Vienna

Sorry if I haven't posted much from Vienna. I'm staying at the Hotel Wandl and the Internet options are really limited. There is supposed to be a link through the room itself and wifi in the lobby (both of which you have to pay extra for), neither of which actually work. So there is only one common computer in the lobby, which is constantly busy. The other option is a local Internet cafe around the corner. That said, the Hotel Wandl has a great location, and compared to the Hostal Persal from Madrid it qualifies as luxury accomodations. It is located at the Peterplatz and is right across from St. Peter's Church. One of the statues of the church stares in my window. The hotel is about two blocks from the Stephensplatz, where the massive St. Stephen's Cathedral is located. I'll have to post a picture of St. Stephen's later. I'm reviewing the ones I already took and none of them do it justice (it's massive).

Vienna is a lovely city to visit, although after Madrid it seems pretty sombre. My friend David Kite described Vienna as "heavy", and it's actually a very good description. The architecture and statues are all pretty massive. There are a lot of statues of Hercules, although I'm not exactly certain why. Maybe it was the seemingly Herculean task of keeping the old Austro-Hungarian empire together that made it seem like a good choice. I was in Klagenfurt, Austria last year and there was a statue of Hercules fighting a dragon in the main square, but he looked more like an Austrian shopkeeper than a mythic hero. It is a very expensive city to visit (and, to be fair, to live - it's not as if they're just sticking it to the tourists). I'm in the middle of a long trip and was pressed for time so I just had the folks at the Hotel Wandl do the laundry. We don't need to talk about how much it cost, but next time I'll just bag it and go looking for a laundramat.