This wasn't exactly our first view of Vienna this trip (we'd been there a couple of times before), but our first view was of pouring rain which doesn't exactly photograph well! But here, on a nicer day, is the cafe into which we stumbled that first late morning on the Saturday when the clouds opened and the whole city (except for us) was agog over the visit of the Pope, so that traffic was banned from the central city and walking was restricted by police cordons.
Thoroughly soaked and a little bit disgruntled (couldn't get to our chosen lunch spot!), we ran to what turns out to have been a cafe frequented by the great Siggy Freud, the Cafe Griensteidl. Inside was calm, courtesy, good cups of tea and coffee and respite from the weather and crowds.
Here's my dh, rather damp and not in the best of moods, awaiting sunshine.
Another great place, if you're into indoor glamour (and the high prices that come with it) is the Cafe Central - where we once, some years ago, had a great Greek Salad (minus the fish and the cheese, thanks) at lunchtime on another rainy day! We seem to end up in some interesting or elegant places in the rain, such as the day in Venice when we . . . . Whoops, another time, eh?
We did stop in Cafe Central (above) following the opera one evening on this trip - although it was a tight fit timewise before they closed. (We'd been to the Volksoper that evening, not the State Opera, which is in quite a different direction from our pension.) State Opera? Very nice too, as we found out on another evening - see below.
And here's a snap of me, just for fun (since you already have one of the dh) - I'm pictured in our room at the Pension Pertschy, of which astoundingly I otherwise seem to have no photo. It's right in the middle of the old town and housed in an old palace. Fantastic place!
I'm looking rather pleased with myself.
And just in case you think we didn't eat in any real restaurants (yes we did - several!) here's a veggie restaurant we found in the centre of Vienna and where we ate about three times to my recollection.
The BioBar Von Antun (above) is organic and veggie and apart from a couple of things clearly marked, vegan. The food is fantastic.
Okay, moving on!
Here's the castle in Salzburg, our other venue on this trip!
Now this is a fabulous place - well worth the trouble of getting there (and yes you can take the funicular). I imagine it would have made for very draughty living, though.
And this is our hotel in Salzburg, where we will certainly stay again.
The Hotel Wolf (above) right in the middle of the Old Town, is soooo neat! We just loved it. It made it possible to be in reach of everything we wanted to see without having to hike for miles (we did that a bit anyway, but at least we had a good central homebase from which to start).
And on yes, above you see another photo of me in Salzburg this time. As you can see, in September the weather continued a little on the cool side, so jackets were mandatory.
Returning to Vienna, we made a quick trip out to Schonbrun to see again all the wonders of past royalty.
And of course, still having to eat, we stopped one day at the most unlikely place. The Cafe Stein (below) looked as if it only dealt with omnivores, but indeed they were able to give us an excellent vegan meal. We were delighted.
Okay enough - this was all a long time ago now, almost ancient history, right? So I'll do another couple of these 'catching up' posts, sparing you all the scenic and mostly cliche-type holiday snaps (although I don't promise to continue with this kind of consideration!)
Best to all!!!!
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