saying no rain until 1400, it was raining! After breakfast we boarded a coach for a tour of Vienna, followed by a walking tour, followed by free time. Unfortunately Vienna is another European city that is giving half of its road space to cyclists, and traffic was at a standstill with barely a cyclist in sight! Because of the rain there weren’t any photos from the bus.
There were many grand buildings in the central area including the State Opera House above and the National Library below.
In the centre of the city is St. Stephens Cathedral.
In 1450 the two iron rods were installed in the wall of the cathedral; these were the official lengths that materials etc. would be sold in.
Above is the home of the original Sacha Torte, a world famous chocolate cake.
After wandering around for a while we had a coffee and light snack, Sacha torte and apple streusel. Then we braved the U-Bahn to head out of the city to the Schonbrunn Palace, the summer palace of the royal family. The place is immense and is modelled on Versailles in France
On our tour around we passed the stables of the famous Lipizzaner Horses, we were lucky to just about see one!
I guess I should explain the title! In the dim ad distant past when I was still gainfully employed I travelled to Vienna every couple of months for a couple of years on business. One of the things I always brought home were a local candy, it was a chocolate ball with marzipan in the centre, these were known as Mozart Balls. Vienna were a few short after we left!