The Vienna Tour

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The first day of the tour - a drive around the "Ring" strasse of the old city, then continuing out to Schonbrunn Palace. Our guide Emi does a great tour through the former summer palace of the Hapsburgs. After the tour - a short drive to the Old Vienna Schnaps Museum to learn about the difference between "Schnaps" and "liqueur". Then the most important part - the tasting of all the schnaps produced by the company. Then it was back to the hotel and free time.

Being a Saturday - Vienna was crowded with tour buses and a bazillion tourists. I took Kathie to some small street Christmas Markets in the area known as "Spittelberg" - 3 narrow streets lined with the stalls seeling handcrafts, food, schnaps, wine, gluhwein and more.. The good thing at these markets is that they are visited by locals, not so many tourists as they are at the bigger markets. As it was a free night for the tour guests, Kathie and I and a couple of others ate at a Mexican restaurant we found in the area. Not the best Mexican food I have eaten - but a change from the traditional Austrian foods we are going to have over the next 8 days..!

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