Vienna, day three: from above and within

On our last full day in Vienna, we first decided to climb the 348 steps in the spire to see the city from above.

The cement steps are in a tight, narrow spiral within a mostly dark upward passageway. It's very disorienting! People go both up and down the narrow steps, so one cannot become mesmerized in the endless dizzying motion of the climb; you also have to be cognizant of those above and below you. Add all that to the fact that you're panting and sweating, and, well... there are more than a few moments when you (ok, *I*) wonder what got into you! 

Then you arrive to the "top" (which is actually only about halfway up the spire) and you see this...

...and you know exactly why you decided to climb (and climb and climb)! 

As I was looking down, I wondered what the people who built this amazing cathedral thought from these heights. In an age when climbing a tree was the highest anyone could get, what was being in this spire like?!

After our adventure in the spire, we decided to head to the Nachmarkt. Not as in "Nacht" (night), but as in "nosh," as in "snack." 

As a Seattleite, I felt quite at home there. Guess why. 

(Ok, the baby octopus didn't actually make me feel at home...)

It's Spargel (white asparagus) season in Germany and Austria now and people seem to be going CRAZY over these:

I remember my mother going crazy over them too, both when I travelled with her in May in Germany and when she happened to find them in the states!

This is a barrel of sauerkraut. 

Yes, it's kept in the sun and when a customer wants some, the shopkeeper simply digs his (gloved) hand into the barrel and pulls some out!

It was a hot day in Vienna yesterday and after we shared some "dünner"...

...I headed back to the hotel to rest and to figure out how to save the thousand photos I'd taken on my phone (the only ones I've been able to post on my blog), since my phone's memory had been completely used up. 

That means that I can't show you photos from the bike ride that Tom, Elisabeth, and Danny took. I can only show you this photo of Elisabeth, who so rarely sees her name "spelled correctly" at home!

We had a delicious last supper (at 9:30 PM!) at the most amazing restaurant we've eaten at in Vienna, the "Drei Hacken." Sorry, no photos of that, though, as my phone was working hard back in the hotel room, furiously attempting to upload 970 photos to both Google Plus and to Dropbox! Today I'll (gasp!) whipe my phone in preparation for the second half of our trip: Budapest and Prague! 

Stand by for that!