After we sailed from Budapest, we had one full day of sailing which turned out to be a blessing as it gave us time to recuperate from the journey, catch up on some sleep and get to know our fellow passengers. We passed through Bratislava, Slovakia on the way, so we can now say we hit 5 countries on this trip! It is just beautiful sailing along the river as you see both sides of the river and the little towns that you pass along the way. It also was a perfect day to be sailing as it was quite cloudy, chilly and raining at times. We arrived around 5:00 p.m. to port in Vienna, Austria in the pouring rain! After supper, we boarded the bus to take us to Palais Liechtenstein where we were entertained with an evening concert featuring the music of Strauss and Mozart. The small 15 piece orchestra was accompanied by two opera singers, one soprano and one tenor. The bonus for me was the last piece they played – Blue Danube (which I remember as a young girl as my favorite classical piece to play on the piano) – they had a ballerina and her partner from the local ballet dance to it. As most of you know, I just love watching ballet and to see them dance to one of my favorite classical pieces of music was a highlight. I took a small video of it which I will put together along with some pictures when I can get a faster internet connection although I may have to wait until I get home to do that. The Palais Liechtenstein was absolutely beautiful with painted murals on the walls and ceilings and the architecture of these places is phenomenal when you think how many centuries ago they were built.
Certainly a classical concert and a bit of ballet was not Brian’s “cup of tea” and although he was a bit fidgety in his seat, at least he didn’t fall asleep as a couple of other men did! I thoroughly enjoyed the whole concert as it was something I have never experienced before. I’m not sure I would ever get Brian to attend one with me in the future though!
Today, we had to get up early for breakfast as the excursion we chose was a city tour of Vienna with a guided tour of Schonbrunn Palace which was so interesting. I can’t remember how old the Palace is but we learned about the most famous residents in the 1800’s of Maria Theresa when she married Francis Joseph I, Emperor and Empress of Austria The Schonburrn Palace was originally the summer residence of the Hapsburg’s family (who were the previous Kings of Vienna, Austria) and upon Maria Theresa’s marriage to Francis Joseph, the palace was given to Maria Theresa as a wedding present and she completed the 350 chambers in the mansion. They were obviously very very wealthy. They had 16 children and not only did we learn the personal history of their time but also some history on their children’s lives. One of daughters actually married Napoleon and had a child but unfortunately that child died around the age of 21 due to Tuberculosis. The tour guides we have had so far have been very informative and really hold your interest. They certainly know their history well! I find I become very fascinated with the way people used to live and dress in that time period. I was so fascinated with the story of the people associated with this Schonbrunn Palace that when I get home, I am going to look up more of the history and read more about them.
The rest of the day we were able to explore Vienna on our own. Brian and I walked around the streets and our highlight for the afternoon was getting on the oldest ferriis wheel in Europe, it was over 100 years old – in fact it was built as part of the celebrations of Francis Joseph Coronation as Emperor.
Tonight we set sail around 11:00 p.m. and head to Durnstein, Austria. We port here for only a couple of hours. For those of us who are adventuresome, we will get off the ship and we will be biking 33 km to Melk and will meet up with the ship there. For those passengers that do not want to bike, they stay on the ship to get to Melk. There are about 15 of us taking the challenge of biking to Melk. It is a guided biking tour and Picnic, so it should be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it is going to be cold tomorrow, the high of only about 8 celsius but at least it is not suppose to rain!
Palais Liechtenstein on our way into the Classical Concert.
Schonbrunn Palace and the oldest Ferris Wheel in Europe (100 years old)
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