I arrived in Vienna on Sunday late morning from Villach. The train ride was about four and a half hours, but I did not have to change trains. The scenery was gorgeous…there aren’t many ugly places though in Austria.

My hotel turned out to be less than a 10 minute walk from the train station, and was pretty flat so I did walk, luggage and all, to the hotel, checked in and after a quick lunch, headed out to the Museum. The walk was about 35-40 minutes and I passed a lot of beautiful buildings. I walked along embassy row too, and saw the Turkish, Brazilian and Argentine embassies and a few more whose flag I didn’t recognize.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is an art museum in Vienna, often referred to as the Museum of Fine Arts. It has a large Greco/Roman wing and a lot of paintings, including the “Tower of Babel”, and many paintings of royal figures, such as the Infanta Margarita Teresa (later Empress, though she died young), a lot of religious paintings, and sculptures. The setting is really impressive. The rooms are large and high ceilings and the ceilings are painted to reflect the contents of the rooms. In addition to the art, there’s a restaurant on the top floor and a large gift shop.

After the travel and walking and touring, I returned to my hotel. I’ll write about today’s visits tomorrow from the airport or plane.