Before we leave this beautiful place, I plan to purchase a CD in the city of Vienna of the Vienna Philharmonic. It wouldn't be the same if I downloaded a collection of the music or if I ordered it from Amazon. I must have a CD from here, Vienna, right here where the music is born. Famous Viennese waltzes are played everywhere. It's the music you remember spontaneously dancing to as a child with your brother or sister when no one was looking.

It is spring in Vienna! Lilacs! Cherry Blossoms! Tulips! Dogwood blossoms! And fine tender grass as green as only the imagination can conjure. We decided our best introduction to Vienna would be to walk the ring. This is the innermost circle of old Vienna. We popped out of the Underground station and looming before us, grand and tall was Parliament. I cannot even begin to explain the size and the grandeur of this governmental building. Just a few steps away is Wiener Rathaus, the City Hall. This grand building is like a palace or a castle or a grand cathedral. And at its foot is Rathaus Park, a serene park filled with all the blooms of spring. I just kept thinking, the head of city government, the Mayor and Governor of Vienna, must feel like king of the world or the Wizzard of Oz, being CEO of this magnificent place. I bet he addresses the masses from one of the wonderful balconies we saw. Next was the beautiful, impressive University of Vienna. Oh me, let's all go back to college again, but this time let's do it here.

We walked on. We saw plenty of opportunities to spend our day in museums seeing relics from all over the world but we decided our time is much better spent getting to know Vienna. There are stunning old cathedrals and churches here. We saw the Votive Church, just behind Sigmund Freud Park. Then we saw St. Stephen's Cathedral, probably the most elaborate cathedral in the area. Next was St. Michael's where we think the interior is on par with famous bacilica's in Italy. The reverent and elaborate beauty, artwork, and historical depictions are stunning, and these churches are old! St. Michael's goes back to the 13th century.

Lunch was authentic Viennese - which can be virtually anything. Vienna is city of diverse cultures. Viennese food can be German, Middle Eastern, Slavic, Russian, Italian, whatever you might like. Today we tried to stay as close to traditional as we could. Stan had goulash with spaetzle and I had schnitzel with German potato salad. Last night we had Mediterranean food from the Kent Restaurant just around the corner for our apartment.

Before ending the day, we took the metro to a stop on the other side of the Danube and then walked back across the bridge over the river where we saw a couple of Viking River Cruise boats awaiting the return of their passengers from the day's excursions. We also were awestruck by the beautiful castle-like church, the St. Francis of the Assisi. This church is also locally known as the Mexiko Church because it sits on the plaza dedicated in 1956 to Mexico. Mexico was the sole country at the League of Nations in 1938 to protest Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria.

The weather forecast for today was rain and wind. We dodged it again!! Thank you, Vienna for welcoming us with such a magnificent day. It was the warmest day we have had in weeks, but we still are wearing many layers. Today, I wore an undershirt, a long sleeve heavy cotton shirt, a work-out jacket, a sweater and a coat. Plus I woregloves, a scarf and a headband to keep my ears from freezing. We walk around loaded-up like the Michelin Man. We hear it will be noticeable warmer in our next destination, Budapest.

Early this morning, we visited the train station. We bought train tickets for a day's excursion to Bratislava, Slovakia tomorrow. We bought train tickets to Budapest, and we also decided to take a full 10-hour train trip from Budapest to Zurich, crossing the Austrian Alps on April 25. Oh my, I'm thinking this might be good.