Vacation - Vienna (Day 3)

First, I have to show you all the things that the computer in the Raddison business center can do that ours cannot: £ € ¬ ¦ ` .

OK, so here goes Monday, the 8th.

After visiting the fitness center (we are its only users, since everyone else is from Arab countries and would never use a co-ed facility), I recalled that I, the great vacation planner, had made the train reservations to Budapest for the wrong day (Tuesday) rather than the correct day (Wednesday). I assumed that our friendly concierge (she is Spanish) could right this wrong with ease, but quickly discovered that the only way to do it was to go to the Westbahnhof, the station, which we did on the Orange Line. [The Vienna subway U-bahn system is very friendly; you seem to be able to go on it for free, although we spent €16 each for a ViennaPass. We couldn't figure out where or how to show the card, or where to pay]

At any rate, the station is modern and after talking in pidgen-German with the help-man, we stood in a fairly long line to get to the window where the very nice man on the other side of the glass smiled and said: 'Wrong line'. And we had to start all over,and the right line was only one person long, which was good, except the one person took a very, very long time because her credit card didn't work, for some unclear (i.e. German) reason. At any rate, the man behind the exchange desk apologized for having to charge us €3.40 each, and we were able to go on our way.

Oh, yeah, we did have breakfast at the Picknerl cafe (or something like that).

We then went to the Naschmarkt, where they sell fruits and vegetables and everything all day, every day, from all sorts of corners of the world, and it all looks beautiful. Also meats and fish and cheeses, etc. We wandered and took pictures and had a vegetarian lunch at one of the luncheonettes there which was run, like a lot of the market by Turks. The owner was a Turkish Turk, our waitress was an Armenian Turk, but she did not think that their ability to work together meant that the problems between Armenians and Turks were getting solved.

Then, the Albertina Museum, part of the Hapsburg Palace complex. Two terrific exhibits, one of German/Austrian portrait photography 1930-1938, and the other the first showing of part of the collection of a Swiss art dealer named Krugier. He was born in Poland, interred in two concentration camps, liberated from Bergen Belsen, wound up in Switzerland, where he befriended the sculptor Alberto Giacometti and opened a gallery with him. This exhibit is called Goya to Picasso and there are terrific examples of each, but also everyone in between. Some paintings and sculpture, but mainly drawings and etchings. Virtually every one is one you would like on your wall.

Dinner on the other hand was a mistake - we tried the kosher restaurant we had seen the other day. It is pleasant enough, but the food (we had a mixed grill, with lamb, chicken and beef, all on skewers) was not of very good quality. But it was one more experience, and the walk back to the hotel, through the wandering alleys of the old part of the city, looking at all of the restaurants we wished we had gone to, was very pleasant.

If we did more, I don't remember.

Wiederschreiben.