Gut Nacht, Österreich

I didn't know Austria was known for it's breakfast, but there's a good reason Sydney and I had the meal twice today.

We woke up around 10:45 a.m. - I finally found someone who can keep up with my sleep-in abilities! and headed down to Christine's kitchen for a coffee and breakfast. This woman deserves a TripAdvisor rating of 5 - we had rolls, croissants, brie, jams, hams, and a weird probiotic smoothie shot that apparently opened a factory in California last year - it's called Yakult and apparently it's huge everyone else.

I made quite the busy agenda for the day, and we hit every stop flawlessly.

1. Karlskirche: Set on it's own plaza with it's own U-Bahn station, this enormous domed church makes you pay a fee to get in. After some debate, we decided you only Vienna once (except it's Sydney's second trip), and paid the 4€. Though it's not so large, the Karlskirche is really, really, really tall. Frescoes cover the dome and at the center of the altar, a huge gold sunburst is emblazoned with the Hebrew word for God's name. So, maybe it's actually a synagogue in disguise?

We took the elevator up through the ugly scaffolding in the middle of the church, finding ourselves suspended on a platform ten stories up... to find out we could (and would) walk up another 12 flights to get to the top of the dome to see what we thought would be a really awesome view. As connoted, the view was actually not that awesome because of tiny fencing all along the windows. Still, we could practically touch the ceiling frescoes, and there's a thrill and a novelty to being suspended above a 600-year old church.

Next came a walk past Vienna's famous 2. opera house (we tried to get tickets for tonight's Aida and failed) and then, to 3. the memorial against war and fascism, featuring an interesting statue of a man with a yarmulke and peyus scrubbing the ground with a shoebrush, as the Jews were made to do in this very city not so long ago. Standing somewhere where your cousins may have suffered before the perished has an effect on you. We didn't linger so long before heading over to 4. another church, this one from 1400, with a chapel converted to an Easter market, with painted eggs and pastries and candles and other little diddies Sydney convinced me I don't need.

Next came the main attraction, the 4. Hofburg Palace. Still in use, the over 2000 halls house more than 16 museums and goverment offices of the acting President. We toured the 5. Sisi Museum, about the mythical life and tragic assassination of Empress Elisabeth who was married to Franz Josef - their only son died and Prince Franz Ferdinand was slated to take over... but then his assassination sparked WWI - you remember 8th grade history, don't you?

So, this obscure queen was a really dark soul and she only wore black and her hair was six feet long. Her husband was a light among the nations and he held court open to his 56 million residents every Tuesday and Thursday all day long and used a military bed because expensive things were a waste of taxpayer money - that's how governments should be, I think. Except, when you're touring  6. royal apartments, you kind of expect a little more glam and glitz - still, the rooms were pretty, with nice paintings and big curtains and all original furniture - everything, tinted red.

We were starving by 3:30 and darted around 7. the Imperial Silverware Collection (pure gold plates you wouldn't dare eat off of, countless candelabras and cake pans, etc.) before crossing through to the modern art complex known as 8. MuseumQuartier for a lunch at the Leopold Museum cafe, a host recommendation. We ordered a breakfast platter after getting approval that we could still, at 3:57, order this dish that is no longer served come 4:00. The one meal came with coffee, juice, toast, pancakes with blueberry sauce, soup, salad, and smoked salmon. So, we split it, and had a hummus plate with olives and spicy eggplant. Pretty standard four o'clock fare, I'd say. I'm starting to not even notice that I am consistently the only person not smoking while eating wherever we go.

Next, we walked by the 9. Rathaus and 10. Parliament, city and congress halls. We began to notice how creepy and empty the city was. In any other major city, you can barely find space for a photo of you and a major site without 5000 strangers around you. Not so in Wien - this is the quietest city ever. It's utterly creepy that no one is out - granted, it's freezing, but really, I had an entire plaza to myself. On the walk home, we got an apfelstrudel to go and hit up the Naschmarket to get some hot chocolate, and enjoyed both back at our place.

We made it home at 6:15 and passed out for an hour before making any further decisions. More than ten sites checked off, we were pretty satisfied. The evening was uneventful - a random man talked to us on the U-Bahn and invited us to an electronic club we didn't go to. We had a yummy dinner and then headed to the Sofitel to see the rooftop bar for a view of the city. After waiting 45 minutes, we got in to the bar with a nice view, but no coffee and terrible service, so we peaced out and walked home, across the entire city. The most vibrant thing we passed was a Coca Cola machine. By our street, Kettenbruckengasse, we were frozen to bits and made cups of tea to enjoy in bed while watching another documentary, this one about White Supremacy in America (but, in German, of course). I really wonder who schedules these programs.

A very solid day in a very quiet but beautiful city.