We woke up to another thunder storm this morning.  We had been planning on going out earlier in order to catch a few of the buildings in better light than we'd seen yesterday.  However, with the very overcast sky and rain, we opted to sleep in instead.  As we left, it was still drizzling lightly, and we had to bring our raincoats with us.  We stopped at a small cafe for a quick breakfast of an apple strudel (supposedly invented in Austria) and a latte. 

A few short blocks later, we were back at the Hofburg, where we made our way around to the back side and into the Josefsplatz square.  It is here that the Spanish Riding School with their famous Lipizzaner horses reside.  The Lipizzaner stallions are a mix of the Spanish, Arabian, and Berber breeds and are most famous for the well-trained snow white stallions that "dance" under their master's guidance.  These stallions in fact are born with dark fur and turn white at the age of four! 

The horses perform in a show synchronized with classical music on the weekends.  These shows need to be booked months in advance to reserve a spot.  We checked online, but they actually are not having any shows for this last weekend in June and all of July.  Those tourists who are unable to view a show can watch the daily practice sessions from 10am - noon ($15pp).  We got there at 11am, as we had heard that no one stays for the entire 2 hours.  The inside arena was spectacular, with crystal chandeliers and pillared balconies for viewing.  We found two seats near the center of the arena and enjoyed watching the horses run through their exercises.  The Lipizzaners held their necks high and curved and lifted their knees high with each step.  While this was no where near as great as a performance would have been, it was the next best thing.

When the last group of riders was done training at noon, we once again tried to find our way into the Esperanto language museum.  We thought we'd followed the signs up to the 3rd floor of the Hofburg, but when we got up there, all we were greeted with was an empty hallway.  It will remain a mystery. 

An Italian restaurant called Il Tempo had caught our eye earlier and we headed there for lunch.  It was another authentic Italian meal, although I can't say the pesto was as good as the one in Prague.  After lunch, we walked over to see the Jewish memorial, unveiled in 2000.  The memorial pays homage to the 65,000 Jews that were killed during WWII.  The memorial is in the shape of a large square block of books with the bindings turned inward, representing the untold stories of the Holocaust victims.  While this memorial wasn't the prettiest, it wasn't meant to be - raising awareness to the pain and suffering the Jews had gone through. 

We continued onward in our tour of the Jewish Quarters toward Stadttempel, the only synagogue that was spared from destruction during WWII.  We planned on going on one of the tours of the interior, but when we arrived at 1:15, we found out the tour didn't start until 2pm.  We sat outside, deciding what to do.  There wasn't much else around this area, so it was a tough decision of whether to hang around or just move on.  A security guard approached us and asked us if we needed any help, aka "what are you doing sitting here?".  We had seen another armed policeman walking around near the temple and we now realized that there must be a heightened security force protecting the area of the synagogue. 

We started to wander around the back streets, trying to kill some time until 2pm.  After about 10 minutes of just wandering aimlessly with nothing to see, we gave up and just decided to go to our next activity - the Haus der Musik.  Along the way, we ran into a large military band that was performing for some kind of ceremony.  We joined into the crowd and enjoyed the band music.  Afterwards, we stepped into a large church that wasn't marked on our map (even though it seemed big enough to be).  The inside of the church was covered in red marble and gold, with an enormous organ dominating the back balcony. 

We finally made it to the Music Museum ($12.50pp), a tribute to the classical music that had come from Vienna.  The first floor is dedicated to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.  We watched a movie size video of the orchestra playing a few songs and felt almost like we'd attended a performance!  We even decided to purchase a CD of one of the philharmonic's compilations.  Other floors of the museum included a room where you can hear what sounds a baby hears from within the womb (kind of scary sounding if you ask us!), rooms dedicated to the histories of the most famous Viennese composers, and countless rooms of interactive screens and games where you can learn about sound.  We had a fun time playing with the touch screen computers and listening to the wide range of sounds that could be generated. 

After spending a little over 2 hours in the Haus der Musik, we took a walk to see the Naschmarkt, the largest outdoor market.  There, we found stall after stall of fresh fruits, vegetables, sweets, cheeses, and spices for sale.  Similar to other countries, many of the stalls were selling the same thing, one after another.  The vendors let us sample some parmesan cheeses, coconut sweets, and a shallot filled with cream cheese - all delicious!  We decided we may have to come here for lunch some day and just get a little bit of everything!  There are also restaurants cooking up fresh foods on either side of these market stalls. 

After the market, it was time to hit the Mexican restaurant for margarita happy hour!  We'd passed this place earlier and were in the mood for a few chips, salsa, and margaritas.  As it turns out, the chips were stale, the salsa was something you could buy in the supermarket, but the margaritas were excellent.  We had our fill of margaritas, but decided to skip on finding out what this place could serve up for dinner.  Instead, we walked back towards the market area where we had found a Vietnamese restaurant called Saigon.  Since Vietnamese food was one of our favorites on the trip, we were looking forward to it.  Mario had chicken and garlic and I had the Pho vegetarian noodle soup.  I have to recommend the red bean with coconut drink that I had - it may sound weird, but I swear it was one of the most delicious drinks I have ever had!  After dinner, we walked the few blocks back to our hotel.  We're not sure what we'll be up to tomorrow, as we are going to wait and see what the weather is like before deciding (a lot of rain in the forecast). 

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