Yesterday I forgot to mention one of the highlights of the zoo – a fully recreated rainforest complete with absurdly humid climate and a dark cave you can walk through that has BATS flying all around it. Nothing between you and the bats, you just see their outline zipping past you as you rush hurriedly to the exit. Terrifying and amazing.

Despite some patchy weather, we managed to do Rick Steves’ audio walking tour of Vienna and the Cathedral of St Stephen’s. The full half day tour took us to multiple sights around the city and spent a considerable amount of time in the Cathedral, a fascinating building with a rich and tangible history. The tour ended at the Hofburg, the past and current seat of Austrian power.

Lunch was in a small alley that Rick covered in his tour and a traditional Beisl (basically a pub) that served traditional Austrian food. An amazing find in the middle of the city, it was reasonably priced and delicious. I had a boiled steak served in broth with a huge potato dumpling on the side, and Marthese had an extremely flavoursome ravioli.

Afterwards we returned to the Hofburg to check out the Sisi Museum and the Kaiserapartments. The Sisi museum section was overcrowded and frustrating – there is interesting content here, about how Franz Joseph’s rebelious and tragic young bride went from being a woman of little public note to a figure of mass commercialisation and fame. But the quality content is buried under overlong audio guides and claustrophobic displays of her clothing and portraits. The Kaiserapartments, the second half of the museum, fair better as they are more spacious and the audio guides are more succinct. These are the apartments of the emporers, notably Franz Joseph, and where they lived and worked when they weren’t at their summer residence in Schonbrunn. Oh, and there was also a whole level of plates and cutlery that Marthese and I kinda zipped through, eyes glazed over. We might be getting jaded from so much Europe!

For a change of pace, we decided to see some art at the Albertina, a converted palace now an art gallery. The Albertina also had its own set of royal apartments, which were a pleasure to walk around without the crowd. The art was the highlight here though, as Marthese and I were both blown away by the temporary exhibition of works by Austrian artist Eduard Angeli – stunning works. There was also a very interesting photography exhibition exploring the relationships of performers with the camera/photography which was much better than the wing of the gallery celebrating a narcissistic jerk artist whose name I’ve forgotten. The main attractions here are on the upper floor – an extensive gallery ranging from Monet to Picasso with extensive works from both, as well as Cezanne, Degas, Matisse, Bacon and a bunch of other huge names. Super impressive and modestly presented.

Vienna is remarkable, but overwhelming, and we’re spoilt for choice.