Tuesday, September 17

 

Our last day in Vienna and a full one. We slept late, but still arrived at the Fine Arts museum before the doors opened. Once inside we wandered through the Egypt section which is very impressive, particularly wall paintings from a church in Faros that was inundated when the Aswan Dam was constructed. After wandering through the coin collection, which features the Schilling-Euro transitions we had lunch at the museum. We then finished off with the painting gallery, where we saw all the great names. From there we headed to the UN complex, which we admired from the outside only.

We then headed for the suburbs, Grinzing, to be exact. First we went well beyond that town to a couple of smaller places where there are fabulous views back towards Vienna from up in the hills, overlooking vineyards. Back in Grinzing we wandered for a bit, but soon our very sore feet demanded that we find a table and refreshment. At a local heuringer, we had their own wine and a real feast from the hot and cold buffet. We watched with interest as they set up tables for about 50 people, with food laid out -- a busload we supposed. Then about 45 minutes later they gathered it all up again. Meanwhile, we visited the WC before leaving, and found musicians practicing in the hallway. They set up and began playing just as we left.

Back at the hotel we began gathering ourselves together to leave for Prague tomorrow. And ate roasted chestnuts we'd bought from a street vendor -- as if we needed them!

Vienna Photos 12-17 Sep