Went to the Museum of Natural History at 9.30. Got out at 4. The most amazing museum. The building itself was completed in 1889 and is very grand. The displays (and it has over 30 million artefacts) consist of gems, fossils, the world’s largest collection of meteorites, an anthropology exhibition on the evolution of man, thousands of specimens of insect and animals including a coelacanth and a decent array of Australian animals, a planetarium and more. It started as the private collection of Emperor Franz Stephan and his wife Maria Theresa who as part of the Hapsburg dynasty and appreciated all things artistic and scientific. The Sacher hotel (originally a grocery shop) is in Vienna and this is where the Sacher torte comes from – made for the Emperor. I had to try this, so we went for a wander around the centre of town which is one enormous pedestrian area, found a nice Konditorei and had some Sacher torte (even Ian had some cake!). We found a nice little kebab shop on the way home to our motel for a cheap night in.
