Vienna

Photo 1: The Austrian Parliament
Photo 2: St Stephen's Square
Photo 3: A nice way to see the town
Photo 4: Sculpture of Atlas in the Square
Photo 5: Finale at the concert

We woke up on Monday morning having docked near Vienna and opened our curtains to see a very modern commercial centre across the Danube. That was unexpected to say the least. But a 45 minute drive took us into old Vienna and its wonderful classical buildings. The highlight was the Hofburg Imperial Palace complex. The complex includes the stables for the famous Lipizzaner horses and we were just lucky enough to see some of them being led through St Stephen’s Square adjoining the Palace.

There are numerous magnificent sculptures, most decorated with gold leaf, atop many of the Art Nouveau buildings that dominate the old part of town. St Stephen’s Cathedral, the Parliament and the neo-renaissance Vienna Opera House are also very imposing and, together with the Palace, give you a sense of being in a great imperial city.

We had to have a siesta before going out last night…you wouldn’t believe how tiring doing almost nothing can be!!!  Not to mention digesting the copious amounts of food on offer.  They try to regionalise the menu, so Phil was in his element yesterday….real milk fed veal for lunch and again for dinner!!!  I, on the other hand, was much more interested in the desserts on offer.  They had some small scone like pastries filled with plum jam and served with custard.  As a gesture to our foreign wait staff we are “forced” to eat these dishes as we wouldn’t want to offend them.  I must say the entire staff are just so friendly and ever so efficient.  They are a definite 11 out of 10 on their performance chart!!!! 

That night we went to a wonderful concert by the Vienna Supreme Orchestra in the Hall of Muses at the Albertine Hall. The concert hall is part of the Hofburg Palace complex and is centuries old. The music was a mixture of Strauss, Mozart and Schubert and we were treated to some beautiful waltz and ballet dancing as well as Mozart arias sung by brilliant soloists. It was so special to hear the blue Danube waltz played so beautifully in Vienna, its home.