Ah yes, postcards can be stranger than fiction. The building, a nice one at that, looks very much like this; but the courtyard, that is another matter. The real courtyard has no flowers, no grass, no railings, nothing but gravel (and a small orchestra, but that is another card).

But the real issue on this card is: how did I get here? The true answer is that I don't really know, but I'll try anyway. You see, from St. Charles Church I still didn't know where I was going, so I figured I'd try to find the tourist information office (the first stop in any new city). I remembered from Let's Go Europe (which I left behind) that the office was underground at the intersections of 3 major streets, 2 of which are ring streets. Vienna, you see was once enclosed by walls with moats. When the walls were taken down, they were replaced by major streets encircling the city, the ring streets. In fact, each has a ring on the end of its name just to help you out.

Behind the Church on the previous postcard I found a sign pointing out a bike route around the ring streets. I figured that if I followed this route long enough, I was bound to end up at the info office (it's a ring, you see). So I rode...

This path was very strange. It would end and then start again, it had its own stoplights at intersections (with little icons that indicated whether you should ride the bike across the street or push it); finally it dead-ended at this building, the city hall (House of Rats). I rode around for a while and finally decided to ask someone for help. A tourist information office (not the one I was looking for) was right in the back of this building. So I guess I was right about the route leading me to info, somehow. All roads lead to Rome...as long as you can tell when you get there.

I used the map I got at this info center to get me to the good info center. You see, stranger than fiction.