Sweets, Treats, & Greets in Vienna

If the ornately decorated palaces, churches, and common buildings, lined with cobblestone streets and window shops weren't elegant enough, Vienna makes some of the best pastries, cakes, chocolates, and coffee in central Europe. It is custom to have coffee and pastries as an afternoon meal. And of course, pastries can (and should) accompany most every meal. I wasn't complaining. We visited many shops, including the Cafe Central and Aida. The meals were never short and very sweet.

The city itself is wonderful to explore. Walking around the first district, we passed churches, museums, the palace, the university, the opera house, the theater house, the legislative building and judicial building, shops, eateries, and plenty of Starbucks. There are also McDonalds. The one we commonly go to is three floors, with a separate cafe that serves cold-cut sandwiches... much better than the American specials. They even had a chicken cordon bleu sandwich. Delicious. We made a snowman in a courtyard behind the main city palace and had a photo shoot with him. We also got to see some of the most famous horses in the world. They are Lipizzan horses that put on a world renown equestrian show in the royal palace. I took a lot of liberty to explore the city on my own too. It was fantastic!