Vienna, Austria

Sunday 4th July 1999

It was another hot day today. It seems the temperature must be at least in the mid-thirties and our campsite has no shade. Oh well, off to an air-conditioned museum then. We decided to visit the Museum of Fine Arts, a collection of works amassed by the Habsburgs during their long reign. We started with the Egyptian and Greek collection before moving on to the decorative objects. This already took us to lunchtime so we stopped in at the elaborate museum cafe for a rejuvenating bite to eat.

Refreshed we were ready for the painting collection, a huge array of masters including Rembrandt, Rubens, Breughel, and Raphael. We finished with a look at a special collection of ancient near-eastern art on loan from a Japanese gallery.

After all that the day was almost gone. We headed through the parks and past the large town hall before heading back towards the campground. On the way we stopped off at the Prater park, famous for the ferris wheel built in 1897 for the world's fair. It now features a number of more modern rides and Anita and I plunged for the Space-shot. One of the launch-yourself-skyward-and-back variety. Strangely, Mum and Dad opted out of this one.

We grabbed some cheap food for dinner then headed back to the campsite, sweltering in the heat for a little longer before the mozzies came back on the prowl.