Vienna 2015

    I arrived in Vienna on Friday.  I took the train from Linz and it was very easy.  I used WestBahn.  It is not the Austrian railway so you can not buy your ticket at the train station.  But the times and platforms etc. are listed on the ordinary posters.  You pay on the train and it is half the cost.
     Of course I am staying at the Konig von Ungarn hotel.  I love this place.  They treat me like the special person that I am.  Seriously,  I think this is the 9th or 10th time that I am here.  They sent me a Christmas present for god's sake.  I am in my usual room 202.  There is nothing here for me to do but I like it anyway.  I found a new hang-out.  It is called Wein & Co.  I have been there twice.  Once in the afternoon for beers and tonight after dinner for wine.  The wine is expensive but so what.  Last night after dinner at Salieri, of course salad, spaghetti aglio and 1/2 liter red, I went to the sports bar and watched a tennis match and drank 4 beers at 4 euro each.  So tonight after dinner I went to Il Tempo.  I had a 1/4 l Riesling and would have stayed for more but there was a large group with young children there so I left.  At Wein & Co I had 3 1/8 of Reisling and paid 15 euro.  The same as last night but a different setting.  The girl who was working there the last time I was there was there again and recognized me and was nice to me and therefore the boy who waited on me was also friendly.  I love that.
     The only cultural thing that I have done so far is go to the Albertina.  I love that museum.  The special exhibits were a photography exhibit of the work of Lee Miller and a collection of works from the sitting collection.  I enjoyed both and of course enjoyed the Prunkraume.  I am constantly amazed that people go through there and never realize that on the walls are drawings by da Vinci, Raphael, Michaelangelo, Durer and others.  That is why I go through that part.  The Batliner collection is second to none and deserves to be seen over and over.
     Today I really did not do anything exciting.  I walked through the park to Rennweg, which is the same street as the Belvedere, and found a Biergarten I have heard of.  Then I went to Karlsplatz and had to sit in the shade for a 1/2 hour.  Then I went through a street market hoping that I could find a new wallet, but did not.  Finally I ended up at the cafe behind the Hofburg.  I had a lemon drink and a Kaiserschmarmm.  The last time I had a Kaiserschmarmm was in Munchen at the Lowenbrau with Ernest.  It was very good and this cafe  is a good place to go to.  It is in the same court as the Swiss door.
     For dinner I wanted to go to Ilona's but it was full so L went up the street, (BrunnerStrasse), to Lohmann's.  I have never eaten there before but they have very good German food.  I had a skewer of pork wrapped in bacon with potatoes and of course a side salad.  I ordered a bock beer and it turned out to be a Kaiser beer!!  The very first time I was in Vienna, 1991  think, I drank this dark beer and it is GREAT.  Anyway I had 2 before I left.  Here is a Viennese  traveling tip.  In a restaurant ask for " leitungs wasser"  and you will get a free glass of water, which of course in the US we expect.