Wien

I arrived in Vienna this morning at around 10 and by 11 a.m. was safely at the Marriott, having taken a nice, warm shower. My first interaction with Austrian culture was when the Austrian Airlines flight landed and the canned music came on. It was Strauss, naturally, with the Viennese Waltz. Within moments of the music starting, about four people on this very small plane were whistling along and smiling at one another.

One of my friends put me in touch with a college friend of his and we had lunch today - Cuban fusion. Not what I had expected, but amazingly delicious. She then showed me the part of the wall that used to surround Vienna and pointed me toward some of the more famous areas and went back to work. (Very nice of her to take time out from work and we're going to be having drinks shortly.)

Anyway, I wandered around the Stephansdom Quarter and climbed up to the top of the spire of Stephansdom Cathedral. Just to give you a sense of the height, I've added some pictures. (I'm going to have a big dinner tonight!) The Cathedral is famous for many things, one of which is the roof. It was destroyed in WWII, but put back together, needless to say.

I then strolled over to Peterskirche (mostly because it's hard to miss). When I walked in, there was an organ concert going on and only a few people there. It was so amazing because the church isn't that large - very tall, but not deep or wide - and the music was so strong it just went through me. Plus, I smell like candles now, which is a cool thing. These pictures don't do the place justice, but give a feel for the opulence.

One of the highlights of the day was the fact that a few people started talking to me in French. One woman at the top of the Stephansdom spire just started rattling off how she didn't want to walk back down and she was going to stay right there forever, but weren't the views wonderful. Made me feel good that I appeared French. Not to mention that a Japanese tourist (speaking German) and someone else (speaking German) stopped me for directions. I must look like I know where I'm going.

Good first day.