Vienna - Day 1

Up at 3.00am.

No issues getting ready and out the door. Wayne drove us, nice and steady, deliberately slow so he didn’t incur the early drop off charge from the car firm.

We arrived at the airport around 4.30am, dropped off the car - all very smooth. Through passport control as usual. Terminal 3. Nice, actually. Not sure I’ve ever been through there before.

Breakfast next. No beers for once - I must be growing up!!

Flight on time and all good. Just 2.5 hours.

Landed and straight through customs with no problems. And just like that — we were in Vienna!

Taxi pickup was waiting, organised by Tash, and we were taken to the hotel: Jaz in the City. QUITE the place. Quirky!!

Checked in at 10.30am because the rooms were already ready. Result. And the room… came with albums and a record player. Mister Mister and Falco in concert 1993. Brilliant touch.

Twenty minutes later we were out and about. Weather wasn’t great - raining and overcast - but it didn’t stop us.

We used a Komoot walking tour and honestly, the buildings blew me away. Amazing architecture everywhere, and we just kept walking. Museums, churches, the Opera House, that unusual clock with the statues on the outside of it, all of it was interesting - I loved it.

Lunch by the canal in a very nice coffee house - bit posh. Then back to the hotel later for showers and a quick sleep, with music playing on the room’s record player. Loved that.

In the evening we walked to the market and found a place to eat. Schnitzel, obviously.
Then drinks back at the hotel bar on Level 7. Great atmosphere.

A good start to the trip.

I had some incredibly sad news via Facebook to learn about Trevor Jones passing, he had an operation and didn't pull through. I had a lot of good memories of him and being at his house playing the Atari or ice skating with him - he was one of the best of us all with the tricks he could do. It's a real shame, he was so energetic and lively. I'd not spoken to or seen him in years but it's still the closeness to home of someone I liked and went to school with dying. Tragic.