After breakfast, we had a lecture on music with Professor Kudlac, a Canadian (from Montreal) who has lived in Vienna for over 30 years. He played samples of some of the classical music he was talking about, too. It was a good lecture.
Then we met up with our local guide Sigrid (or Sigi) whom we had walked with the day before, and she joined us on our bus ride to the Schönbrunn Palace, which is a former imperial 1,400-room Rococo summer residence of the Hapsburg monarchs. The castle was over-crowded on our tour, and it felt rushed, but it was still nice to see. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take photos inside the palace. So sad!
After the tour, we visited the gardens. They were vast, and it was hard to see everything. But it was obvious that the drought has affected the plants here in Vienna as well. Things were not as lush as you can imagine they might be. Honestly, I have not been overly impressed by the European gardens when compared to the English gardens, but I’m not an expert. I'm just a girl who likes gardens! The rose garden was very nice though, and I enjoyed it. We drove back to the ship after our tour, and once again we passed some of the now familiar landmarks in Vienna. There is just so much to see and do here in the city. I think I’m just gonna have to come back now.
At lunch on the ship, I had a mishap with my ice cream sundae. It somehow flipped over onto the table and was a complete loss. Alec and Valentine thought it was hilarious. Alec wanted to take a picture! HA! Valentine swooped in and saved the day. He cleaned it up, and then piled a bunch of clean napkins over top of the messed up tablecloth. They sent me back up to the sundae bar to get a fresh one, and this time I was more careful not to dump it over.
After lunch on board the ship, Mom, Dad and I walked along the river and visited another church we had spotted from the bus a few times. The St. Francis of Assisi Church (or Jubilee Church) was built to look old, and so it was only like 100 years old or something like that, but it was still nice to see it. The organ was being played as well, and so Mom liked that. There was a small mosaic chapel over on one side that I really enjoyed.
We then walked across the street to a Penny Market to get some Cokes and pick up some packages of cookies for Aunt Peggy to take back to some of her girlfriends.
At 5 PM, we headed back into Vienna for our private concert at the Kursalon. The Kursalon is where some of Vienna’s finest performed in the past such as the Strauss Brothers, etc. We had orange juice and champagne served out on the terrace before the concert, and everyone was dressed up and looked spiffy!
A 9-person chamber orchestra played each of the pieces incredibly well. There were also 2 opera singers that sang along for a few numbers, and 2 dancers that performed during some of the pieces as well. It was a wonderful way to spend an evening in Vienna!
We went back to the boat for our Mozart dinner. For the first time all cruise, I opted to order off the side menu and got a sirloin steak instead of the “boiled cap of rump.” I wasn’t sure what that was, but I thought a steak sounded good, and it sure was!
After dinner, I went up on the sun deck and took pictures of the city of Vienna that we were leaving behind. The lights along the riverbank beautifully reflected in the waters below. We went through another lock after dark as well. This lock was so big that we had LOTS of room on one side.
Aunt Peggy heard through the ship grapevine that later in the night or early the next morning, our ship would be passing by Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. There are apparently some beautiful things that will be lit up, and we don’t want to miss it. So we talked to Ivan at the reception desk, and he offered to give us a wake-up call. So at around 12:15 AM, we headed up to the sun deck. Susan (Colorado) saw us and she joined us. It was a bit chilly out there, but it was lovely to see the lights on the water. The bridges were spectacular especially the one with the UFO look to it. It was wonderful!!
Once we passed Bratislava, we headed back to our cabin and went right to sleep.
Favorite Thing or Funny Moment
- Me: the Kursalon Concert; catching the lights of Bratislava as we passed it.
- FEELING: Twirling-ready – I feel like twirling!
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