Getting to Vienna

Just a teaser post for starters. Astral Wendy took over 600 photos so she's going to be in the photo lab for the better part of the weekend. I had enough airline miles to score a couple of business class round trips to Europe, so we figured, why not Vienna? I had a hankering for some Wiener Schnitzel. 

Getting my fair share of wine in the Luftansa lounge.

Once on board, a little bubbly to lift the spirits.

Little Astral Wendy definitely had enough legroom.

The seats were like tilt-a-whirl reclining cocoons. I forgot to mention 

the swing out foot rest, so by morning, a sleeping Astral Wendy

had slid almost to the floor.

Shoes off. Let's do some flying.

Peruse the menu, Yes, we'll have some of that. And more wine, danke.

A large bag of almonds to let you know you're not in coach.

A little appetizer, the entree, and sleep if you can. Morning

comes fast.

Dawn over Germany.

Ja, all is in perfect order. Must be Austria.

Since the airfare was free, I decided to book a five star hotel,

the Hotel Sacher Wien. You may have heard of their famous

torte. Our room was so big, it had a name: La Belle Helene. More on that later.

We arrived around 10.30 am and, luckily our room was ready.

Speaking of things 'belle', here's Astral Wendy relaxing

by the fireplace. It was 90F the day we arrived, so we didn't 

need to use it.

When you fly overnight to Europe, the best thing to do is to try

to stay awake for as much of the day as possible. So, after checking in

we hit the streets for a walk about. Vienna is very mellow and seems

incredibly safe. Just a real cool vibe going on.

To be continued....with Food, Hapsburgs, Klimt, Schiele....and lot's more Wien.