Day Seven - Vienna, Austria

When I was up for a bathroom break at 4:45 a.m. this morning I peeked through the curtains to take a look outside only to find myself face to face with a concrete wall mere inches away from the window. We were obviously in another lock. I didn’t stay up to see how long the process took to get through the lock, but by the time we awoke at 6:45 a.m. we had arrived in Vienna and were already docked.

Today’s tour was taking place in the morning which is why we were up a bit earlier than usual (for vacation time, that is!) Once we were dressed and had eaten breakfast we were ready for our 9:00 a.m. departure into Vienna. There were two tours offered this morning and the one we had selected was a tour of the Mozart House and the House of Music.

The Mozart House is actually a building in which Mozart had the first floor (equivalent to the second floor in the U.S.) apartment from around age 25 to 27.

Following the tour of the Mozart House we walked to the nearby House of Music which is part museum and part science exhibition highlighting how sound and hearing works. It wasn’t the most exciting of tour offerings, but okay. At the conclusion of our time at the House of Music we were on our own for the afternoon. Darwin and I walked to St. Stephen’s Cathedral where a noon time mass was just ending and I was able to record the organ being played.

After our visit to St. Stephen’s we found our way to the restaurant we had selected for lunch, Zum Schwerzen Kameel, which translated means the Black Camel. We both ordered Weiner Schnitzel which came with a side of potato salad which had some apple and other items in it. Both were delicious.

After lunch we strolled back to the point where the motor coaches were picking folks up on the hours of 2:00, 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. On the way we stopped in to another church – St. Michael’s and also found the Lutheran Church and Reformed Church. We were able to take pictures of the outside of those buildings, but they were not open for tourists.

We then headed to the Albertina which is the meeting spot for the motor coaches. The Albertina is currently an art museum but we decided not to pay the price of admission as we only had twenty minutes before the 3:00 p.m. departure back to the ship. We did browse through the museum gift shop to pass the time.

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We then headed to the Albertina which is the meeting spot for the motor coaches. The Albertina is currently an art museum but we decided not to pay the price of admission as we only had twenty minutes before the 3:00 p.m. departure back to the ship. We did browse through the museum gift shop to pass the time.

Today was a cooler day and rain had been threatening all afternoon and it finally poured while we were waiting for the motor coach to arrive. Of course, once we were all on the bus and on the way back to the dock, the rain stopped.

Once back on the ship we had about thirty minutes or so to relax before needing to get dressed for this evening’s dinner. We, of course, did manage to get to cocktail hour while waiting to board the motor coaches that departed at 5:45 p.m. for dinner in the heart of Vienna at Palais Pallavacini. This was built as a palace by an Italian family who wanted to irritate the Hapsburgs. WOW!!!! That is the easiest way to sum up this dinner extravaganza. Not only was it amazing to be dining in this lovely palace with the beautiful table setting, but throughout the evening we were entertained with wonderful instrumental music, singing and dancing by local professionals. mostly from the Vienna Residenzorchester. Absolutely amazing. Each day and each event seems to be better than the previous ones. We can’t imagine how much better it can get!

Dinner ended around 9:15 p.m. and enjoyed a relaxing ride back to the dock to board our ship where we had a nightcap and then off to bed (well, actually bed will come after I finish writing this and posting it!). So ends Day Seven.