Being Viennese

Shopped in the market close to our apartment. It was fun, actually. I would place my order in German, and often, they would answer me in German!! Then I was lost, of course. But between the two languages and hand gestures, the shopping got done. Olives, cheese, bread, wine, and of course, pastries! The Viennese love of an almost infinite variety of cakes, and the cooler weather, have nearly replaced my gelato addiction.

 During this morning's walk through one of the many pedestrian streets, Jerry almost got run down by a skateboarder! He was extremely apologetic and barely touched J. We've been carefully watching for speeding bikes (many) and trams (quiet!) The leaves are starting to fall here, and we've walked through piles of crunchy yellow ones.

Today, we met Art Waskey from our tour group for coffee and cake in one of the classic Viennese coffee houses - Cafe Central. He's from Santa Fe and happened to be passing through Vienna on his way home from Budapest. Fun to see him again and trade stories of our adventures.

After coffee, Jerry and I went to a free organ concert in St. Peter's church. Magnificent!

We couldn't see the organist, since as in most cathedrals, the organ was up and behind us, but looking around at the ornate setting and listening was a great experience.

We decided to try one of the more unusual museums after that. So we spent an HOUR with our map and guide book trying to find the CLOCK Museum, but since it took us SO LONG, we got there too LATE and didn't have TIME to go through it. However, once again, getting lost was half the fun and we saw a lot of the old neighborhood, it's inhabitants, and the fiakers - the horse drawn carriages hauling tourists around. 

On the way home, we popped into the Demel Cafe, another famous Viennese coffee house, but this time, just to take pictures. We were much too full to eat. Yes, it does happen! Our timing was lucky, as in the back, there was a woman making an enormous cake and we watched her putting the finishing touches on it. Even what looks like a brown box at the bottom of it is cake! Wow!

We also learned to ride the U-bahn today (the subway). Turned out to be another piece of cake. : )

Posing at the bike shop.

We have apparently achieved one of our goals. I guess we don't look like American tourists. Twice today, people came up and asked us in German for directions! Obviously, we weren't much help.