Vienna, Austria

July 23^rd, 2025

Our first full day in Vienna.

I must say, the weather didn’t look too great from our cabin when we went to breakfast.

Our tour today was “Panoramic Vienna” a combination on sightseeing by coach and a walking tour. I do prefer just doing walking tours, but there is so much to see in Vienna you couldn’t do it justice by just walking around.

We had driven by so many magnificent buildings on our way to the concert last night, and  today we saw many more. The whole city is simply full of wonderful period architecture. It has managed to keep its classical look without the intrusion of modern monstrosities.

There are statues

Palaces that are now museums or government offices

And walking down the shopping streets was a real joy, not just for the fantastic shops, but also for the beauty of the buildings.

The Cathedral in Vienna is St Stephen’s

The roof is very interesting.

The interior not so much. Brian and I were underwhelmed by its dark and gloomy interior. Give me a Baroque church any day!

While Brian and I were fighting the crowds in the Cathedral, the rest of the family had found the Lindt shop, and were happily making purchases

As if this was not enough to fill our desire for chocolate, we decided it was time for sachertorte.

We walked by the café where Franz Sacher, who created sachertorte once worked.

He invented the cake  in 1832 while working as an apprentice chef for Prince Metternich. Franz later started his own café, Sacher, and that’s where we decided to sample the delicacy.

In the afternoon I needed to return to the ship to get some work done, the others decided to visit the Schonbrunn Palace. That didn’t work out so well due to a confusion with their tickets (not of their making I might add), but they still had a wonderful afternoon sightseeing.

Meanwhile back on the boat I was happy working away in our cabin, enjoying the sight of the buildings across the river, when suddenly my view was interrupted by the arrival of yet another Viking boat.

There are apparently 10 Viking boats in Vienna today, and there are not enough pontoon docks for them all, so they tie up together, up to 3 at a time. So there went my view. Well, it was lovely while it lasted.

Then I realized that I had missed the wheelhouse tour. I had wanted to check it out, and see how the wheelhouse is able to almost disappear when the boat goes under a low bridge. That is so cool. Oh well, next time.

In the late afternoon Andrea Serles gave a very interesting talk on the Cultural History of the Danube.

It flows through so many countries, and plays such an important part in the history of this reason. Suddenly I felt proud to be a part of the river’s journey.

As we no longer had a view of the river from our cabin, I went up to the sun deck to take another look at it.

Yet another river boat was passing by.

There was a man playing on the very miniature golf course next to the herb garden.

And even though we had another boat right next to ours,

I was still able to see the beautiful sunset on the river.

There really is something magical about the Danube, even if it isn’t blue.