On Friday afternoon, after the Musiksammlung closed, I spent a couple of hours wandering around Vienna's city center, feeling wistful and nostalgic and wondering how long it would be before I got back there again.

Then I had the Return Day From Hell (I'd forgotten the shops would all be closed for May Day, so I wasn't prepared with food; I thought for a while that I'd broken my laptop, after I dropped it at the airport; etc, etc), and when the KLM pilot finally announced that we were preparing for landing at Leeds-Bradford, I was ready to kiss the ground of home! I looked out the window, saw that beautiful green, green landscape--so hard to pin down but so indubitably English--and I felt an enormous surge of happiness. I love Vienna, but I have never been as happy, anywhere, as I am now that I'm living in England. Home, home, home!!!! Of course, one of the best parts of any trip is getting home and being leapt on by Nika, wagging like a doggy maniac.

And now to the pictures! :)

These are the lilac bushes I sat in while I ate my lunch every day:



This is the Rathaus (city hall), which I walked past every day on my way to and from the music library:




This was my favorite fountain at the Belvedere Palace (sadly not running water right now):




And this was my wonderful discovery, the night I took a new route home--my favorite Viennese statue, part of a big tribute to the playwright Friedrich Raimund, standing across the street from the Volkstheater:




***

Since I got home, I've very nearly caught up on sleep, and today I finally--finally!--broke through my block on the climax of my novel, after a week of hair-pulling and frustration. Hurray!