Those observations.

Things that appeared rather popular in Vienna:

• Italian restaurants.
• Statues of guys on horses.
• Emporia specialising in ladies' undergarments (seriously, we were standing around one day, and I realised there had to be at least five or six - maybe more - within less than ten minutes' walk).
• Pigeons.
• Expansively sculpted nipples on shop-window mannequins (we just don't have that over here).
• Horse dung (the carriages may be pretty cool, but no stopping that farmyard smell; on the other hand, the part of town we were in was spotlessly clean, otherwise).
• Churches, of the impressively built, photogenic if there had been room to back up far enough, variety.

Not to mention the cafes - there’s got to be as many cafes in Vienna as there are pubs in Edinburgh, which is no small achievement. Those we visited were great for a coffee and a cake. Mig had pointed us towards Cafe Central and Hawelka, which contrasted fairly sharply. Hawelka in particular is one to return to.

For return we shall. In five days we hardly stepped outside the Ring, so it may not be too long before we catch a bit more time and see some more.

In there it was quite touristy, but in a relaxed, friendly sort of way. And I make no bones about us being tourists; not ‘backpackers’ or ‘travellers’, ‘visitors’ or ‘guests’, we were honest-to-goodness sightseeing tourists. Actually, I was quite glad of the tourist-friendly nature of the city, as my German is much worse than I remembered and we were regularly relieved by the way everyone we encountered spoke English better than we did. It would appear that for me the language isn’t still in there somewhere…

Vienna is definitely worth a look, especially if you like parks and museums and great-looking buildings to wander among.

Expect more posts on the subjects of high-quality street-performers, minimalist art at the Albertina, the Spanish Riding School, and possibly a photo or two.