It's all about the horses

What a great nights sleep! We woke pretty early and after a coffee and was out the hotel by 8.30. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday morning and as we walked down one of the narrow cobbled streets near the hotel could hear the clip clip of hooves of the horses and carts trotting down the street to their place at the side of St Stephens Cathedral. Our plan was to climb the 343 steps to the top of the south tower for a view over the rooftops of Vienna. It wasn't too bad and well worth the climb for the views. Stunning!

Next on the plan was a walk to Albertinaplatz to the Mozart Cafe for breakfast. There are many old Cafes in Vienna and this one had a beautiful interior and served tasty food. We had the granola and fruit then coffee. By 1030 we were on our way again, this time walking towards the Natural History Museum and the Kunst history of art museum! In this area are many old stunning buildings with wide avenues separating the buildings. Starting to get quite warm - so another stop which was at the Cafe Griensteidl, sitting in a prime spot outdoors overlooking to where the horse and carriages came to a halt after trotting down the cobbled street. The horses have a nappy hanging down so their sh*t drops into it and not the streets, which are the cleanest streets ever.

Refreshed again, next walk was through the university area and park (Rathaus park) to the Gothic church callec Votivkirche. All the families were out enjoyed their day together - no shops are open - it's a proper family day. I approve of this. Instead of dragging children to the shops they are having fun outdoors cycling and playing games in the park.

On our walking again - back to Raybanplatz (Franziskanerplatz) near our hotel and another sit down with refreshment. Peeked into the church with Franciscan monks singing which was quite something.

more walking around the little streets then back to the hotel for a refresh, which ended up taking longer than we planned with the result it was quite late when we eventually got out. I had looked up TA and there was a restaurant round the corner which was high up in the ratings. As we approached a coup,e were coming out and there was one spare table so we planked ourselves down.

First strange thing was there was no menu. Then we noticed that there was a Michelin sticker on the door, not starred but a mention in the guide. The waitress mentioned wine but I don't drink wine and Stewart wanted a bier, just as well as I since read that they bring a different wine for each meal. You are too late for the six courses so only getting four she says. Tasting menus. They the waiter comes up and asks if we could tell him what we don't like...... Oh I thought, better saying what I do as I am a fussy cow unlike Stewart who only dislike is mushrooms and shellfish! So you don't want a surprise meal the waiter says. No, I say. So he talks about serving us soup, then lamb. First of all though we got bread cheese and cream. Then the first course of beef terrine and a dot in the eye of duck pate liver (yuk)! I detest duck. Then the course that was meant to be soup turned into Butter fish with avocado and wasabi paste (only liked the butter fish) yuk to the rest, and the fish so small practically invisible! Never mind, was looking forward to the lamb..... Didn't get lamb, instead he brought a bit of beef the size of a small oatcake with a slither of puréed cauliflower, green lentils (yuk) and gravy. Stewart's beef was a bit chuch, mine was ok but again was finished in 5 minutes!! I was looking forward to the pudding but again was disappointed as it was a pineapple chunk, passion fruit a few cranberries and the oddest thing of all a dessert spoon size of Cous Cous :(. Double YUK! Their concept is to provide food to suit each individual customer but after telling them I didn't like surprises and he told us what we were getting we got a surprise any bloody way! It was far too pretentious for me even down to the long chunky plates it was served on. Then, when doing up the bill the waitress asks to put a 10% tip on the bill!!!

I suppose we can laugh about the craziness of the place and the fact that it has good reviews on TA is unbelievable - there must be some people with tastes different to the norm. The place is called http://www.bettereatbetter.com Loca.....

Another busy day but a memorable one:)