I was already getting burnt out and was low on sleep by the time I got to Vienna from wanting to do too much in too little time. Vacation time it hardly had been, and though never was the concentration as intense, the busy hectic schedule very much reflected that during the problem set days. By now, I had enough of museums - I needed some time to chew on art I had already seen; any more immediately will only confuse me. So, in a way, I was relieved at less work to do--taking the problem sets analogy, its like resigning to your current grade and deciding to do no more work in a no final-exam class, or dropping a class altogether.

Vienna is a small town - the best way to get a sense of the town was to take a tram that went around the inner city. The town center was marked by St. Stephen's Gothic cathedral. There seems to be a trend of Gothic cathedral in all reasonably old European cities - you have Notre Dame in Paris, Dome in Cologne I saw later, and in Amsterdam - there are so many Gothic buildings, its difficult to make out what is what. Probably back in the middle ages, the size and grandeur of the cathedral was supposed to reflect on the city's pride - the way the gadgets one carries today does so on individual pride today.

There are museums galore in Vienna, but as I already explained, they were out of my list. Vienna was for a quite some time the capital of a powerful Austro-Hungarian empire, and that shows in the quality of palaces and numbers - palaces were often gifted away to the siblings who didn't ascend the throne. Sort of like giving a crying younger child getting a small toy car when the older child gets a full fledged remote controlled car set on his 12th birthday. It would have be interesting to see the royalty's reaction when Austria became a republic, monarchy was dissolved, and palaces were annexed from them - from my experience with snatching children's toys, I don't think it would have been pleasant.

Unlike Amsterdam, where the Dutch food mostly of potatoes, rice, and red meat (I am not stereotyping, but quoting a Dutch friend living in Amsterdam), and Paris, where the local food was too expensive to try, Viennese food was inexpensive, varied, and rich vegetarian options as well. This probably explains why McDonald's and Burger Kings were not very common - they realized they didn't stand a chance against good inexpensive food! The pastries I had there are the best I ever had. And there is Naschemarkt. Here, you will find an impressive array of stalls and small restaurants selling all kinds of food - sea food, cheese, fruits, pastries, Austrian, from rest of Europe, Indian food, Asian food, you name it! A lot of the delicacies are just lined up there seducingly, waiting to seize upon your attention. If you go there and not taste at least a dozen different things, let me tell you mate, you need to get your taste buds checked!

There is more to Vienna, I am sure, but I was too relaxed to try more. One reason I do know for I sure I want to go back to Vienna is food!