Views and Vinyards

Gruss Gott!
It’s been another fresh and breezy day in Vienna. To celebrate I tried a new gelato flavor--about which more later.
I enjoy morning in the city. Yeah, I’m a tourist, but I don’t have to enjoy the presence of billions of other tourists in the inner city, so I like to stroll around licking windows before the rest show up.
I went back to the art museum this morning. I wanted to look at some things more closely. I saw a lot on my first visit, but even I get art fatigue, so I knew I’d have to do the museum in two goes. I also had to go back and look at the works I especially enjoyed. I got to spend a few minutes alone with Vermeer. One thing I found confusing. There’s an artist named Belloto who was the nephew of the great Venetian painter Canaletto. But the Austrians call both of them Canaletto because they both painted what are called vedute or cityscapes. But the museum has some Real Canalettos. I can tell the difference, and the uncle paints more elegance. He did views of Venice, but his nephew worked for Maria Theresa and painted some fine views of Schonbrunn.
Time for a gelato break, so I fought the tourist hordes and walked back down to the river to a gelataria I had not patronized before. They have a flavor named Mozart. A lot of things are named for Mozart in Vienna. It was good, too. I just couldn’t figure out the combination of flavors. There was chocolate and some choco bits and some green stuff.
After a U Bahn, tram and bus ride, I fetched up on the very edge of Vienna on a hilltop north of the city. There before me was a sweeping panorama of Vienna. And what wonderful fresh air! This was vineyard country, and I walked back down a steep winding path to the suburb of Grinzing through the vineyards and some woodland. It was quiet and the air had that fresh green smell. Grinzing is very pretty as well.
Of course, now that I’m getting the hang of the public transportation system it’s almost the end of my trip.
For dinner I got fast food. Now if you want McDonalds or even Burger King you can have it. And some travel writers will in fact urge you to see the local iterations of such chains. I refuse. Pizza abounds as well. Kababs of various sort and of course the sausages are on offer. I really didn't need a burger. Instead I went to a German chain called Nordsee that deals in fish of many kinds and in various forms. It’s very reasonable and pretty good.
Servus.