Vienna and a Night Out at the Dogs

I haven't had chance to blog for a week now as I've been in Vienna on a business trip.  I didn't think I'd get to see too much of the city as I knew most of my time there would be spent at the conference. However, the hotel was located right in the centre of town so I got a chance to have a look around in the evenings.  Vienna is a beautiful city and is spotlessly clean.  I didn't see one piece of litter and they seemed to wash the streets every single night (they obviously don't seem to be low on water!). 

Some nice lights projected onto a church

The Town Hall 

A theatre opposite the Town Hall

One of two matching buildings that were opposite each other

On the second evening we took a short tour of the city in a horse and cart. The gentle rocking of the cart made us all feel quite sleepy! 

My colleagues and I in the horse and cart

I'd organised for us all to have dinner in a restaurant that was on a boat on the Danube canal.  It was quite similar to one of those pop-up restaurants but had a lovely atmosphere.  I had lamb and one potato- and that was the whole dish.  What there was was delicious however I was left thinking where was the veg?

The boat restaurant

I got back on Thursday and it was nice to be back with Lea again.  We went to a greyhound race track last night as we'd got cheap tickets on Groupon.  It was the first time I'd been to see dog racing and the first time I'd ever really placed a proper bet.  I won 4 out of my 10 bets and we only ended up losing a couple of pounds so it was quite a cheap night out! We went outside to watch for the last race of the night and even though I don't really like dogs it made me a bit sad to hear one of them whimpering just before it's race. Although my dad pointed out that raising dogs to race is no different to raising animals to eat.  I suppose that they live a longer life and are shown more affection than farm animals are shown.  Do any of you have any thoughts on this?

My next business trip is to Zurich in May so I'm hoping I get enough time there to see some sights too.  Can any of you recommend things to see in Zurich?

Alex x