My award booker, Matthew, is awesome!  He booked me on Austrian Airlines in business class from Dulles to Bangkok, with a long layover in Vienna.  He says Austrian offers a great experience and he has never let me down, so Vienna it is! (I found this review of the flight on Travel Codex.)

The opportunity to visit my beloved Vienna again was an unexpected treat.  It’s a place I visited frequently in the 80s when I traveled there to attend performances at the Vienna Opera.  It seemed unlikely I would ever return so it will be a bittersweet experience to spend another day there.  After a spiritual pilgrimage to the Belvedere to worship at the altar of Gustav Klimt, I’ll stroll the Mariahilfer Straße and stop by the Sacher for Sachertorte.

Vienna has the best coffee so I’ll be looking for coffee houses, too, and paying a visit to der Demel for their exquisite pastries and chocolates.