Day 8 Vienna
Our day started at 8:30am with a one hour bus tour along the ring road of Vienna “Ringstrasse”. The road is lined with an impressive collection of museums, grand residences, palaces, monuments, and concert halls. It really was like trying to take a sip of water our of a fire hydrant as the tour guide pointed our the attractions in rapid succession. It is hard to grasp the sheer number of sites collected along this 4km stretch. We started our walking tour at the glorious St. Stephan’s Cathedral. Our guide pointed out famous shops and monuments. We walked by The Spanish Riding School as well as the former Royal Palace. After the tour we enjoyed a classic Vienna tradition – a brauner grosser (large coffee with whipped cream) and some pastries. The coffee is served on a silver plate with a glass of water. I had a slice of sacher torte – a dark chocolate cake. We then took some extra time to visit some of the high end fashion shops before taking the subway back to the ship.
We spent the afternoon touring the Schonbrunn Palace. It is a UNESCO world heritage site. Our guide walked us through each room of the Royal Apartments and we had an hour at the end to explore the Christmas Market. The setting sun brought the Christmas lights to life on the giant tree in front of the palace.
Later in the evening we attended a concert in the former stock market building. The 6 musicians, two dancers and two singers made the evening pass by quickly. Their performance was light hearted and very enjoyable. The first half featured the music of Mozart and the second half featured Strauss. The drive to the concert gave us a quick look at the spectacular light display at city hall.
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