Vienna

A day’s float up the river took us along shores lined with an ever lovelier landscape.  We are beginning to see trees changing into their autumn color.  The end of our day’s journey culminated in the old/new city of Vienna.  We were eager to set out and so took a taxi to a restaurant recommended by a tour guide.  Plachutta is an upscale restaurant catering to tourists and business people.  Our waiter was a bit of a performer and we accepted his guidance.  The weiner shnitzel, each filling the dinner plate,  and  veal medallion with mushroom sauce were excellent but the chocolate mousse cake was indescribably luscious.

Cold and rain limited our exploration of the central ringstrasse area.  Our two hour bus tour took us passed historic buildings that our camera fingers itched to photograph.  We did tour medieval style St. Stephen’s Cathedral.  It is richly decorated with statues and reliefs.  Only a few of the stained glass windows survived the fire that damaged the church at the end of WWII. 

There are two reliefs showing the architect. 

 
Emperor Franz Joseph, head of the Austro-Hungarian Empire rests within a massive coffin that took fifty years to carve.

We took a brief walk about the area, but found it too cold to enjoy the way it deserved.

Our lunch dessert was apfelstrudel provided by Rita and came from the royal confectionary.

Jerry and Anna Lee took the tour to Schonbrunn Palace, summer home of the Hapsburg Dynasty for over 600 years.  We saw twenty of the 1441 rooms in the palace.  The rooms are unfurnished but not unadorned.  The walls are covered with beautiful paintings, gilding and tapestries.  Queen Maria Theresa was the first to enjoy the palace.  She had twelve children survive to adulthood and ruled the land for forty years, keeping peace and making alliances via the marrying off of her children.  The most famous was her youngest, Marie Antoinette whose fate might have been better with another mate.  The weather kept us from enjoying the beautiful gardens. 

In addition to the Palace, we were treated to an apfelstrudel making demonstration and tasting.

After watching the skill needed to make the transparent pastry, we have no intention of trying to make it ourselves.

This evening we were again treated with onboard entertainment, this time the Presburger duet from Bratislava, Slovakia.  Accompanied by his pianist, the violinist/wood flutist/wooden-horn blower/dancer/opera singer was very good and gave us an unusual evening’s entertainment.