06.46 I just sneezed twice. A moment ago I stood in the shower. Today we will travel towards the capital. It is a city which is new for both of us, unless you count a short walk from a railway station in 2000.

07.52 We were far from alone in the breakfast room. People of all sorts of genders and generations had breakfast around us. There was everything from children to a lady with a kerchief. Probably most were from Romania and Croatia if we are to judge by the two buses parked outside. Now, the last things must be accomplished before we walk out towards new goals.

08.12 I've sat myself down in the same bus stop we were in the other night. We are thinking if we´ll walk or take a bus to the railway station.

08.49 We ignored the bus and walked to the station. It is nice to have a refreshing walk when the weather is good. Now we are sitting on a bench on Platform 3. The sun shines and people are passing by us. Our train is fifteen minutes late. Christer is about to check whether and if so, from where another train leave.

Christer is waiting for a delayed train.

09.29 "Can I sit?", a young Asian man asked us. We are in place on the delayed train to Wien Westbahnhof. Our stay and especially the accommodation in Salzburg has been beyond our expectations. Now we are up and running. I am for the second time in my life going with a train to Vienna.

10.38 Our train has stopped at the station in Wels. We are around 23 minutes behind schedule. Beside from that everything is good.

11.26 Our current stop is Amstetten. I recognize the name but can not remember from where. A coffee cart just passed in the hallway.

Wine in Vienna! We were served homemade wine when we checked in at Do Step Inn.
Peter writes in his journal in the basement outside the baggage room.

13.05 The train rolled in and stopped at Wien Westbahnhof. The station was under construction just like the one in Salzburg. We went a bit wrong, just as in Salzburg. However, we found our way to the pre-booked accommodation Do Step Inn on Felberstraße 20 (http://www.dostepinn.at). Upon check-in we had a glass of red wine each. The wine was made by the owner's father. It is a temporary stop here. Actually, we live in another house (hostel part) which also belongs to the Do Step Inn. However, we can’t check in yet. We’ve now left the luggage in a storage room. Soon we´re off oout on Vienna's streets.

13.50 We walked, walked and walked and quickly realized that Vienna is a huge city. A small step on the map is a giant leap for man. We can see schoolchildren in the park. We're in Auer-Welsbach park. We’re heading towards the Habsburg summer residence, Schönbrunn.

Peter is taking a break in Auer-Welsbach Park, Vienna.

14.17 We’ve walked to the courtyard of Schönbrunn Palace (http://www.schoenbrunn.at). It's genuine summer temperatures today, really hot! The question now is when we should eat, where we should eat and maybe even what we shall eat?

14.33 We decided to have cheese- and ham baguettes with soft drinks. The food was purchased at Schloß Buffet. As soon as we finish it we will see more. The park is free but it costs if you want to enter the castle building.

Christer takes a coffee break at the Schloß buffet at Schönbrunn castle.

15.20 We walked around the outskirts of the huge park. There are beautiful flower arrangements and flower beds or whatever it’s called, neatly plantations in short. Probably the park is really worth seeing when all trees and shrubs become green in the summer but there are plenty of beautiful flowers already in April.

15.54 We continued to look around in the area around the castle. There are some really beautiful things to see here. Now we are at yet another triumphal arch. This time it’s Gloriette triumphal arch. It was erected in memory of the Habsburg victory over the Prussians at the Battle of Kolín 1757 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kol% C3% AND). Everything is so powerful, peaceful and filled with people. Schönbrunn is of course on the UNESCO's World Heritage List.

Kammergarten, Schönbrunn.

Christer investigates a small tree.

Some nuns pass the Großes Parterre.

Schönbrunn with the city Vienna around itself. It is hard to imagine that this once
was the Emperor's cottage in the countryside.

Anemone ranunculoides in the woods near Schönbrunn.

16.19 It is time to turn back home. There have been gallant but hardly succesful attempts to take a photograph of a squirrel. We are now at the obelisk fountain. It was built in 1777 and it´s said that its hieroglyphs tell the Habsburg history. However, it took until 1822 before anyone could read hieroglyphics. So what does the hieroglyphs on the obelisk say? Well, I do not know. Does anyone know?

18.03 We bought breakfast at the Spar supermarket and dinner at Zielpunkt. The bag from Zielpunkt reminded of a bag from a store in Budapest, where we shopped more than once. I seem to remember that it was called PLUS in Hungary. We went back to the Do Step Inn after our shopping. We got a map to find the house we will stay in. We got our backpacks and we went to the intersection Beingasse-Goldschlagstraße. Goldschlagstraße runs parallel to Felberstraße so it was not a long journey. We stay in room B2, and right now we let our feet cool.

19.09 It's time for an evening snack. We are back at the railway station. Here we are at Anker. We are having a coffee melange and a topfenstrudel.

20.00 We’ve familiarized ourselves with the surroundings. There are plenty of restaurants around here. We will not visit any of them. We will cook our own food in the evening. How will it turn out?

The unmanned hostel part of Do Step Inn.

21.53 Today's dinner consisted of baconwrapped hot dogs and spätzle. We have previously encountered spätzle under the name haluska. What can I compare it with? Well, maybe macaroni noodles. It was really good although a bit modest when it came to cooking. Here as in Rome at the New Year it was a bit difficult to get water to boil.

22.30 With some effort, we made the bed. Pillows and pillow covers are of different sizes, the duvet cover had an opening in the bottom but no small holes to put your hands in order to absorb the blanket and the mattress cover must simply be from another bed. Nevertheless, it will be great to sleep in another European capital. What now? Someone plays music! Will it be a party?

Thursday 8th of April

08.18 What is the weather like outside? I’ve just come back from the shower. Now I'm going to get dry before my activities continue.

09.38 The breakfast which was bought yesterday has now been consumed. We’re about to get ready to see the central parts of the Austrian capital.

10.23 We’ve purchased and validated a 24-hour cards to the metro. We are heading with the metro towards the central parts of Vienna

Museum of Natural History, Vienna.

10.33 We got off at the station Volkstheater and went up above ground. Now we are sitting on a stone bench in the Museum Quarter. Before us we have a giant women's torso. Can it be called art or is it just weird?

10.45 The sun is shining and the wind blows. We are on Maria Theresienplatz. There is a monument to Empress Maria Theresia here. When we arrived here we got a rose from a girl of Spanish origin. She wanted some money for a small child. We gave her the roses back.

11.12 So we have immortalized the parliament and the Town Hall. Both are hugely impressive buildings. The town hall was, however, a difficult place to take photos of because there were some sorts of renovation work in the area. Now we are planning the next stop. We are sitting on a bench on the Rathausplatz. This day offers warm weather and sunshine.

The Austrian parliament.

Peter among flowering trees at the Rathausplatz.

Vienna's city hall. Here you can find the mayor.

11.32 It's time for more spectacular views and more bench breaks. Now we´re sitting in front of the Votive Church. It is really impressive, and something tells me we will see even more impressing things on this day which has just begun.

11.49 The Votive Church lies right at the university. After our bench break we strolled slowly back towards the area where we started today's hike. We've strolled down the street Herrengasse and started to reach the imperial quarters.

The entrance to the Hofburg Palace in Vienna.

There are many horses that pass near the Spanish Riding School.

Hofburg inner courtyard.

12.06 It is time for yet another monument, castle and note. We are on one of the courtyards of the Habsburg main palace, the Hofburg, and by Franz II's monument. Here we see great amounts of tourists and plenty of horse carriages that pass. Vienna is a city that has enough attractions for a week's stay, but most of what is indoors costs money and we are short of time and money.

Dogs roam in Volksgarten.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is remembered in Vienna too.

12.19 We’ve now sat down outside the Hofburg Palace. We are in a big square outside the castle itself. Not far away is the famous Spanish Riding School. Here in Vienna, just as in Salzburg, there are plenty of opportunities to travel by horse and carriage (fiaker). The historical touch gets damaged by the fact that drivers are talking in their cellphones. Some dogs of various breeds roam aimlessly around in the grass. Do they have no owner?

13.01 We’ve briefly stopped by the city's opera house. Opposite is the exclusive Hotel Sacher, which was founded by the son of the man who in 1832 invented the Sacher cake, an Austrian specialty. Just now we saw a car from Monaco. We’ve never seen a car from there on our previous trips.

Vienna State Opera, one of the world's most famous opera houses.

A nice break inside Starbucks Coffee.

13.11 Yes, here we go again. We are at something we've seen many times before on trips. We’ve sat down in one of the city's Starbucks. This is at the local shopping street Kärntner Straße. Here we are having coffee and muffins.

14.11 Our wandering along the pedestrian zone Kärntner Straße took us to the thoroughly impressive St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom). What can I say, roof, walls, steeples, everything is fantastic.

14.24 We’ve left St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom) behind us and went to check out a potential dining place, Figlmüller. It is a restaurant which offers Schnitzel of a larger model. It was a bit too hefty prices. We'll see how we do. Now we´ve stopped in front of the Jesuit Church.

Peter standing on Kärntner Straße.

A man without face on Stephansplatz.

14.37 We are taking the metro again. We’ve just started from Schwedenplatz. Until the 1920´s the square was called, Ferdinandplatz. It then received its present name as a result of Sweden's relief efforts during the First World War. We are about to visit an old friend who is in town. We've met our friend in a couple places in Europe during our travels.

14.50 So we meet again. We’ve met our old friend the Danube. It is a bit unexpected that the river is so far from the city centre. Vienna is often associated with the Danube. It is far from walking distance here.

15.02 After having rested a little bit we´re standing and looking out over the Danube. In the distance we can see the Danube Tower. This is as close as we will get there. We have other plans.

The river Danube.

15.22 The metro train we took, took us to the area known as the Prater. Here there is an amusement park and we’ve seen the Ferris wheel called Riesenrad. It became famous by the movie "The Third Man". The area is peaceful. We hear children laughing and singing birds. What will happen next? I guess we tube ourselves off to find somewhere to eat. People passed us, running and biking. They really like to move themselves in this country.

Riesenrad in the Prater park.

16.19 Our desperate search of a sensible eating place has taken us to the square Am Hof. We can’t see any place to dine here either.

17.11 It is time for a very late lunch, we found the solution at a metro station. I bought a bratwurst and Christer bought a sandwich with ham, lettuce and peppers. To these we drink beverage purchased at a small Spar shop. We are back in the park in front Votive Church. Here two guys are playing lacrosse. Their ball just passed under me. Now it has been retrieved from the other side of the street.

17.46 It is time for the metro again. We have to make the most of the purchased travelcard. This time we will travel from station Alser Straße. Beside me I just noticed a guy. He called someone on his mobile and spoke Swedish.

19.14 We left the train and walked home. We passed the arena Wiener Stadthalle. On the way we were looking for a place to dine. We now have two options. We surfed a bit on the internet where we checked in before we went home. It was not possible to check in our next flight home. There was simply no printer to print boarding passes on. Now we are at home and are having a coffee in the dining room.

20.50 We’ve showered and freshened up. Now we will go out for a last Austrian dinner. We'll see where we end up.

Christer is having schnitzel at Fünfhauser Stüberl.

21.10 We had a few options but chose Fünfhauser Stüberl on Löhrgasse 13. Here we’ve ordered schnitzel with rice and salad. It's totally quiet in here. We are alone here except for an elderly man at the bar. Now we hear something. Is someone getting spanked or are they preparing the schnitzels?

22.18 There was a lot of food and very good. One can not leave Austria without eating schnitzel. In itself, a genuine Wiener Schnitzel should be made from veal but the ones we´ve just eaten was made from pork but that was ok. Moreover, we observed that the schnitzel is also fast food here. Along with burgers, kebabs and pizzas are also plenty of "schnitzelhaus" with low prices. Maybe something for other countries to adopt? Now we are back safe and sound and will prepare to go to bed. Tomorrow a new journey awaits us.