So we can all agree that horse culture errs on the side of snooty, yes? Well, you haven't seen anything until you've witnessed horses dancing. Yes, dancing. We took in the morning exercise at the Lipizzaner Spanish Riding School, where the horses cavort and prance to their favourite classical music. Personally, I prefer the Slovenian approach to things equine, but I digress. For lunch we paid a visit to a Heurigen, which is basically an Austrian wine tavern tha...

A bit of a mish-mash today, beginning with a run through a park this morning where we saw at least a dozen deer. It sort of felt like we were chasing them as we ran from one field to the next and they would scurry into the little bit of tree cover that was available. In town we went exploring on foot, checking out the Nachsmarkt where we grabbed the necessary victuals for our picnic lunch. We strolled through a couple of city parks, stumbling upon what seemed to...

Today we did something out of character: we went to a museum. Museum Hundertwasser is not just an attraction for the art and ideas of Friedensreich Hundertwasser as the spectacular building may be the main draw. Kunst House Wien (where the museum is housed) is a former furniture factory that FH remodeled and completely transformed. The building is unmistakable, with a variety of quirky features, including pillars that look like candy sticks, reflective tiling, un...

We said a hasty farewell to Budapest this morning as we caught our train to Vienna in the knick of time. Each time that we arrive in Austria, we get the feeling the we've stumbled into an ultramodern society. The public infrastructure here is second to none: the streets are clean, the grounds are manicured, and even commonplace things have a certain polish that doesn't go unnoticed. On arrival, we familiarized ourselves with Vienna's extensive underground system...

Today's excursion found us at the Hungarian Wine & Cheese Fair, where local artisans bring new wines and cheeses for sampling. The wine ranged from average to very good, while the cheese fell well below our expectations. My judgement may have been skewed by 'the-worst-cheese-ever', which was a semi-ripe goat cheese that was brownish in colour and most definitely rancid. The offensive smell was only outdone by the offensive taste, which no amount of wine could...