We were lucky we were able to sleep in this morning.  We want to get on Vienna time as soon as possible.  It was a cold morning, 33 degrees, and rain was predicted for the afternoon.  

The breakfast in our hotel is a buffet for 16 euro per person; about $18.80.  We weren't that hungry and didn't want to spend that much just for breakfast, so went to a restaurant called Stadt Kind (city child).  The waiter at the restaurant last night recomended it to us.  We are very glad we went there.  Surprisingly the restaurants here still have smoking sections so when we first walked in and people were smoking we were shocked.  But the waitress led us upstairs to a non-smoking room.  I just ordered coffee americano and a roll with butter and jam.  David had a cheese omelet and hot chocolate.

We lingered over breakfast because the people watching was excellent and we had a little time before our afternoon tour.

Our tour guide, Christian, met us at our hotel.  The car/walking tour we booked turned into a car tour because the weather really got ugly for a few hours.  It was nice because he did drive us around the entire city and it is clean and well kept up and gorgeous!  He showed us the summer palace (Schonbrunn) it was interesting to learn that the palace is now run by a private company, not the government, and there are actually rental apartments in the palace! Yes, sign me up!   

Christian did give us a good history lesson and he was very truthful and forthcoming about some of the darker history of Austria.  He pointed out sites where Hitler gave his speeches and rallied the citizens.  He told us 250,000 Viennese welcomed Hitler and listened to his speech on the square.  Apparently about 80% of the citizens of Austria totally supported Hitler and were positive about becoming German.  As you know they were caught up in the downward spiraling eventual Natzi failure.  

Before the tour ended, Christian did give us plenty of advice for things we MUST see before we leave Vienna and explained how to get various places by subway.  He also told us Vienna was expecting 180,000 visitors on Saturday for the celebration of the Immaculate Conception.  That doesn't bode well for sightseeing!

Because it was so wet outside, we didn't go far to have dinner.  Again, there was a smoking section -- guess I better get used to it.  First we had a delicious cocktail.

And then we had dinner.  I had Wiener schnitzel and rice (yes, rice again -- I thought we would get potatoes everywhere).  David had a spicy pasta dish that he liked.  For dessert we split a piece of apple strudel.  

It was another fun day in Vienna.  Tomorrow is another day.

Good night. 

Our flight was pretty uneventful.  The entire plane was full and there seemed to be a lot of children around us.  Poor kids having to try to stay quiet and belted into their seats all night!  We were fortunate that we had a tail wind so the 9 and 1/2 hour flight only took 8 hours.  David and I were able to sleep some but certainly not enough.

We arrived in Munich on time and had no trouble getting through passport control.  The terminal we were in was pretty new and very modern.  They even had some lounge-like chairs in addition to the regular ones.

That's kind of a bad picture but hopefully you can see that it's a lounge chair.

Our connecting flight was on time and the flight from Munich to Vienna was only 40 minutes. After we collected our baggage we were met by a driver who took us to our hotel.  The hotel is a former palace built in 1882.  The room is very clean and comfortable but nothing fancy.

A black and white Christmas tree in the lobby
-- how perfect for me!  Gail Tuttle asked me if the presents are for me and I told her:  "In my mind they are!"

After a short nap we decided to venture out exploring.  The largest Christmas market in Vienna is only 3 blocks from our hotel.  It is festive and spectacular!  There are hand-made ornaments and pastries and ice skating rinks.  One trip around the market is not enough for sure!  We will definitely return for another visit.  Also, there are 19 other Christmas Markets here so hopefully we will see one or two more before we leave.  

Of course we had to try the Gluhwein (traditional hot spiced wine).  We also heard about a traditional punch that is sold at the market which we may try tomorrow.

After our trip to the Market it was time to search for a resturant for dinner.  We walked past a small bar restaurant that wasn't too busy so we stopped in.  The name of it was Smart:in.  Odd name but lovely place.  

I had delicious chicken kabob with the best flavored rice!


















David had pasta spinach ballls in a cheese sauce.  He liked it very much.  He said it was "different."

We were very tired after dinner and looked forward to getting back to our hotel and hopping in bed.  BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOO.  We got on the elevator with one other couple and it went to the 3rd floor and stopped.  And would not move again.  We were stuck in the elevator for over an hour.  David and I were OK but the other woman really had to pee!  Don't we all feel her pain???  We made new friends from Amsterdam.  They were a very cool couple who were here for the weekend.  We found out they were former speed skaters fand their oldest son now competes in speed skating.  

We certainly enjoyed our first day in Vienna and can hardly wait for tomorrow!  Good night.  

Today is our travel day.  Mark and Jim drove down from Boone last night and spent the night.  These are the guys we will meet up with in Russia.  Coincidentally, they are leaving today too.  They are flying to Helsinki for a few days and we will see them on Monday in Moscow.  Since they had an earlier flight, I was able to take them to the airport this morning.

Our sweet friend, Brandi, will drive us to the airport at 3:00 today.  As usual, David and I will have an early, light dinner (we don't really like airplane food) and then maybe we can sleep for a few hours during the flight.  We have a direct flight from Charlotte to Munich and then a two hour layover there.  It is a pretty short flight from Munich to Vienna and we will arrive there around 12:30 p.m.  Vienna's time is six hours ahead of Charlotte.  The hotel has arranged a car to pick us up at the airport and drive us to the hotel.  

As you can imagine we have to take a lot of cold weather gear.  We don't want to take more than one suitcase each so we will travel in our boots and down parkas!  I admit I packed a pair of flats in my daypack because I cannot spend nine hours in an airplane in boots!  

We don't have any plans for tomorrow afternoon when we arrive so you will just have to read the blog to find out what we decide to do.  I'm pretty sure it will involve a nap!  

In less than a week David and I will leave for a winter vacation.  We will spend time in Vienna, Austria; Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia; and Rothenburg, Germany.

In Austria we will tour a few Christmas Markets, attend a performance of the Royal Orchestra and take a private tour to see the Opera House, the Museums of Art History and Natural History, Parliament, City Hall, Hofburg Palace and Belvedere Palace.  And anything else we can fit in!

On David's birthday, December 11th, we will fly to Moscow, Russia, and meet our dear friends Mark and Jim.  Jim has lived in Russia and speaks the language and he has graciously planned our entire visit to Russia.  We feel extremely lucky to have an opportunity to visit Russia with someone so familiar with it.  Jim has been planning this trip and making all of the arrangements since last January.  Our itinerary is too long to list but suffice it to say it includes staying at historic and beautiful hotels, high-speed train rides, many palaces and museums, and a ballet.

We part ways on December 19th, and although we all fly to Germany, we fly to different cities.  David and I fly to Frankfurt and later the same day we will take the train to Stuttgart.  We plan to spend two days there visiting Christmas Markets.  Then we will take the train to Rothenburg where we will spend six days, including Christmas.  

While there we will take a side trip to Nuremberg to see their Christmas Markets.  On December 27th, we will take the hotel shuttle to the Frankfurt airport, spend the night in an airport hotel and fly home on December 28th.

As you can imagine, we are VERY excited.  We do not normally travel in the winter, especially to such cold, snowy places.  This has presented us with a whole different set of packing challenges.  We both have down parkas, long underwear (I have heavenly fleece-lined leggings!), and brand new snow boots!

I just checked the weather and it is clear and 34 degrees in Vienna, 30 degrees and cloudy in Moscow and 29 degrees and partly cloudy in Rothenburg.  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Many more details and pictures to come.