Goldener Saal Hall of the “Musikverein” in Vienna. Note that its precise name is Großer Konzerthaussaal Hall, “golden” just being a later added common attribute (guess why ;). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Being first time visitors to Vienna, this blog picks up some our highlights on our first day. The day starts slowly and builds to it climax.

We headed off for the U-Bahn (underground railway) and purchased a pass then spent half the day on the excellent on/off tour buses, taking in the major sites of Vienna and getting our bearings.

Lunch was a very special bowl of soup at legendary Cafe Mozart which is behind the beautiful Opera House. It was at Cafe Mozart where author Graham Green wrote the Third Man, which later became a major film success. Looking around Cafe Mozart reminded us that Vienna was the spy capital of the world in the Communist era.

The pinnacle…