Today we flew to Vienna. Actually, when we had to get up, it was probably still yesterday for you.....to take advantage of a free trip to the airport (vs $30 in a taxi) we had to have our luggage ready for pickup at 3:15am and left the hotel at 4am.
We got to our hotel in Vienna by 9:30am -- we are in a place called 'Sky Apartments', recommended by our friend Sandy, who has stayed here twice, and have a small studio-type apartment with full kitchen on the top floor -- there is even a roof top terrace available to use if only the weather were good. It's cloudy and looks like it wants to rain, tho we have stayed dry so far. After unpacking, we headed out with a huge load of laundry (we are wearing our last clean clothes) and to explore our neighborhood. Sandy warned us it was not in a trendy area, but near her father-in-law's home. It is practically on top of subway station and a grocery store, with a small selection of restaurants too. Best of all, we can make breakfast for ourselves.
After dropping of the laundry, we went in search of an inexpensive lunch and, while we were trying to decipher a fast food restaurant menu, we encountered a couple from near Tucson, Arizona who are visiting for a month (he was born here). (I had cleverly left my translation books in the room, to force myself to relearn German faster -- ha ha.) I was ready to try ordering, but our new best friends followed us in and helped out and then ordered their own lunch. Afterwards, we went to the grocery store, and got breakfast foods, and now we're hanging out til the laundry is done at 3pm. After all our touring around for the last 2.5+ weeks, I am pretty ready for a quiet day. I think we'll worry about exploring the old part of the city tomorrow....
Okay, so old habits die hard. After we picked up the laundry, we decided to walk to the old town, really not that far away. It had looked gloomy all day, but the rain held off, so we set out. We could have used an ark. We got to St. Stephan's Cathedral, a main square here, located the bank the hotel recommended for exchanging $ to Euros (its after 3pm on Friday -- they're closed til Monday...), started exploring the area, and then the sky opened up and the downpour started. My shoes were not as water-resistant as I hoped, and we were a bit lost in the maze of streets in the center of Vienna. We found our way out, but wowee, were we wet! We are now in recovery, drinking tea and wine in our room (guess which one has what) and eating high quality chocolate for dinner. Checking the rain forecast for tomorrow and locating rain pants and actual rain shoes vs. we-hope-these-stay-pretty-dry shoes. Let's hope tomorrow is an improvement.
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