Today we visit Vienna, Austria. As usual, we have a morning tour to orient us followed by time to explore on our own. The day finishes with a Heurigen evening at a local winery. The weather gods have smiled on our merry group as this is the 12th consecutive day with sunshine. We have an added bonus of a high of 27C forecasted!
We were taken by bus to the city center where our walking tour began. The city center is enclosed by a ring road that used to be the castle wall. Vienna has so many gorgeous buildings, statues and parks, its hard to decide what to take a photo of. Our guide took us first through the Imperial palaces of the Hapsburg family. We only saw the exterior as we had limited time and, more importantly, each one had a separate entry fee. Vienna is a very expensive city! Next to the Imperial palace, is the museum quarter where there as many museums on a variety of topics. The tour concluded with a walk to St Stephen's square through the pedestrian zone with high end shops. Thankfully, Marilyn had insufficient time to shop!
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| Vienna History Musem |
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| Statue of Queen Maria Teresa |
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| Gate in Imperial Palace |
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| Imperial Palace |
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| More Imperial Palace views |
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| Statue in pedestrian mall |
The group split up after the guided tour. Richard, Cheryl, Warren and Carl returned to the ship for lunch and to take the tour to the farmer's market. Marilyn and I decided to explore on our own. We began our exploration by checking the map and poaching free WiFI at McDonalds. It was nice to have my photos synchronize for the first time since we boarded. Viking needs to improve its WiFi!
We set off in search of the Tourist Info office on Albertinaplatz. On the way we visited the statue of Mozart. Even though he was born in Strasbourg, he is considered Viennese since he lived most of his life and did most of his work in Vienna. Returning to the area of St Stephen's cathedral, we stopped for a snack at the Aida coffee house next to the Opera House. Marilyn had a Mozart Torte and a cafe au lait and I enjoyed apple strudel with a coffee Americano. Vienna is known for its great coffee houses and its pastries.
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| Marilyn enjoys the flower shop |
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| Dwight outside the Opera House |
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| Vienna Opera House |
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| State of German author Goethe |
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| Mozart's memorial |
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| Marilyn and Dwight get cozy near Mozart |
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| Floral clock in Stadtpark |
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| Austrian Parliment buildings in Greek style |
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| Vienna Rathaus with visiting circus out front |
While eating and enjoying the food, we chatted with an Austrian couple from Innsbruck visiting Vienna. He told us of the Vienna 3: Pastries in Vienna cost 3 euros, they spend only 3 seconds in your mouth, and finally, they last 3 years on your hips or waist!
Refreshed, we set out to visit Johann Strauss' statue in Stadtparkteich. He is the most famous Viennese composer of famous waltzes like the "Blue Danube". He lived a colourful live that saw him engaged 11 times and married 3 times.
Continuing along the ring road we visited the Parliment buildings with their classic Greek architecture. We concluded our tour with a visit to City Hall (Rathaus) where we saw a free local art show and found a free toilet (a rare find in Vienna) and got directions from a local on taking the Underground back to the boat.
After a nap and a shower, we shared experiences with the rest of the group over a drink in the lounge. Their visit to the farmer's market was fun as the chef, Atilla, setup an impromptu picnic in the market where they had local wines, cheeses, olives, breads and meats.
Following dinner everyone, except Carl, set off by bus to a winery on the northern edge of Vienna for a heurigen evening. Heurigen is when a tavern owner serves the local new wine. Austrian's prefer white fresh wines that are sampled soon after harvest. The location was in a restaurant that included bread, cheese, olives and meats. Alas, the wine was not preferred by the group but the music by local musicians was fun. It was back on the bus to return to the ship for an 11:00 departure. It was a great day in Vienna. Too bad the itinerary didn't allow more time here.
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| The group on the Heurigen evening excursion |
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| Rick sees his birthday surprise in his cabin |
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