It has been raining nonstop since I got to Vienna. I packed in preparation for this "unusually hot" summer they had been having, and the first day I got here it decided to rain. There's no sign of it stopping and they're calling for flooding in the next couple of days.

So it has been an adventure trying to layer all the summer clothes I brought in order to brave the wind and rain as far as the U bahn station. I tried the walking through the city thing the first day, but the look on Anja's face when I came home that night in jeans soaked up to the knees, shoes bursting with water, and a "raincoat" that was dripping wet- from the inside- was enough to get me to take the public transportation and save the walking for another time.

But I must say, if I had to choose a European city to be in in such weather, Vienna would be it. The birthplace of the renowned "cafehouse," Vienna has no competition as to the number of cafes its street corners bear. Not even Seattle holds a candle to it. And you all know that sitting in cafes is a beloved passtime of mine, so what better excuse to "cafe hop" than the fact that by the time I make it to the next cafe in sight I'm already soaked through again? It would be silly to not sit and warm myself with a Wiener Melange or a Grosser Brauner or simply a black tea. And I of course read the newspapers like a good Wiener Cafehaus patron does. And I journal and people watch and contemplate my life. Despite the fact that the streets of Vienna are resembling those of Venice with each day of downpour, I have no complaints.