Wiener Weather

I don't want to jinx it, but the weather in Munich is finally summer-izing. For the first time this season, walking ten minutes from my house to the U-Bahn made me perspire. Everyone in the streets was eating ice cream (except for me). And, I actually managed to acquire some red on my bare shoulders, etching a fat tan line into my exposed skin as a warm reminder of the beautiful day.

Summertime in Munich is the happiest time in Munich. Beer gardens fill to the brim with people, just as the steins overflow with brew. Music blares from green spaces across the expanse of the city as people bask in the vitamin D glory.

A few weeks ago, Steve and I traveled to Vienna spend the day with one of Steve's old professors, Andy Markovitz, who is teaching a summer course at the Universität Wien. We also stayed to play tourists for a few days following our meeting.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), the majority of our time in Vienna was spent ducking through the rain from one cafe to the next, from one museum to the next. For the most part, the weather was opposite the glorious blue-sky heaven that we Münchners experienced today. Yet, if there is one place to be when it's frigid and damp, it's Vienna. Nothing warms you better on a soggy, 40 degree day than sitting in a cozy cafe nook, drinking a Viennese coffee, and eating a delicious piece of cake. Gotta love café kultur!

Ladies and gents, VIENNA:

Café Kultur at Its Finest...Afternoon Cake at Café Central
(In the late 19th century, Café Central was a meeting place for the intellectual minds of the time. It was often frequented by Lenin, Trotsky, Freud, and Herzl. These smarties must have come for the cake, because it was delicious!)

"In Love in Vienna Today: 352091" +2

Side Entrance to the Hofburg Palace
(The Hofburg housed the Habsburg dynasty...sadly, I can't really tell you anything more about it, except that it is a HUGE, gray concrete complex.)

Figlmüller: The Best and Biggest Schnitzel EVER!
(Schnitzel at Figlmüller was recommended to Steve and I by my tandem partner, Jana. And man...that was the best schnitzel I have ever tasted! It was also giant...bigger than my head...COLOSSAL. Despite its vast expanse, I was excited and determined to eat the entire stuck. Unfortunately, I vowed to post only five pictures per place visited for my current blog posts series, because I have pictures of Steve and I attempting to devour our groß meal. Steve succeeded. Sadly, however, just under half of my schnitzel ended up in a take-home bag and then in the trash. I became too full to finish. They say, "Waste not, want not," but I would have been happy for a smaller portion size.)

Silhouette of the City Hall
(The rain finally cleared during our last evening in the city.)