More Gold & more rain

Well, it was raining this morning when we awoke, but by late morning the skies cleared, so we headed into the city again.

We had to start with food, but instead of your normal lunch we had instead - coffee and cake.

Not just any coffee and cake - just the most expensive coffee and cake we’ve ever had!  The cafe at the Hotel Sacher, famous for the specialty of the house: the Sachertorte. (A chocolate cake with apricot filling).

One of the best coffees we have ever tasted too! In pretty plush surroundings.

Then on for a tour of the famous Vienna Opera House:

(This is what you do when you get bored of standing in a queue)

Fabulous building which is surprising modern in most parts, because parts were destroyed in a bombing in WW2.  The main auditorium and staircase survived thankfully.

We were fortunate to be able to watch the scenery being set up for the evenings performance.  What a fabulous experience it must be to watch an Opera here, one of the largest opera houses in the world.  No microphones are needed apparently, and performances are fully booked out months in advance.  There are standing room positions available on the night for only a few euro, but queues start 3-4 hours before a performance!  Normal tickets are 200 Euro plus!

Nearby is the Imperial Crypt so we pop down there to look at the caskets of the extensive Hapsburg dynasty.

Back upstairs into the very welcome afternoon sunshine to see if we can squeeze in the Sisi-Museum and Kaiser Appartments in the Hofburg Palace.

More gold, and further insights into the elusive personality of the very beautiful Empress Elisabeth, who became a cult figure after she was murdered.  Rather like Princess Diana.  A very beautiful much loved royal.  We were only allowed to take photos in the Silver Museum, which housed all their china and cutlery.  Gives you some idea of the sumptuous lifestyle that was led.

We then slowly made our way back through the city to find somewhere to eat dinner ourselves.  It’s an interesting city.  Always something to look at, and worth taking a picture of!

As the rain started to fall again we took shelter in a pretty little Greek church.

And found ourselves as much more modest establishment for a bite: yet another boisterous pub.  Plenty of cheerful noise as everyone enjoys hearty food, good beer and wine - and the Soccer World Cup live too!

The decor always seems to be the same: dark, brown, basic furniture.  Always fast service.  We were upstairs.  Often pubs have a smoke free restaurant on the second floor, where it is usually much quieter.  Each time the door to the restaurant opened clouds of cigarette smoke wafted in!

The rain eased, so we could actually walk home from the city - only took us about 20 minutes.

And just so we dont forget: this is the outside of our apartment.  Looks daunting at first sight, but we discovered in time that it is quieter and more genteel than it appears!  I guess this is what city living is like in Vienna.