Our first full day in Vienna. Vienna is the city of the continual buzz. The coffee here is good, strong and plentiful. Three cups with milk for breakfast followed by an “eine kleiner brauner” at 11 in the morning to re-jump start the heart. This delightful invention is an espresso with sugar and cream on the side, a glass of water and a small chocolate candy. This was a refreshing change from the coffee of Prague which tasted more like a hot, black grain beverage enjoyed during the lean years of WWII and the communist era.

Ann is now back in stride with only an occasional stop for a good cough. Her coughs now are rather meek and mild compared to two days ago. The permanent “we are in Europe” smile is back to being planted securely on her face. Yea.

Our major problem of a place to stay on Tuesday night was fixed by the lady at Josef's Konditorei Walch (where we have our breakfast below our apartment each morning). She secured a room at the Ibis Hotel a few blocks from here. We will be on the 12th floor with free internet access for about the same price. The weather has been sunny without a cloud in the sky today, and tomorrow the same. That will be nice for the view from the 12th floor.

We wandered through the center of Vienna today amazed at how few tourists are in town. This is quite refreshing compared to the last time we were here in the summer. I had a large beer for lunch; Ann had soup. We were still full from the large breakfast downstairs.

In the evening we went back into the center of town for dinner. We had spotted an interesting restaurant – Der Figlmuller. It was an old looking restaurant on one of the tiny streets behind the St. Stephen’s Dom (cathedral). It was packed with people with no real system for waiting. We went around the corner and found the same restaurant, same kitchen but more upscale (white tablecloths) and the same menu. No waiting, same food, same prices. The food was good.

Lesson for day 7: Beer is the lunch of champions and brings you down from the morning Austrian coffee buzz.