Vienna

Vienna still moves at the pace of an empire that ended a century ago-palaces, parade grounds and gilded concert halls.

The Ringstrasse loops the centre past museums heavy with Klimt and Bruegel, and Schönbrunn sprawls like a smaller Versailles. But the true institution is the coffee house, where a single melange rents you a marble table for the whole afternoon.

There's a famous Viennese grumpiness-formal, faintly disapproving-that somehow becomes part of the charm.

Eat a schnitzel the size of the plate and a slice of Sachertorte, slowly, as is proper.