Vienna...through Harry's eyes

Vienna -- St. Michael's Wing to the Habsburg Royal Winter Palace in Vienna
St. Peter's Church
Baroque Holy Trinity Memorial to the plague epidemic of 1679
St. Stephen's Catholic Church

Vienna. I like to say, “Take any section of the Chugach mountains in Alaska, stick em in the lower 48 and you’d have a potential national park. In the same way, take a building in Vienna . . . any along the Danube Canal . . . and each has the bones of a beautiful museum. I mean, yeah I know I’m probably repeating myself (which I do often right here!), but man oh man my eyeballs and brain are totally in tune to the architecture and class of the buildings, palaces, cathedrals, and monuments in Wien (Vienna). Kim chose the Schonbrunn Palace as our optional tour. It was worth the trip I’ll tell ya. For opulence, there is none quite like it. Then I saw the garden ‘out back’ and inhaled. You’ll see pics sometime. The place was crawling with tourists . . . like us. Kink gave me ‘boss’ status when we started and I used the whip today. Ha! We rolled over cobble stones til whatever is loose in our heads rattled. Then we took a circuitous route to the second floor. Very carefully nipping at the heels of the crowds, we picked our way through the Palace. It ain’t over. Remember the gardens? The walkways are massive and . . . hard sand. Baby, we plugged along until Kink cried ‘uncle’. Kim is a trooper who freely wanders within the tour and without. She’s doing terrific and having that ‘time of your life’ thing. What fun! A lounge chair on the upper deck held me in the right position as the sun set. Kim went to get a book from a new friend, Virginia.

Our morning tour was typical ride-tour guide-overview of the city with all the important points of interest described and seen. Our free time before lunch on the ship was spent walking the pedestrian only boulevards and alleys of shops and history. Yes. These streets, too, are cobblestoned. (OK, I’ll quit saying it for now.) Found a sausage stand and got a couple a big buggas. Yum!

A really lovely city. Vienna.

Tomorrow will find us in Melk and Linz. Go find it on a map. More later.

Passau, Regenburg, and Nuremberg (all in Germany) end our river journey. Prague will come into play as we embark on independent travel for that leg of our time in Europe.

Love to all. Harry