Jewels of Vienna’s Ring - Vienna, Austria

July 23

Our tour today was an all-day combination walking tour & horse drawn carriage ride. We walked to the metro station and took it to the city center. We started at the St. Stephen's Cathedral (same as yesterday) and were shown where to meet at the end of the tour when we had free time in the same area. It’s the city center so the best place to have free time.

walking to the metro

inside the metro

It was a lovely walk despite most of our group being dumber than a bag of hammers. One guy had to argue or challenge most every fact the guide stated. We saw Hotel Sacher, where the city’s beloved Sachertorte was created, and past the Vienna State Opera, the Albertina Museum, the tree-lined Burggarten, and the Mozart statue.

me going around the corner

Mozart - treble clef with flowers in the grass

We did a highlights tour of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine arts). Our guide took us to the most important ones and we finished with lunch in their restaurant. It was a tasty soup, goulash with a dumpling and pound cake for dessert.

interesting paintings of the 4 seasons - the longer you look at it, the more detail you see

artist doing their interpretation of the painting on the wall

Then, we boarded a fiaker (hourse-drawn carriage) for a ride along the Ringstrasse, passing the Parliament, Town Hall and Imperial Court Theater.

Neue Burg building

in our carriage with Chuck & Linda

our driver

couldn't quite get the shot of Tom & Cathy in their carriage

back to the walking tour

We walked back to St. Stephen’s Cathedral where we had an hour of free time. We went in search of gelato and popped back into the cathedral.

Hofburg palace

gelato stop

Just a drill, but it caused a lot of people to stop & see what was going on - they arrived with sirens blaring and lights flashing, and they jumped out armed. Cars were arriving from all directions to the same spot.

St. Stephen's Cathedral

Possible meaning of the 05 on the side of the cathedral per Wiki “The “O” is the first letter of the German name for Austria “Österreich” and because the “Ö” is equivalent to “OE” the first two letters for the name Austria would be “OE.” Since the letter “E” is the fifth letter of the alphabet, the symbol “O5” was a secret code for “OESTERREICH” or “Austria.” Of course, some say the 5 stands for the five letters of “AEIOU” which was a Habsburg campaign slogan from Emperor Friedrich III first inscribed into his coat of arms and then added onto many buildings and works of art throughout the empire. Chalk O5 sign of Austrian Resistance Movement”

Or

“Not everyone was waltzing for joy alongside Hitler. Sometime in 1944, a symbol began appearing throughout the streets of Vienna – hurriedly scribbled on house and church walls – the symbol was O5 and originated from a medical student, Jörg Unterreiner, who was part of an underground group fighting to resist the Nazis and restore Austria.” This was the explanation our guide gave.

inside the cathedral

Met the group for the walk to the metro and back to the ship.

exercise park next to the ship & hammocks

Viking Kadlin

walking along side of the ship

views from the top deck

herb garden

Vienna magnet

Relaxed until dinner and then went to the Waltz show on the ship. Very nice performance for the small space. No photos, we were too far back to get any decent shots. It was very similar to the ones at the concert the night before with more ballet than what most of us know as the waltz. 

For larger photos - Jewels of Vienna's Ring - https://photos.app.goo.gl/3XBQyfQTeB2zc4Qs5

Tomorrow, we tour Bratislava, Slovakia.