Today is the last full day of our cruise on the River Princess. We left the ship at 9:00 AM (a civilized time) on our city tour of Vienna. Since we will be staying here for 3 additional days after we leave the ship, we thought the city tour would give us a good start on navigating the city. In the evening, we have another tour scheduled to go to a concert hall for a Strauss and Mozart concert and show. First of all, it was pouring rain when we boarded our busses for the city. Monika, our cruise manager announced “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.” She’s right. Even in the rain, as long as we are prepared, it will be fine. OK – not exactly so – but at least we were able to see some of the sites which were indoors.
First, our bus took us around the Ringstasse- the broad thoroughfare surrounded by the many imperial buildings and monuments that give Vienna its wedding cake appearance. We passed by the City Hall, Parliament, the Hofburg (Imperial Palace, and the Opera House. We disembarked the bus and began our walking tour of the National Library – which is said to be the most beautiful Libray in the world with richly decorated, two-story tall bookcases.
We were told that all of the books look the same with a leather binding and gold letters.
After we left the library, we walked past the oldest section of the complex – the famous Spanish Riding School. Here we saw some of the Lippezaner horses in their stables. We plan to go to see them once we check into our hotel tomorrow. They practice for 2 hours every morning, with classical music.
It’s interesting that these horses are born black, and turn white as they mature.
Afterwards, we boarded our bus and rode through the old town. However, it was raining hard and we weren’t really able to see what the guide was pointing out. We were assured that the following day would be warm and sunny.
After our tour, we returned to the ship to pack since we were leaving the next morning. After an early dinner, we boarded our bus for a classical music performance of Mozart and Strauss in a Vienna concert hall. This was an unforgettable evening of music and dance, with champagne during intermission. Certainly an evening that we will never forget.
Tomorrow, we leave the ship and check into our hotel, The Mercure Grand, until Saturday. Below are some photo’s of the River Princess including a few pics of our teeny tiny cabin. :)
The above photo was taken in the lobby. The color scheme of the ship was black and white. Very striking.
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| The Sundeck |
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| Lounge |
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| Lounge |
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| Lounge |
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| Lounge |
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| Sun Deck |
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| Sundeck |
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| Sundeck |
These ships are very low in order to get under the many bridges and navigate the locks. Below is a picture of the dining room where we enjoyed breakfast, some lunches and dinner. It’s open seating so each meal we sat with different guests from all over the world. The guests seem to be much more refined than most of the people that we meet on ocean liners. Also, extremely well travelled and interesting to talk to.
Below is one of the hallways.
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| Library and "patio" |
The area above is called “the patio” and has a coffee and pastry area as well as 2 computer stations, although wifi is free and available in your cabin – if you have a good signal. Much of the time, the service is slow or non existent.
Below is the gym, which I’m proud to say that I visited once. And, only once.
Now for the cabin --- the last river cruise we took on the River Antoinette, we sprung for a premium cabin. Fabulous. Not very large, but adequate. Canopy Bed, full wall of windows with electronic controls. Very high tech. This time, though, we went for a lesser priced cabin. Saved a lot of money doing this. A lot. A very lot. So, this is what we got. Directly below is the closet space, which certainly was enough for us. We even had space that we didn’t use.
OK – the beds were fabulous. So comfortable with feather comforters, lots of pillows and plenty of space (except for Kos’s feet of course) :)
You can see that you have to stand on your toes to see out of the window (except for Kos). Alright, for the $$, it was wonderful. Something that I think is great, singles can stay in these cabins with no single supplement. And many of the passengers were travelling alone. These cabins would be more than enough room for one person. But pretty tight for two. Then again, Kos and I are used to our little co-op in South Beach, so we manage just fine. More space would be nice, but not necessary.
On Wednesday, 10/17, we disembarked the ship and took a taxi to the hotel. We were initially planning to take the train, but the taxi seemed easier and not that much more $$.
We arrived at our hotel at around 9:30 AM and our room wasn’t ready, so we left our luggage and went out to explore. Thankfully, the sun was shining and the temperature was around 60 degrees, so we found the train station and headed off to the Hofburg Palace to the Spanish Riding School to see the Lipizzaner Stallions. These stallions were a creation of horse loving Habsburg Archduke Charles, who wanted to breed the perfect animal. He imported Andalusian horses from his homeland of Spain, then mated them with a local line to produce an extremely intelligent and easily trainable breed. Lipizzaner stallions are known for their noble gait and Baroque profile. These regal horses have changed shape over time. They were bred strong and stout during wars, and frilly and slender in more cultured eras. But, they’re always born black, fade to gray, and turn a distinctive white as adults. We were not allowed to take pictures (they didn’t want to spook the horses), but we managed a couple without the flash.
Afterwards we had lunch in a typical Viennese Cafe – pork, sauerkraut, potato dumplings and beer. Kos is in heaven.
Now it was time to head back to the Hofburg Palace and visit the Hofburg Imperial Apartments and Sisi Museum. These lavish royal rooms are the downtown version of the grander Schonbrunn Palace (which we will visit later in the week). This museum is dedicated to the troubled Empress Sisi. Here, Emperor Franz Josef I lived and worked along with is wife Elizabeth, known as Sisi. The Sisi Museum traces the development of her legend, analyzing how her fabulous but tragic life created a 19th Century Princess Diana. We took a guided tour through the apartments and learned about how Sisi suffered with manic episodes of exercise, dieting and her escapes. Sisi was very beautiful and became an instant celebrity when she married Franz Joseph at the age of 16. Her main goals of life seemed to have been preserving her reputation as a beautiful empress, maintaining her barbie doll figure, and tending to her fairy tale ankle length hair. In the 1860’s, she was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world. But, in spite of severe dieting and fanatic exercise, age took its toll. After turning 30, she refused to allow photographs or portraits, and was generally seen in public with a fan covering her face (and bad teeth). She was adored by her husband Franz Josef. In 1898, she was murdered in Geneva, Switzerland at the age of 61 by an Italian anarchist.
After our tour, we went to a historic Viennese coffee house for coffee and strudel.
After a full day, we took the U-Bahn back to the hotel.
Once again, Priceline came through for us. The hotel – Mercure Grand Biedermeier Wein – is fabulous. Perfect location. Nice room, with everything we need at our fingertips. Supermarket 1/2 block away, restaurants, train station and just a 20 minute walk to the center of Vienna – Stephanplatz. Less than $100 USD per night. A steal.
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| View from our window |
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