We had a day off from touring. 

After sleeping in and arranging ourselves, we left after noon with the quest to find a particular store Zoë had researched online.  This meant braving the underground system, which functioned fairly similarly to the one in Munich.  A station was right outside the door of the hotel.  We paid a considerably smaller price than anywhere else, and I got a discount as a senior.  €2.45 for Zoe and €1.50 for me! 

Five stations later, we exited onto Karlsplatz, where a pop concert was happening on the expansive plaza in front of the baroque Karl Church.  Following Google on Zoë’s phone, we headed the other way, suffering Google’s confusion in getting us on the right street.  Fortunately, I had written the critical street names in my little book and recognized them when we were going in the right direction.

Karlskirche plaza

Mariahilferstrasse was a busy and pleasant pedestrian street (which switched to cars at 3:00), lined with trees and benches.  We did some of our shopping (looking), until about 2:00, when we ate salad and sandwiches, sitting on a relaxing bench.  After Zoë’s purchase, we took advantage of the ubiquitous MacDonald’s for toilets; as with the highway service stops, the 50 cents cost was discounted from our purchase of coffee and tea.  Best price yet at €2.50 for tea.

Shopping continued.  A couple of times, I sat outside people watching while Zoë looked at dresses and tops.  By the time she was finished, drops of rain started.  Seemed like a good time to retrace our steps.

I wanted to look into the Karl’s Church, but the entry fee was €9, which was too much for merely satisfying my curiosity.  Back to the underground, where we found a couple of our tour companions also returning to the hotel.  I thought this an unusual coincidence to run into Westwinds members, but they had seen several others, too.

Karlskirche 1737

I was more exhausted than I thought, since a rest on the bed turned into a nap of perhaps an hour (wasn’t paying attention to the time).  We set our schedule for tomorrow morning, when we are going on a guided tour of the Schoenbrun Palace.   Zoë already had dinner in the form of half her large lunch chicken salad.  I longed for a hot meal.  Satisfying both of us, I went down to the grocery store in the basement of this complex, bought a bun and a snail for her, and went up to the main floor and chose an Italian restaurant for me.  Delicious rotini in a light tomato sauce with shrimp, served in a large designer bowl.  Wonderful!