The journey, first impressions

Well, just a quick post whilst I wait for the football match to be over. (Last I heard it was 1-0 Greece but that was half an hour ago.) I warn you now that I'm on a Mac and this kezboard is weird so I keep having to search for keys. The z is where the y should be! Anyway…
The flight over yesterday (was it really only yesterday?) was fine, if a little bumpy at times. I got to the airport at 8.20am, saw the size of the queue for check-in and decided to use the automated kiosks insteads. Checked myself in with my e-ticket, got my baggage checked in and was through security within 10 mins, giving me two hours twenty to sample the delights of hang about in Heathrow's Terminal 4. I now fully understand why Joi spends so much of his time in airports on IRC. If only I had had a GPRS phone with me or some such.
Flight was nothing extraordinary, apart from the fact that as I was sitting there watching the clouds go by I heard one of the stewards ask if a Mr Lee Bryant could raise his hand if onboard. 'Hmm,' thought I. 'I doubt very much if there are two Lee Bryants going to Vienna right now, and I know that there is a Lee Bryant talking at BlogTalk… must be the same guy.'
Lee and I have a mutual friend who had already given me Lee's contact details because he's doing interesting things with knowledge management that I wanted to get a bit more into. I hadn't had the time to contact him though.
So, much to the amusement of the steward, I asked him to check which seat Lee was in, and then went and introduced myself. Well, it was just too much of a good opportunity to miss out on.
Unfortunately, Lee's not a good flyer so much of our conversation involved him gripping the seat and looking tense. It was, admittedly, quite turbulent, but I am a bit of a masochist and I quite enjoyed it.
Once we'd landed, the colour returned to Lee's face, and we met up with Horst and caught the train into Vienna.
Vienna is gorgeous. I am in love. The city centre is not only full of the most amazing buildings, but also almost completely devoid of cars. Although there are large pedestrian areas, apparently the lack of cars has been achieved through the creation of a convoluted and impenetrable one-way system which takes drivers in circles and makes driving into the city a complete waste of time. Job well done, I say.
Met up with Steph and Horst took us on a guided tour of Vienna. Saw huge amounts of stuff – too much to remember!
Spent the evening freezing our butts off at an open air cinema, watching Citizen Kane. Fun, if cold.