Vienna Day 1. Karlsplatz

Not a great blip to mark the start of the Vienna trip, but I ended up with a surprisingly small number of possibilities after our wanderings. We got to our apartment after a reasonably straight-forward journey from the airport. After the usual orientation meeting with our landlady we popped back out and retraced our metro steps, stopping at Karlsplatz because that's the closest stop to the Musikverein concert hall where I had a ticket to pick up. That done, it was time for our first beers, and then on to look for Theater an der Wien where tonight's opera was on.

That turned out to be right beside Naschtmarkt, which is a must-see place in Vienna - a long strip devoted to all sorts of eateries, all vying with one another for custom. We chose a spot at the far end which turned out to be wonderful, and enjoyed a great bite to eat in the glorious sunshine. A walk to Stephansplatz, another quick beer stop, and then it was time to return to the apartment for me to get ready for the opera.

I'm sure Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites is a fine opera, but it had been a long day (up at 4.45 am) and I must admit to nodding off a few times during the first act. Rather than embarrass myself further, I decided to admit defeat and returned to the apartment at the intermission.