Viking Grand European River Cruise: 6/22/2016

6/22/16 - Wednesday

We awoke moored along the banks of the Danube River in the middle of the city of Vienna.
At 9000 h we caught a bus and were given a bus tour on the Ringstrasse for about an hour. Then we stopped at the Hofburg palace and began a 45 min. walking tour with our guide. After our tour we decided to stay in downtown Vienna and do some sightseeing. We were banking on the metro as our means of returning to the ship. The Metro is designated as the "U" in Vienna. We walked down the Brunnerstrasse and found a cafe for a cup of coffee and a small sandwich. Then we walked about 1 Km to Naschmarkt. This market has around 120 market stands and restaurants for a colorful culinary offering ranging from Viennese to Indian, from Vietnamese to Italian. The Naschmarkt has developed into a meeting point for young and old. After walking around the market for 40 minutes or so, we took the U back to the main Danube canal and walked 10 minutes to our ship. We rested on board the rest of the afternoon and then went at 1930 h to the Hofburg Palace to attend a concert of Strauss and Mozart music. It was fun and the orchestra and the singers were very good.

Our first stop was at the Maria-Theresien-Platz , a large public square that joins the Ringstraße with the Museum quartier. The building in the background is the Fine Arts Museum.

This monument features Empress Maria Theresa. She became entrance in 1740 and although she had a difficult start because of being female (she fought for her throne in the War of the Austrian Succession), she eventually ruled Austria and many other European regions (including, among others, Bohemia, Hungary, parts of the Balkans, and North Italian regions) for 40 years. She was very religious (Catholic), had 16 children (including Marie Antoinette of France), and was quite popular.

On one side of the square is the Natural History Museum.

The Hoffburg Palace was the summer residence of the Habburgs who ruled the Austro Hungarian Empire for over 600 years.

Monument to Archduck Charles who became an Austrian Fieldmarshall who successfully fought French and Napoleonic armies.

One of the courtyards in the Hofburg where our group was able to find a WC... a very important stop.

You can see the line of the ladies as they wait for the WC.

There are lots of horse carriages in the old city of Vienna.

This is one of the oldest portals in the Hofburg palace and once had a drawbridge and a mote.

Looking at "something" the guide was talking about?

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Demel's window in honor of the soccer tournament going on. That night Austria played Iceland and, unfortunately, lost 2 to 1.

This is Graben Strasse, a very popular street reserved for pedestrian traffic. It leads directly to the St. Stephanplatz.

Our guide talks about the monument of thankgiving for god saving Vienna from further deaths because of the Black Death.

The idea is that the devil caused the plague to descend on Vienna (and everywhere else in Europe) and was driven away by an act of god. Basically, they had no idea why or how the plague occurred and, therefore, blamed it on the devil and thanked god when it disappeared.