Flying to Austria - the beginning of exploring Middle Europe

Paris at the start of my day
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If god lived on earth he would probably live in Vienna..

It is one of the most grand, opulent, civilised and ornate cities I have ever visited. It just takes a second to close your eyes and you are taken back to 'fin de circle' Vienna. The smell of horsedung from the fiacres (horsedrawn carriages) or the rococco statues on each apartment block mean that I am somewhere special. It is possible to life a gentle elegant life without setting foot outside the Ringstrasse. Heaven probably looks like this city on the Danube - great sprawling palaces, topiared gardens, baroque statues and a population polite, wealthy and respectable. I cannot think of a city that has stayed so much in my mind as Vienna.

Heaven probably looks like this city on the Danube - great sprawling palaces, topiared gardens, baroque statues and a population polite, wealthy and respectable.

Vienna at the end of my day.
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110 hours before I was packing up at my cheap hotel in Le Marais. The sun was out and for the first time I felt warm. The weather, disapointing though it has been, has not been a concern here in Paris as there has been so much to see and do. Paris has surpassed expectation. The medly of villages that make London such a pleasure to stroll in exist in plentitude here. I used to work for a Frenchwoman and she swore that Paris was the most beautiful city in the world. Someone pointed out that it was probably Venice - but she was having none of it. Venice was not designed as a work of art, she would say, Paris has a thirst for beauty and perfection. Ideas count in Paris and creativity is to be applauded. Of the top five cities in the world - Paris is a contender for the very top.

So it was with certain reluctance that I hauled my suitcase to the METRO early this morning and took it to the Gare du Nord. There I changed to the RER and took the overland train to Charles de Gaulle airport. CDG is just as old and congested as Heathrow and JFK so it was a struggle to book in at the Air France desk and even more of a struggle to get through security. Once on board I tucked into a hearty lunch and listened to the French couple bicker next to me. I was the only British on board - the rest were all French, Austrian or Poles.

At 1.05 we took off and headed over cloudy France to an even cloudier Switzerland. It wasnt until we entered the Austrian Alps that the weather cleared and Middle Europe seemed to be bathed in sunshine. The Alps themselves were beautiful - I spotted some lovely looking lakes and half an hour later we crossed the entirety of Austrian and were touching down at Flughafen Schwechat Wien. From the air Vienna looks a small round city with the Vienna woods prominent in the distance.

The airport was clean, efficient and pleasant and the temperature has risen (23 degrees compared with Paris' 16). I caught the airport bus and it only took twenty minutes to reach the Westbahnhof - Viennas western rail station. Hub for the train and tram network I bought an 180 schilling Wiencarte which lets me on every tram or train for the next three days. I hauled my bag up the tramtracks, crossed Europlatz. I was staying at Hostel Neustiftgasse and when I finally reached it it was shut and not open for another half hour. So I sat in the garden. When they finally let me in I found I was in a small dorm with a number of others. I didnt expect to spend much time there anyway.

Then it was out to explore Vienna in the evening light.

Everything is clean and orderly with narrow streets crisscrossed by trams. The buildings range from ornate grey to pastel yellow and some are covered in motifs or jungenstil statues. The streets leading down to the Ringstrasse contained bierkellers, schnitzel restaurants and antique shops. I grabbed a bratwurst to stave off hunger and then went for pot luck!

I jumped aboard the nearest tram and let it take me wherever it takes me..