Friday, July 17th - Vienna

The ship arrived in Vienna sometime in the early morning hours so we awoke on the Danube below a large old Cathedral on one side and a totally modern city of high rises and towers on the other side.  As usual we had breakfast on deck and then were off on our 9 a.m. tour.  Some folks went off to Schonbrunn Palace but since I was there on an earlier trip I skipped that one.

The city tour involved a bus ride from the Danube across the city and canal to the Ringstrasse Road to see some of the magnificent buildings of the city.  After going around most of it once we got off to do our walking tour, which lasted about an hour and a half.

We saw the State Opera House and several small opera houses.  We also saw the main theatre building and music hall and a number of museums.  Culture is never lacking in Vienna.  Franz Joseph (not sure if 1st or 2nd) did not want to see the same opera if he went a couple times in a week so they started a tradition of having different operas every night (or at least rotating a number of them) and that still continues.  I think it's The Magic Flute, Rigoletto and 

We saw the old and new stock exchange buildings and of course the Weiner Rathaus, or the Vienna City Hall.  It is undergoing construction right now but it is still a beautiful huge building with its high spires, arched windows and gothic decoration.  We passed the park with the lovely glass building and palm trees where we had tea on an earlier trip.  I don't remember it's exact name but it was a lovely building and the park was very cool and relaxing.  We also went by the parliament buildings.

We saw the Spanish Riding Stables and decided after the tour ended (or at least when it allowed us some free time) to head back there for the 11 a.m. show.  The main Lipizzan stallions are off in the pasture right now enjoying their summer vacation but some of the horses in training as well as the mares and new colts were there to entertain us.  The Lipizzan show has been going on almost continually since the 18th century so it's quite a tradition.  I saw the stallions on an earlier trip and what they could do was amazing and almost unbelievable.  What the young ones did today was much more relaxing and fun, although you could tell they were learning what would be required of them.

We walked past the Hofburg Palace, which is always impressive with its green domes trimmed in gold, its statues and columns, curved design and incredibly white walls, and it's size.  Built in the 13th century, the Hapsburgs lived there as did many other royalty.  Today the Austrian President lives in part of the palace and the rest is open to the public as museums including one to Sisi, Franz Joseph's wife - someone you see wherever you go in this part of Europe.  

We walked down several of the very important pedestrian streets that lead between the main buildings.  I'm not sure shopping is ever on my agenda but certainly these shops are out of my league as far as money is concerned.  All of these roads seem to head to St. Stephan's Cathedral and it is quite an amazing building itself.  Originally built in about the 12th century it was repaired and rebuilt many times including after WWII.  It is quite impressive with its 450 foot steeple.  I was pleased to find a concert there tonight and bought a ticket.  I will hopefully be able to tour around the building before the concert but if not that's okay too as I have been there before.  And the U1 underground seems to leave right near the ship and goes directly to the Cathedral so I shouldn't get lost.

I came back with the group to the ship for a late lunch and a swim and a bit of blogging.  Randy and Gillian stayed downtown to do more touring around.  Dinner onboard was great, as usual, but it was an early  buffet so some of the people could go off to a special concert.  I had been to that particular hall before so didn't go.  Instead I headed off to the concert at St. Stephan's Cathedral..  The trip there was easy enough and very quick.  The church was open so I did get and I did get to look around a bit but there was a service going on so it was a bit awkward.  The church is beautiful and the sound of the organ and the singing was great.  The concert was also fantastic.  The main group was a string quartet but with one violin soloist.  She did all of Vivaldi's Four Seasons and it was fantastic.  The group (without soloist) did an additional six numbers at the beginning and end and in between the seasons to give her a break.  It was a great concert and much cheaper than the one the cruise line had organized.

Stephansplatz was crowded with people when the concert finished so I wandered around for a while.  Then I jumped back on the metro (uber?) and returned to the ship.  I was the last one on board but Gillian had explained to them that I was downtown at a concert and would be back soon so there was no problem.  I was actually back 10:30 and our all aboard was 11:45 so I had lots of time.  We sail at midnight to our next destination and our next adventure.