Waltzing to Vienna

Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Vienna, Austria
Throughout the night we continued our journey up the Danube River, toward Austria and the capital city of Vienna. We spent a quiet morning sitting on the deck watching the Danube, which by the way is not blue, flow by while enjoying the quaint towns dotting the banks.

On the top of one hill were perched the ruins of a castle with castle walls extending quite a distance to the castle gate . Farther up the river above the town of Hainburg was another castle.

By noon time we were entering the lock just outside of Vienna to take us up to the city. The river has become a dividing line between old Vienna and "new" Vienna with large, modern buildings on the north side of the river.

After lunch we boarded buses for a tour of the city. Many of the buildings in Vienna were once palaces of the rich aristocracy. The buildings are adorned with sculptures and gilding. After touring the Ring Strasse by bus we disembarked to tour the National Library and the Palace of the Hapsburgs. The ceiling of the library is covered with beautiful murals, and the walls are lined with over 200,000 books printed in the years 1501 - 1850. All books in the library must be liberal arts books. In all, the library owns 8 million books.

We also had the opportunity to enter the Augustine Church of the Imperial Palace where the Vienna Boy's Choir performs.

On the way back to our bus we stopped by to say “Hi” to the Lipizzaner Stallions, who were resting in their stalls.

Then it was back to the ship for dinner.

Tomorrow we will tour the Schoenbrunn Palace.
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Comments

Elaine
2011-08-23

SO excited that you are getting to see some of the same wonders that I have seen!

Elaine
2011-08-23

PS - Enjoy Schoenbrunn Palace and look for a sign that says AMALIE!!! It's in the back gardens.

2025-02-09

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