Blue skies over Vienna...

Playlist
Various - 11 Classic Blue Note Albums (Shuffleplay)
Various - All Blue Notes in the Jukebox (Shuffleplay)
Lester Young - Lester Leaps In (Box Set)
CBQ - New Stuff



After last night's storms, a lovely sunny morning...

Breakfast at home then out to the tram and up to the station for our second trip to Vienna - chocolate/yoghurt raisins helped with the 40 minute wait for the next train out...

Arriving around midday, today we had a plan and we took the "D" Tram from the Sudbahnhof all the way around the "ring" to the Schottenturm with the intention of then making our way back around, visiting all the sights we'd seen from the tourist tram on Tuesday...

So, from the Schottenturm (based on the familiar twin spires of Cologne Cathedral), we made our way back round via the Rathaus and Staatstheater and through the gardens to the Parliament, where we stopped for lunch...

Then, on to the Museum Quarter with its twin edifices of the Art & Culture Museum and the Natural History Museum on either side of a statue of the Empress Maria Theresa - mother of, amongst others, Marie Antoinette...

Over the road to the Hofburg and its palaces (we visited here on Tuesday but, today, the much better weather allowed us to see them in a different light)...

Past parks with statues to Mozart, Schiller, Goethe, Schubert, J Strauss II and Beethoven, we advanced along the ring to the Opera House, the Karlskirche, Musikverein (from where the New Year's Day Concerts are broadcast), Kunstlerhaus, Wien Museum and, finally, to the Stadtpark - a beautuful green space in the middle of the city...

Ice cream was enjoyed and tempered the temperatures...

Then, out and through the heart of the city, stopping off once again at the St Stephen's Cathedral before heading abck over to the Schottenturm - where I purchased a 10CD Box of Lester Young - on listening, probably unlikely to feature much in my playlists but a notable historical artifact for the library nonetheless...

Back to the station but we were too early for our train so we popped over the road to the beautiful Belvedere Palace and gardens for a look round...

All in all a packed day...

Train home to a takeaway pizza and an evening of Icehockey on TV...

Back in Scotland, the election is finally underway - postal votes already made 10 days ago...

Fingers crossed...

Highlight of the Day : Viennese tour...