Vienna

 

We were already tied up at the port in Vienna when we woke up this morning. Our tour is at 9am, so we went to breakfast about 7:30 so we could be relaxed. It's forecast to be another hot day, getting up to 34C. The first part of our tour is by bus, going around the Ringstrasse or Ring Road, to see many of the famous buildings like the Hofburg Imperial Palace, the Rathaus Town Hall, the Parliament, Justizplatz, Opera House.... each more ornate and beautiful then the last. There are also parks and gardens along the road. We get off the bus at the Volksgarden which has lots of rose bushes to start our tour. 

As it's morning, and many areas are shady the temperature is comfortable. Our guide takes us past many squares and museums, and talked about the history of Austria and the Hapsburgs. The wealth here was incredible to have built all of this. I had recently read a couple of books about the Empress Elizabeth, known as Sisi, wife of Emperor Franz Joseph. So it was very interesting to see many of the places that I'd read about. We walked past the Spanish Riding School, home of the famous Lipizzaner horses. We spotted one of them having a treatment with red light. Our walking tour ended in Stephanplatz, by St Stephen's Cathedral. This large square has shopping streets leading out from it, and is extremely crowded. Today there are not only many tourists, but a far right wing rally is being set up as well.

Ian and I decided to go to a coffee house, and had a lovely coffee as well as sharing a piece of sour cherry strudel. There were many delicious looking cakes to choose from! Later we met up with our group and walked back to the bus for the ride back to the ship. We weren't very hungry, so had a nice cold beer and a lovely reisling-potato soup.

I then decided to go for a walk over to Prater Park. This is a huge park, part of which is an amusement park which has a famous old Ferris Wheel. It's Saturday, so the park is very busy. I walked back to the ship for another dip in the pool and a relax on the top deck. It's clouded over, and I can hear some thunder in the distance. No rain, though it's a bit cooler.

Tonight we went to a classical music concert at the House of Strauss. So first we had a special early  Schnitzel dinner. Then the Strauss museum and a lovely concert featuring the music of Mozart, Beethoven and the Strauss family. We got back to the ship about 10pm and were welcomed with a "snack" of Vienna Sausage, goulash and cake!













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