Breakfast in Vienna

The first leg of our flight was a short, uneventful, one hour stint.  And I was NOT looking forward to sitting in the Vienna airport for over 4 hours waiting for our next flight.  Oh, did I happen to mention that I have an AMAZING travel partner, Niecy?  Well, I do.  Niecy did some homework, and had planned a quick jaunt into the city of
 Vienna during our layover.  As soon as the plane landed, Niecy and I hit the pavement running to catch a 6:23 subway train #7 that would take us into the city center.  Our plane landed early and we were able to catch the 6:04 train into town.  It was a heady feeling just to be taking the chance during our layover to see this beautiful city, and we were not disappointed.  The subway ride took about 20-25 minutes, and we enjoyed the view of small towns and open fields
from our window.  Niecy (the navigator) carefully checked and rechecked the map to ensure we got off at the correct stop.  We jumped off the train and headed out to the city, which was just awakening.  We walked along curvy streets, taking in all the sights.  We stopped for breakfast at a little umbrella covered Coffee Company, and had a delicious fare, including the first iced coffee of my entire trip.
Niecy had consulted her GPS and saw that there was a huge church close to our location, so ever trusting as I am of my friend, we set out in search of it.  And when we found it, OH MY GOSH!  It was breath taking! (My pictures do NO justice to its beauty...) The outside of the enormous building was darkened from years of exposure to car exhaust, time, and the elements.  You could tell they were in the process of cleaning certain portions of the cathedral because the color was much brighter, creamy white.  We entered the quiet calm of the church and just stood there taking in all of the grandeur.  It is difficult to put in to words the beauty that surrounded us.  We
stayed as long as we could, then had to head back to the train station to catch our connecting link back to the airport.  OK, we were pushing it just a bit, because our train wasn't to pick us up until 9:15 and it didn't get back to the airport until 9:45 and
 our plane was to take off at 10:25.  We literally were running through the airport to get to our flight.  Security ended up being a crazy ordeal, and I think we had (or parts of our luggage) had to be scanned and rescanned at least 4 or 5 times (did you know that an underwire bra can set off the security scanners?
 Well, I sure found that out!).  Anyway, we made it through, and yes, we were the last ones on the plane, but it was so worth it to spend a few precious hours in the inspiring city of Vienna.