We were both very excited to see Vienna as Sonja spent the best part of four months in the city about four years earlier. We walked around while Sonja pointed out the dingy hostel she used to live in, the cheap pubs she frequented and streets or buildings that were associated with some of her more elaborate memories. This included struggling through a three hour opera in the Opera house which would have been a fantastic experience if it were in English and we had seats but Cinderella for €4…who were we to complain. We actually looked quite comical in our grubby travel clothes in the lobby surrounded by people who had payed hundreds of Euros to get balcony seats and were dressed up in all their finest silks and diamonds.

While in Vienna, Jansen had a food mission; at least two schnitzels, a takeaway street food bratwurst, a doner kebap and a Sacher Torte from the original Sacher Hotel (although the torte was more a memory of Sonja's that had to be relived rather than a must on Jansen's hit list). We even managed to top this off with the mandatory Mozart Balls which we ate inside St Stephan's Cathedral to get away from the rain. On a whole, the Viennese food lived up to its expectations.

Somehow we were in Vienna for one of Austria's public holidays which was the fourth Thursday public holiday in a row that we randomly stumbled upon. Unfortunately this holiday wasn't filled with festivities, like Rome and Madrid, it had more of a religious tone which only resulted in all the shops being closed. We tried to make the best of the day and planned a nice bike ride along the Danube River but the weather was so cold and rainy that we had to give up on the plan and just tried to see some of Vienna that Sonja had not explored during her stay.