Wine, Wien but no whining ...

One of the challenges of being resident in Finland is that I can only spend a certain number of days in the UK without being taxed there as well. So, the past couple of weekends have given me the opportunity to spend time with my family but without setting foot on British soil.

The weekend before last was spent in Tranås in Sweden, at the graduation of the youngest son of our friends there. Regular readers will recall that we were there this time last year too, for his sister's graduation. It was another lovely weekend and we were honoured to be part of the extended family there for the celebrations, having met up at Stockholm Arlanda airport, 45 minutes apart on flights from London Heathrow and Helsinki Vantaa.

This weekend was our annual city break with four of our longest standing friends. (As we are already in our middle years, we no longer use the pejorative term "oldest friends"). We were in Vienna, from Thursday to Sunday afternoon and have fitted in an amazing amount of walking, sightseeing, eating and, of course, some drinking. We stuck to Austrian wines for the whole trip and were pleasantly surprised.

From the cultural perspective, we visited the Schönbrunn Palace and were very impressed with what had been the summer residence of the emperors of Austria, including the parents of Marie Antoinette. Having seen the lavish surroundings in which she was raised, it is no wonder that she found it impossible to identify with the lives of the average French peasant who were her subjects. The palace is vast and well presented, the gardens range from formal planting to tree lined avenues and a hilltop Gloriette from which to observe the whole estate. We also toured the zoo, thrilled to see Pandas, great and red, as well as a host of other animals in sympathetic surroundings.

In the city centre we toured the Hofburg, as well as the State Hall, home to a fascinating exhibition of geographical books from hundreds of years ago. I came away in awe of the beautifully painted ceiling, as well as enlightened to the origins of the naval hammock, so not a bad day's study.

On Sunday, we visited the Freud Museum, in the apartments that served as living and professional quarters for Prof. Sigmund Freud before he fled to England in 1938 in the eye of the political storm facing the continent at that time. It was a humbling experience, especially as both of my daughters have a strong interest in his chosen subject.

In between, we have dined well. We were recommended to try Ofenloch and Schimanszky, offering traditional and modern Viennese cuisine respectively and were not disappointed. We also visited Griechenbeisl and Stomach, both mentioned in the Dorling Kindersley guide to the city. The first was an old guest house from hundreds of years ago and the other a more modern family run restaurant near our hotel, neither disappointed, though both were very different. The photo shows us preparing to try genuine Sacher Torte at Cafe Sacher.

Our abiding feeling after the weekend is that Vienna is one of the jewels of European capital cities and well worth a return visit.

Next weekend is the third in a row where I shall be meeting my wife in a capital city, this time in Dublin, Ireland. More on that soon.