So B and I ride the train to Vienna. BTW when taking a train from Budapest to Vienna always pay for the round trip, it's cheaper than the one-way. Hungarians do this to stick it to the tourists who are just passing through. Gotta love it! So we arrive in Vienna and B heads to work. I decide to just walk around her 'hood, checking out the sights. Oh I forgot to mention that this day was my 31st birthday... what, what!! So I'm walking around checking the sites and decide to pop in to a cafe and have lunch. I seat myself at one of the outdoor tables and wait until the waiter brings me the menu- I wait awhile, which I find is typical in Europe. Those people are not in a hurry to do a damn thing. When I get the menu I scan it multiple times. It's all in German, not really surprising, but for some reason my 4 years of German from years before aren't really coming back to me. I decide to only pick things that I recognize the words of... that gets me an octopus dish (Oktopus) and a dip that consists of tomatoes, avocado, and some other stuff. Oddly the dip doesn't come with chips or anything for that matter. I just spoon it in my mouth. Still good. I really dig the restaurant porch culture in Vienna. Every restaurant has outdoor seating and it's so relaxing. If I had oodles of money and no job, I would totally lounge at a table all day every day and soak up the sun and fun.
B gets back and we decide to head to the Old City Centere and see some sights and walk around. The main sight we see is St. Stephan's Cathedral circa the 1300's. I am in awe of the huge cathedral. I am also shocked at how a Mcdonalds sits across the square from it. Oh excuse me a McCafe as they are branded in Vienna.
As we are admiring the cathedral we are accosted by Mozart, actually multiple Mozarts, all of them vying for our Symphony business. Didn't work, though I really wish I had gone to listen to see one of the orchestras perform. If wishes were fishes...
For my super special birthday dinner that night B and I enjoyed a pasta meal fromVapiano. Not really Austrian, but it hit the spot. The next day I did a bit more random walking around near the Neubagasse Metro stop. It was enjoyable to just pop in and out of shops and cafes and get immersed in Viennese life. B and I also rented bikes from CityBike (only 1 euro to register and then free for the first hour every time you rent a bike) and biked to the Danube. There is this amazing park that goes on and on along an offshoot of the river and you can bike up and down it as well as stop at many of the public rafts that are along the Danube offshoot. These rafts are used as points to get in and out of the water and to sunbathe. It was a warm day when we went, but the water was cold so there weren't many people enjoying the rafts and green space. The ones we did see however enjoyed it so much that they were bucknekkid. Actually we only saw one dude who was in the buff (he did have a sock covering his junk, but more for the burn factor than to cover his family jewels from prying eyes), but apparently lots of woman go topless in the park and rafts and some men like to bare it all. It's all perfectly legal. I actually like that people can get naked if they choose too. It would never work in the US because we are way to uptight about shit like that, but it would be nice if we could be evolved enough to not get the giggles every time we see a naked man or topless woman. FYI I didn't swim in the Danube because it looked cold as hell. B assured me it felt fine, but I wasn't buying that shit:) Later we went and enjoyed a drink on one of the tallest buildings in Vienna, the sofitel. It had an amazing 360 degree view of Vienna. I would highly recommend having a drink or dinner there if you ever go. The bar/restaurant is called Le Clos. 
Another of the places I visited while in Vienna was the naschmarkt. It's this huge food market that has a large variety of dining and food stalls. You can get any kid of food you want from here. It was fun to walk up and down the road and get hustled by the food sellers. The only rude person I exp[erienced while in Austria was here. I noticed a pidgeon fly down and grab an almond and start eating it. As I turned my camera toward the pidgeon to get a shot a woman started yelling and the bird to fly away. It did, and once it was gone, the lady turned her attention at me. I think she was pissed I observed it happening and was trying to take a shot of it, I don't know. All I know is that I laughed and shrugged my shoulders since the bitch out was in German and I didn't understand it:)
On Wednesday, I went to Schönbrunn Palace, built long ago but remodeled in the 1700s. The palace was huge and breath taking, but the gardens are even larger. What I found most fascinating about the place was these massive long "walkways" throughout the gardens. All ogf them had huge hedges around them which were perfectly trimmed straight down. It was interesting and I can just see royalty riding up and down those walkways in horse and carriages as the women holding parasols ooohhed and ahhhed over the flowers and perfectly trimmed hedges.
The day was ended by a visit to the Wurstelprater, AKA the prater circa 1776, but the amusement park has only been there since the 1800s, and is about a 5 minute walk from my hosts home. We walked over there and took in the sights. It is free to get in and walk around, but if you want to ride a ride you have to choke up a couple of euro. The coolest thing about this place were the bars and cafes. People just come here to hang out, but not necessarily to ride anything. It has a very chill vibe. It was extremly desolate as well or at least seemed that way. I guess I'm not used to being at an amusement park in the off time so when you would see these huge 50 person rides holding only 4 or 5 people it was quite odd. It was also odd turning a corner and seeing bright lights and hearing carnival sounds, but at the same time seeing not a soul on the street ahead. Very unsettling and neat at the same time. 
Welp that's all of my time in Vienna. I will be back next week with pictures and stories of my harrowing bike trip down the Danube from Melk to Krems.
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