Vienna,

Up early, again, and Crispy is buzzing. She didn't sleep well as she was so excited at the thought of moving on to horizons new. Out along the sleepy streets of Saltzburg to the Bahnhof (trainstation)  and onto our first train. A super modern high speed double decker. I know its a Sunday but it was really quiet. Me and Crispy plus 4 other people on a state of the art ultra modern train with 10 carraiges bound through Austria. Northern rail struggle to put on 2 carraiges at the busiest time of a working day to carry 5000 passengers in and out of Manchester. British rail need to take a serious look at the European rail system. It works like a dream. It is Fast, comfortable, clean and  above all cheap.
Arriving in Vienna was a little daunting as its the largest of the cities we will be staying at. Most of the places we have stayed at previously  are a compact medieval town that have been enveloped by modern conurbations yet still maintain their easy to follow pattern. Vienna is huge, sprawling and confusing. A huge city composed of lots of different regions all now merged into one.
  We had booked into a little hotel in one of these out of the way areas called the hotel "Carina". Its just off the Wattgast Strasse a 15 minute tram ride from the centre. A little distant but reasonably priced. The cost of staying in any city centre is prohibitive but here it is madness.
Once of the train at rhe Westhbf it took a few minutes to orientate ourselves. It was a glorious day, blue skies and the temperature touching 30 degrees. We caught the U6 underground to Alterstatt and then walked the remaining 20 minutes to the hotel. Its on a small road in a quiet residential area. We were a bit thirsty by the time we got there and Crispy spotted a small pub facing the hotel. There was no stopping her and she was in there like a rabbit down a hole. The bar can best be described as " interesting". Run by an aging lady and frequented by a small group of locals that " like a drink" if you know what I mean.  Non spoke English as we are not in a popular tourist area but we managed to get by with my smattering of german. The bar advertised food and Crispy, always on the lookout for her next meal, asked " Do you serve gluten free". Chaos erupted. The landlady eagre not to lose custum agreed to everything arguing thar even the schnitzel and bread had never seen gluten.  A
few guests joined in the conversation, arguing amongst themselves as to what gluten was. Voices were raised, tempers flared and we were sat in the middle looking at the floor and wishing we had never asked.
Just before The assistance of the police was required to settle the argument another elderly lady joined the fray. Her English was impeccable and she sat with us to mediate and try to dispel the carnage Crispy had caused.
The end result was that we didn't know if the food was gluten free because its made by a lady around the corner and they would try to contact her.
We decided not to eat here today as we couldn't be sure as to the food but were not allowed to leave untill we promised to go back to "find out".
We really wanted to go back for one main reason. It was cheap. 2 euro a beer and 2 euro 20 for a glass of wine that held half a bottle.

We made our way across the road, leaving the locals to continue the argument, to the hotel, booked in and unpacked the backpacks before venturing out into Vienna.

Tram 2 into the city and then off into the centre. It was busy. Not just busy but really BUSY. Hoards of locals trying to go about their daily buisness but being interupted by the huge groups of japanese tourists 
Snaking their way behind sour faced tour guides. They are like waiting for a train to pass. I must mention at this point a little observation we have made over the oriental dress sense. Its bizarre. Im sure they try to outdo each other in the most ridiculous colour and style combinations possible. I think before they came on holiday they were forced to watch western films to learn about western clothing styles. I think the only films available must have been Willy Wonka and Mary Poppins.
Ah well to each their own. Ill try and get some pics to prove our point.

We made our way to the Danube. As a point of reference its not Blue and its definately not beautiful as it passes through Vienna. Things must have changed since Strausse waltzed along its banks.  Although to be fair the Danube does not flow through vienna. It is the Danube canal that passes through the city and it is akin to the Manchester ship canal but with graffiti. If theres one thing about European cities that immediately grabs the traveller it is the amount of graffiti. Its everywhere. Every underpass, industrial unit and riverbank is adorned with this garish expression of youth angst. Dont get me wrong I am all for the new generation expressing their individuality and opinion but for gods sake guys do it in your bedroom and not on the city walls. Let your parents pay for the emulsion to cover it over and not the council.

After a quick tour of the city and a visit to the Dom we headed back to district 17 and our hotel.  On entering our gasse (street) the now inebriated customers of the bar spotted us and called us in. It was likely to get messy and it did. After several beers, mostly free, we ended up involved in a lock in. All seemed happy with our company except one. A friend of the lady whose previous intervention had averted the police. She made no effort to camoflage her displeasure and scoweled at us the entire evening. The elderly lady who had helped us turns out to be an Austrian princess whose family fell from grace a long time ago and thus had no fortune to rely on. She had worked many years in the Austrian diplomatic service and had been posted all over the world. She now practiced chinese medicine to try and make ends meet, you couldn't make it up if you tried.
The evening rolled by quickly with the princess practicing her English and correcting my German and a local guy insisting on "Prost" every two minutes.  I dont know what time we got to bed or how much we drank but our bar bill came to less than 10 euro. Im sure that must not og been right... it was a great end to a great day and one we will remember forever.

Bare and Crispy signing off Vienna, Austria