Tiny little sandwiches

Guten Tag.

Since I went to bed so early I woke up at 5:00. Amazingly enough nothing is open that early. I spent the time reading through my guidebook, planning my day, and eventually wandered down to Naschmarkt, which starts to perk up around 7:00. It was full of fresh fruit, dried fruit, olives, meat, pastries, all kinds of vinegar, wine, spices, T-shirts, sunglasses, and other junk. I had fun wandering up and down the market for awhile since it was near my hotel. When the internet shop opened I was all over it. I'm addicted to email, I admit it. If I kept track, I think internet expenses would be second on my list next to food.

After I had my fill of posting pics, updating blogs, and sending emails I went back to the Hapsburg Palace and toured the treasury. I've never seen so many bejeweled scepters, robes, and crowns before. They also have enough reliquaries filled with pieces of the original cross, the blood of Christ, and fragments of bones of saints to reconstruct the entire Catholic pantheon two times over. Overall it was pretty neat, even with the constant clicking of the motion trackers in each room reminding you that you're being watched all the time.

I stopped for finger sandwiches at Trzesniewski Buffet and a tiny beer. It was fun to just point at random sandwiches that looked tasty and try them out. Fast, cheap, efficient, I would do it again.

Next I took a tour of the Opera house. They only have two tours a day this time of year so it was pretty busy at the first tour of the day. I watched a tiny French woman worm her way in front of me in line, she even glared at me at one point when I asserted my position. Of course there wasn't a shortage of tickets so I'm not quite sure what her problem was. I overheard many visitors proclaiming loudly in line that they "sure hope they speak English in there". Gotta love American tourists. Our tour guide was Austrian with a very thick accent. It reminded me of Harrison Ford's feigned German accent in the Last Crusade when he claimed to be at the castle to "inzpect ze tapeztries!" especially when our guide kept pointing out all the tapestries. Not many of my pictures turned out well inside, mostly because I was gun-shy about using the flash inside what I considered museums after being barked at in the last cathedral. That didn't stop most of the other tourists, they were all happily flashing away. Oh well. The tour seemed rather short to me, but I had busy day planned so I didn't mind so much. We were warned that all operas and ballets are sold out months in advance and that a very few standing room tickets are available an hour before the show, but that people line up early in the morning just for a chance to get them during the popular operas. Tonights opera was going to be Swan Lake. I decided not to wait in line for standing room tickets. It would have been great to see a show there, but I had too much else I wanted to accomplish. Maybe next time, I can book long in advance.

After the tour, I sat down outside and savoured a cup of coffee as I wrote in my journal and flipped through the sights in my guidebook. Next stop was the New Palace Museum back at the Hapsburg Palace. They have a great military, musical instrument, and Greek artifact collection. Plus I was able to wander the beautiful marble halls of the palace.

I decided to walk the entire old town ring and take pictures next. I had taken the tram around the ring the day before, but we zipped past all the sights too quickly to get decent pictures. I made it about a quarter of the way, near City Hall before I was hungry so I stopped at the park and ate more food from my magic backpack. I had taken some time earlier in the morning to restock on cheese, rolls, trail mix, apples, and water.

By the time I got all the way around the ring it was time for more internet and then dinner. I wandered back toward Bermuda Triangle and found the closest cafe to St. Ruprechts monastery, Zum Kuchldragoner. I had a tasty burger, potato wedges and a beer. After that I started a self guided pub crawl. It was short but fun.

The internet cafe closes in 5 minutes so I have to wrap this up. Good night all!