Just back from Austria.
Further to my previous post I now have a complete set of cigarette packs featuring the following slogans: 'I Love Austria', 'I Love Nature', 'I Love Snow', 'I Love Mountains' and 'I Love Sunshine'. Imagine something similar in Britain. (No, nor can I.) The only thing missing is 'I Love Freedom'.
If you've never been to Vienna I strongly recommend it, if only for the legendary coffee houses. This time yesterday I was enjoying breakfast – or should I say frühstück – at Café Landtmann which is said to have been popular with Sigmund Freud, Marlene Dietrich, Burt Lancaster and Paul McCartney.
According to their website, "The Café Landtmann offers a big non-smoking area as well as large facilities for our guests who wish to smoke". We were sitting in what appeared to be the largest indoor area and as far I could tell there was an ashtray at every table allowing customers to eat, drink and smoke at the same time. A more civilised way to start the day I cannot imagine.
Café Landtmann wasn't the first coffee house I visited yesterday and smoking was allowed in every one. An increasing number of Viennese restaurants ban smoking indoors but not the one where I had lunch, so everyone has a choice, including staff.
Talking of food, Austrians love their meat. I feel like I've eaten an entire cow over the past two days. They like their food battered too, and I don't mean grievous bodily harm. At lunch on Monday even the cauliflower was deep fried.
Anyway, I'm about to hand you over to Dave Atherton who has written a guest post about the one-day conference we attended on Monday. It took place at Hotel Lengbachhof in Altlengbach, a short drive from Vienna and was organised by Verband der Cigarren und Pfeifenfachhändler Österreichs (VCPÖ).
And, yes, enquiries revealed that Hotel Lengbachhof was chosen not just for its conference facilities but because delegates could smoke inside the hotel in comfortable smoking areas and even in the restaurant (which is no longer the case in many Viennese hotels).
Anyway, I've thoroughly enjoyed the past few days. Austria? I'll be back.