Wien. Day 4

     This entry was accidently deleted just before posting and had to be rewritten from memory. Memory? What's that?

     After our late afternoon arrival yesterday we had a Vienna orientation talk then dinner. We dined alone for the first time. We then went on a walk to a very large park (bigger than Central Park in NYC) with exciting amusement rides. We did not ride anything exciting (or scary). We did, however, ride the Ferris Wheel. The oldest in the world, built in 1897. It is no longer the largest.

     It was a late night (for us).

     

     We had an early bus departure, right after breakfast, to take us to the center of Wien (how Vienna is spelled in German), pronounced 'Veen'. Maybe with a hint of saying Vee - en. 

     We are taking a number of bus tours (combined with walking) on this river adventure. We once looked down on bus tourism but back in the 90s we went to England, exploring on our own for about a week. Our hotel offered a free bus tour of London and we joined mostly old people on the bus. Loved it. It was very informative, gave us a great overview and we learned a lot. It helped with our own personal explorations while in London. 5 or more days in a city or an area is much better but unless you have that kind of time a bus tour with an expert guide is the next best choice. We no longer disparage bus tours of cities. 

     Our tour of Wien was great. Vienna has a lot going for it. It is clean, vibrant, historic, well maintained, has wonderful public transportation and extensive bike lanes. There are also many no cars areas. We are not world travellers by any means but we have been to cities in foreign places like England, Spain, Belgium, Ecuador, Caribbean islands, Florida plus many cities in the United States. Vienna is number 1 so far. We would definitely want to come back here to spend a lot more time. Maybe even before going to other foreign (to us) countries. 

     Yes, a horse is playing the accordian. 

     Hitler gave a speech here after annexing Austria. Many supported him here. At the start. That changed rapidly. I wish that more could learn from this instead of believing fascist leaning politicians around the world. Near and far. 

    Above: scenes of central Vienna including cathedral of St. Steven. Also Hapsburg palaces.

     Swarovski's. Fancy sparkly stuff. Did not upgrade our tiaras.

     McDonald's menu. A bit different. And it had a coffee shop. Of course. It is Vienna. All automated ordering. 

     Above: street scenes.

     Across the river from us. The wavy building is meant to represent the waters of the Danube.

     After our tour, lunch and a nap, I went for a walk along the waterfront. Cleverly disguised as a walkway, a bike path and a linear park is a fairly high dike that has protected Vienna from flooding since the late 1970s. I walked below the dike along the riverside outbound and on it or on the inland side on the way back. It's called the bunny walk because of the many, many rabbits on the dike. Not quite tame, a little wary, but tolerant of people. Mostly. 

     Next was a talk on tomorrow's sailings and tours and the schedules and other things to be aware of. The ship sails at midnight tonight and arrives in Melk about noon. We disembark for a tour of a nearby abbey while the boat leaves and moves on. After the tour we drive to where the ship has moved to reboard and get underway immediately. Very complicated and more on that in my next posting. To wind up our 4th day, at 2100, we had a 45 minute lecture from a local professor on the 1000+ year history of Austria. From a tiny country to a huge empire to a tiny country again with its current regrowth only about 40 years old. A brilliant, interesting and skillfull presentation. 

    

     We hope the departure noises do not wake us.