Vienna 9-14,17
		Everyone asks what my favorite place is. It is really hard and I thought I would think about it when I got home.  But I decided today that Vienna is my new favorite, other cities have more sights, but probably more for personal reasons, there is something about Vienna. Klimt, Munch, Shiele, are all here.  Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" (trust me you have all seen it) was really stunning in real life.
		Franz Joseph was probably the last great ruler of the immense Austrian-Hungarian empire.  This is his city palace.  Him and his wife Sissy are legendary in these parts but what impressed me most about him was that he was a blue-collar emporer.  Ok he had a bunch of castles and ruled a ton of land and had servants for his servants but the guy woke up at 4 every morning, worked till 6, went for a walk, went back to his desk to work until  or 5 every single day.  He had an open door policy and anyone in his empire could schedule an appointment with him, he sometimes had 100 visitors a day.  He liberated the once suppressed, built great buildings, instituted many solid social programs.  Can you imagine our President or even your boss seeing 100 people a day and they said he would remember everyone by name. Impressive.			First impressions are everything.  When you pop out of the metro in city center, this is what you see. St. Stephans church, this is the dead center of town and everything revolves around it.  My hotel, a bookstore, Internet, the Hawkela cafe, finger sandwiches, and an awesome gelato place (had 3 in two days) are all within two minutes from here.
					This is the Great Hall of the winter Shunbrunn Palace, don't tell anyone you saw this, no photos allowed.
		About 4 kms from center are the Habsburgs (Franz and Sissy's) summer palace.  I liked it better that Versailles, probably because even here Franz saw many normal citizens every day.  The give a great Grand Tour here, go early!
					Another great business idea.  This is famous Buffet Trzesniewski, say that 3 times fast.  All they serve are all kinds of these little 75 cent finger sandwiches, all different kinds.  You point at a few, get a token for a small beer and for less than 3 bucks you have a great tasting mid-afternoon meal.  This is right across the street from the broody Cafe Hawkela where for a cup of coffee, you can read pretty much any newspaper out there.
		Austria has been a part of and through much war, this is the Jewish memorial close to city center.
					While doing some reading on my last night at Cafe Hawkela, I ran into Sandra and Leisa from the Marina. I think we stayed out a little too late as you can tell from the pics but they helped me decide to go to Budapest.
		Here is another great thing about Vienna.  They have a very famous Opera house that is one of the places to perform if you have the goods.  Interesting in that everyone, from the stagehands to the performers (even Pavorotti and the like) get paid the same.  The place itself was mostly destroyed in WWII but was built back with mostly donations and as a result isn't really that ornate.  But here is the coolest thing.  80 minutes before the show, you can buy a $2 or if you want to splurge at $3.50 standing place.  And this is the view if you spend the big bucks.  I forked out my $3.50 for a ballet and it turned out to be the best view I have ever had at a show.  And after 90 minutes, I didn't feel bad for leaving at the first intermission.  They do different shows every night and some serious logistics go into changing sets.