We awaken early, take quick showers, dress and haul our bags out of the apartment to the street.  Within a minute or two the friendly taxi driver from last night arrives and we are loaded in his car.

As he drives through the city he provides commentary on some of the places we have seen and many that we missed.  A good excuse to return!  We learn about the many advantages of living in Vienna from his point of view.  He also provides some tips about the airport (don't buy at duty free, there's a grocery store with better prices, etc.) as we approach the departures curbside.

Our flight on Austrian Air is all good.  The flight is not fully booked and we have an empty seat between us.  Yeah!  The flight attendants are warm and helpful, and the food is pretty good by airline coach seat standards.  On top of it arrive home a little earlier than expected.

​We really enjoyed both Budapest and Vienna, and Bratislava was a nice diversion for a couple of days.  We both agree that Budapest is a city we could live in for a longer period of time.... three and a half weeks just whet our appetites.  Vienna has much more to offer than we could see in a few days.  Hopefully we'll return to both in a future year.

After a slow, relaxing start to the day we stop by the restaurant we know that serves bacon and eggs.  This time we are fortunate to get a table inside.  After a couple of coffee's and some good food we are ready to tackle the Hofburg.  The original building of the palace dates to the 13th century.  It's baroque architecture is complimented by many interesting statues.  Today it is the official residence and workplace of the president of Austria.  It also houses a number of museums, including the Albertina which we visited on Saturday.

The small café in front of our apartment offers brunch on Sundays, which makes an easy start to our day.  After a leasurely meal we walk toward the Museums stop to catch the Hop-On Hop-Off bus.  Our plan is to complete both the Red Route and the Blue Route, listening to the narration to gain a better overview of the city.

The two routes take a little over three hours to complete, reaching from the Old Danube on the east to the Schönbrunn Palace on the west.  We see the historic buildings in the center including the Gothic Revival Votivkirche and travel just a short distance to the modern architecture of Uno City.  Many Viennese and tourists use motorized scooters to get around, but the Orthodox man riding a manual scooter provides a unique scene.

We have breakfast al fresco at one of the few restaurants in the area that serves eggs and bacon.  We arrive just a few minutes too late to snag the last of the 10 small tables inside but it it no issue to get one of the 20 tables outside.  It's about 55F (13C), so we're happy to be seated under the radiant heaters and use the blankets supplied by the restaurant for our laps.

There is a special exhibit of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele at the Leopold Museum.  Since the exhibit closes tomorrow we prioritize this as first on our to-do list.  The Leopold is six blocks from the restaurant.  We spend an enjoyable two hours first seeing the Klimt galleries then going downstairs to see the Schiele's.

We slowly walk back to the apartment to rest up a bit before tackling the Monet exhibit at the Albertina museum.  While there I go online and I'm able to buy tickets I advance.  Lesson learned from the Frida Kahlo exhibit in Budapest.

When we arrive at the Albertina the line to buy tickets circles around the plaza.  We happily skip past the line and show our tickets on my cell phone.  There are 100 Monet's to see.  The first gallery is jammed with people listing to their audio tour devices.  We maneuver around them to view the paintings.  Luckily the following galleries are not so heavily packed with people.

​After the Monet's we move on to the permanent Batliner Collection, which includes work from Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Chagall, Picasso, Gauguin and large collection of Austrian artists.  Of the Austrian artists, Alvin Egger-Leben's 1910 "Elderly Man" is our favorite.

Friday morning we shower, have a little breakfast, finish packing, tidy and up the apartment and then head off to Kelati station pulling our bags behind us.  Within 30 minutes we are at the station.  The train is scheduled to leave in an hour so we have time for a coffee.

The train is clean and we have a smooth 2 1/2 hour ride to Vienna.  The owner of the apartment provided us with transportation instructions involving two buses.  Instead we taxi to apartment with a driver chatting, pointing out the buildings and providing tips along the way.

We settle into the apartment. It is not as inspiring as our place in Budapest, but still has high ceilings and older wood floors.  It is nice and matches the photos on AirBnB.  It is only five blocks from the western edge of the inner ring road that circles the major museums, cultural centers and government buildings.