Lin and I are on the move again - to Central Europe for two weeks.  I drove the RV up to New Jersey to meet Lin, coming from Colorado, at my brother's.  She arrived early and enjoyed spending time with family while I arrived only two nights before our Newark departure on Austrian Airlines to Vienna.

As with most European flights, we flew overnight, arriving first thing in the morning.  We found our way through the airport down to the trains that would take us to central Vienna where we then caught a subway to just a couple blocks from our hotel.  Everything was clearly signed and in English, so we had no problems finding our way.  Luckily, our hotel room was available even though it was only 10am, so we grabbed an hour's nap..  

Weather was cloudy, breezy and chilly, but we were prepared with clothing layers and headed out to find lunch.  We had a few restaurants scoped out, but the lines were literally out the door - Easter week is a huge tourist week.  We found a cafe serving great tomato soup and dark grained bread then headed out to Stephenplatz (Stephen's Square) to take a tour of St. Stephens Cathedral.

We rented an audio tape to tour the building.  So much religious symbolism in the statues, paintings and stained glass windows - a gorgeous church.

  

The famous roof of St. Stephen's Cathedral

 

We walked around the side of the church to the South Tower where we climbed 347 narrow steep spiral steps to the top.  My legs felt like jelly and it was 2-way, so that when folks were coming down, one had to move to the inside of the spiral steps that were only a few inches deep - I was a bit concerned somewhere around 200 steps whether I was going to make it!  We did access the top and the commanding views of Vienna - worth the aching legs I would enjoy for the next two days.

The South Tower that required 347 steps to get to the top.  Whew!

Vienna is known for its Cafe pastries and coffee, so of course after the knee-killing journey back down to Earth, we stopped for some apple strudel and coffee.  After returning to the hotel and another short nap, we headed out to a restaurant just a block away for a light dinner of appetizers and a glass of wine before early to bed to catch up on some much needed sleep and recover from the 6-hour time difference.