Vienna, Austria

About six in the morning I felt a big bump as if the ship had hit the dock. I assumed we had arrived in Vienna. When we got up a while later and looked out our window we were greeted by a cement wall. There was a ladder embedded in the side going straight up and joked to Bob that it was going to be our way up to shore. The next time I looked out, the ladder had all but disappeared underwater and we were looking straight out to shore. We had been in a lock the whole time!

While we ate breakfast, our ship arrived in Vienna and we began to make plans for our day. We had not signed up for any excursions because what was offered were things we had already done when we'd visited several years ago during the Christmas markets. This time though the riverboat was not as conveniently located as it had been then so we were a little more challenged--but up to it!

About an eight minute walk from the ship was a metro station and we knew that it wasn't a difficult one to navigate. When we approached the ticket machine, there was a tour leader there from a Viking ship who was helping her guests. She was gracious enough to help us quickly purchase our tickets as well. A round trip anywhere for a senior was only 6 Euros.

The stop for St Stephen's Plaza, a central point of the old town, was only a couple of stops away. Once out of the station, we started walking and soon realized we'd headed the wrong direction. We back tracked a bit and found the familiar St. Stephen's Plaza only minus its colorful market booths that had filled the square at Christmas time.

We stopped inside the cathedral for a few moments and then began to pick and choose what we wanted to see. After a pass by of the House of Mozart, we found The Sacher Torte store was interesting and the cafe attached was hugely busy. It's a special chocolate cake with a chocolate icing. Chocolate on chocolate and more chocolate.

A stop for tea and an upstairs vantage point in the cafe helped us to warm up and people watch. The temps were not expected to get to 60F. While we sipped, we planned to visit a couple more places on my GPS My City tour and then get back for lunch.

One place we had not seen before was the Capuchian Church Imperial Crypt where there are now 145 Hapsburgs interred. The crypt has been around since 1633. The ornate and often huge  sarcophagi seem to go on endlessly. Hapsburgs from the 1600s up to 2023 each have a small plaque telling their accomplishment during rule or their contribution if any to the well-being of their country during their lifetime. 

One of the sarcophagi that had some flowers and drawings placed at it belonged to Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1837-1898). She was born a Bavarian princess and became Empress through marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I. She was celebrated for her beauty and free spirit. Apparently she was a bit of a rebel when it came to the rigid court life of the Hapsburgs. I need to look further as there was mention of movies made about her.

After the crypt, we walked by the Hofburg Imperial Palace and watched a few horse drawn carriages take people for a ride. From there, we found St. Peter's Church with its large green dome. A stop inside revealed an immensely decorative interior. Too much to take in with only a few minutes to visit.

Retracing our steps to St. Stephen Plaza, we found our way back to the metro and back to the ship.

Lunch, a nap, an early dinner and we're ready for a concert.

Our evening concert, dedicated to Strauss was delightful. It was a short twenty minute ride to an abbey that is over 800 years old. We climbed stairs to the refectory where chairs were set up facing a small platform stage for the instrumentalists and performers.

Two violins, a bass, a cello, a piano and a flute made up the musical features. There were two sopranos who sang a couple of arias from Der Fledermaus and a couple who exhibited the wonderful grace of a waltz done well. There were light hearted moments and sweet beautiful music and a light refreshment break in the middle. Everyone was delighted.

Cruising The Danube - Oh, The Food!

Our morning on the last day of the cruise was spent visiting the Schonbrunn Palace Zoo (or the Vienna Zoo--whichever you want to call it). While the sun kept peeking out from between the clouds, it was still chilly, enough to want a bowl of soup. On our earlier trip to the Schonbrunn Palace Christmas Market I had seen soup in a bread bowl. It was a good reason to return.

For a carbohydrate "addict" a bowl of bread sounded perfect. Add to it a potato soup that was delicious and all was heavenly. To my surprise the bowl did not leak. Instead the soup kind of soaked into it a bit but not so much to make it real soggy. The stand where we purchased them offered real tablespoons to eat it with and we walked a little bit away to a table to stand and eat it.

Just a note: There were no tables with chairs at the markets. The tables were all chest high except for a few just a bit shorter for kids. So if you are person who needs to sit a spell after a long walk around the market, you need to be prepared to go into a cafe.

We pretty much cleaned up our bread bowl of soup and felt more than satisfied. We returned the spoons and I wondered how well that kind of trust would work back home. Would people return them or throw them out with their trash?

It was still early afternoon but we had packing to do and one more excursion in the evening so we headed back on the subway. Later, all bags packed and stored with just enough clothes left out to get us through our dinner excursion and the morning trip to the airport, we relaxed with some coffee and tried to refrain from eating anything with it. Coming up was a Michelin dinner (no it's not at a tire store) that we didn't want to spoil.

That evening, four buses awaited our departure for four different Michelin star restaurants in the city.
We had our choice and had picked the one we thought from the menu we would enjoy the most. We had no idea what to expect. We'd never eaten at a Michelin restaurant--at least not that we knew of.
So what's the deal with Michelin stars?

To my surprise, the Michelin stars awarded restaurants do have something to do with tires. The Michelin tire company (yes, the one with the Michelin man) is based in France. Not only known for its tires, it also publishes travel guides and road maps. It all began in 1900, just 11 years after brothers, Andre and Eduord, started their tire business. They were clever fellows. They figured if they encouraged people to drive more, they would need to buy more tires as they wore the old ones out.

Their guides expanded to include most of Europe and their one star rating rose to three stars. One star is superb, a second star is greater and the third means it's a destination place to go to dine. The inspectors, chefs themselves, who travel to the restaurants to rate them are trained and remain anonymous (for obvious reasons). They may return several times to be sure the quality of the chef's product is award winning. And it is mostly about the chef and how he/she chooses ingredients, creates his dishes and presents them.

While the chef is important, it is the restaurant that gains the star/s. You can lose your stars if the quality drops. And your restaurant does not need to be fancy. There is a three star establishment that serves from a wooden counter at a car park.

Our restaurant, Le Ceil, was no car park. It was on the top floor of the Grand Hotel Wein which in itself was quite a place to visit and see. Beautiful chandeliers. Exquisite decorations. Charm and beauty. The restaurant was the finishing touch.

White table cloths, candles, polished silverware, elegant centerpieces, glassware and dinnerware gave the evening a special atmosphere. White gloved waiters poured water and drinks and brought us each course on the menu all while a pianist played on a grand piano near us. Each dish was presented artfully on the plate and was absolutely delicious. Ours was a set menu and I thought that was just because of our large group but according to their menu online, you can also order a dinner that way.

It was quite an experience to end our cruise on. The next morning would find us on a plane heading for warmer weather and a few days of laundry, grandkids, and warming up for our Caribbean adventure.

Cruising The Danube - Back To Vienna

Through the night our the Crystal Mozart returned to Vienna. We would have one more day and night to enjoy our adventure before leaving with our memories and pictures. The excursions for the day did not appeal to us--partly because they involved museums and a lot of history and partly because we were ready to be off on our own for a change.

The weather had warmed a bit and there was even the promise of a bit of sunshine so we decided to return to the Schonbrunn Palace and the zoo that is there. Besides that, I wanted to go back and try the soup in a bread bowl we had seen there.

Bob and I set off for the subway and found our way back to the palace. We purchased our tickets and set off in the direction we thought the zoo was. We were sort of right but hadn't realized it would be such a walk.

The zoo sits way back almost at the end of the garden area. While it was quite a walk, it also gave us a chance to take a look at the garden that we hadn't seen on our first visit.

Except for a few small groups of school kids and some other tourists, the zoo was pretty empty. What we didn't know though was how large it was. It was called the Imperial Zoo and since I knew it was originally begun by Emperor Franz I Stephen, I just thought it would be a small kind of private zoo. At least that's how it started.

In 1752, there were enclosures built around what would be a central pavilion and they held thirteen animals. Since then the zoo has expanded and expanded. The central pavilion and the circle of enclosures (now with bars instead of walls) are still there but the zoo radiates out from there.

The menagerie became a zoological garden in the late 1800s. In 1914, it held 3,470 animals, the most it would ever have. Of the 500 or so animals they have now, there were several that we definitely wanted to see before we left.

Our polar bear back home had died a couple of years ago of old age. I was eager to see a polar bear again. There were two in a wonderful exhibit that was several levels which allowed you to see them from above, at eye level and below the water level. The bears were very playful and we enjoyed them at all the levels.

The hippopotamus at our zoo was also gone so we enjoyed seeing several of them even though they were indoors and not in the water.

Then we happened upon the rain forest exhibit. It was quite different from ours but we enjoyed the warmth, shedding our coats for a bit. We found one spot that had a sign of someone with a finger up to their lips indicating that we had to be quiet when we entered. What it didn't say was that it was completely dark--or at least dark enough that it took a long time for eyes to adjust. We went through all the flaps that were hanging and hoped for a little light to see where we were going. There was just enough to see that there were things flying through the air just above our heads--bats! We hustled!!

It took us a while to find the other animal we were looking for but we finally did and spent some time watching one panda sleep and the other sit and eat his bamboo shoots. We hadn't seen pandas since our trip to China in 2003. Obviously it didn't matter too much which part of the world they were in, they didn't do a lot of moving but did do a lot of eating.

All in all it was a great adventure and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cruising The Danube – Concert At The Belvedere Palace

An afternoon walking tour was on our agenda after settling in to the new upgraded suite aboard the Mozart. A bus took us into the old historic area and we saw many of the same buildings we’d seen while on our three day pre-cruise visit only now we were able to have a name to put to the buildings. We walked past the Belvedere Palace that was to be the site of our concert after dinner the next day. 

Then we spent a lovely evening being entertained and dined on board our wonderful riverboat.

The four of us had agreed we’d had all the Vienna Christmas markets we wanted to see so we passed on the tours that were included on that day and my sister-in-law and I spent the day reading and getting nails done while the boys decided they really wanted to get a special sausage sandwich they’d seen near St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The sandwich was made first with a large roll that was threaded down a long spiked metal rube that was heated and toasted the inside of the roll. Then they put a sausage down through the center along with any condiments like sauerkraut and mustard that you might want. They had a great time getting there and back and enjoyed their lunch.

Crystal is always planning special events for their cruisers and the concert at the Belvedere Palace was no exception. The buses lined up after dinner and took most, if not all, to the Belvedere Palace. We enjoyed a welcome with liquid refreshments and then a tour of the art gallery where the famous painting, The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, is displayed. There are several other works of art that are significant but this one is kin to the Lady In Gold which was the center of quite a lawsuit to get it returned to its original owner family who were Jews during the Hitler regime when artworks owned by Jews were confiscated.

After our guided tour through the gallery, we were led into the Marble Hall and found a seat. I was in awe looking around. Huge crystal chandeliers that we had only seen through the windows as we had toured the grounds now hung above us shimmering with light. The ceiling was an amazing piece of art topping off beautiful moldings and walls of wood and perhaps marble. I never got close enough to decide if it was faux and just painted to look like marble. Soon the Schloss Schoenbrunn Orchestra of Vienna entered followed by the conductor and the music began.

There were of course several pieces from Mozart and Strauss and the orchestra was joined by the Ballet Club Wiener Volksoper. (Loosely translated, it was the Vienna Ballet and Opera). Two dancers and two opera singer performed a few pieces and it all blended into quite an evening of entertainment. I was impressed with their acknowledgement that not all in the audience might be fans of classical music so it was lightened with a little humor. Much appreciated and applauded.

 After our return our riverboat began its passage on the Danube. Next stop would be Melk, Austria.

Cruising The Danube - The Crystal Mozart

The three days on our own in Vienna ended and we checked out of the motel and made our way to the riverboat. We hired an Uber who got us to the river but the address that Crystal Cruises had given us was a restaurant. What we didn’t realize was that the boat was on the river on the other side of the restaurant.

Our driver, whose English was a bit confusing, had no idea where to go. We spotted some Crystal tour buses parked a bit down the road and we had him drop us off there. Once over the other side of the levee, we could see the riverboat. It was a bit of a trek with us dragging luggage (thank goodness for wheeled bags). When we arrived, we were greeted by staff who asked if we’d walked. When we said Uber, they chuckled. “None of them know how to get here. Just the taxis.”

But all was well. We were at our destination and were ready to settle in for ten days. We were shown to our room which was ready however Bob’s brother and sister-in-law had to wait a bit for theirs. The room was on the small side but expected and we had a window with a view of the dock wall just above the water level. It was a nice room and we went about unpacking our things and settling in. We had no sooner finished when we received a call from the front desk that the hotel manager would like to speak to us.

Like two chastised kids wondering what we’d done to be called to the principal’s office, we walked up to the reception desk. We were greeted by a charming lady who introduced herself and said that we had been given an upgrade to a penthouse suite. (The boat only had three decks plus the top sundeck so I wondered what that could mean.) She took us around the corner and opened a door to a much larger room with a double sink bathroom, shower and tub, a walk-in closet and a French balcony (sliding glass doors that open to the outside but with no place to sit). It was beautiful.

“So,” she asked, “If it is acceptable you may have it.”

Acceptable?! I had a hard time keeping my feet from jumping up and down. “Oh, we would never turn down a lovely gift like this,” I said hoping that I sounded sophisticated and polite and I wasn’t salivating as I said it. “We just finished unpacking though.”

“No problem,” she said. “The butler will move your things.”

Oh, no he won’t, I thought. I hate the thought of someone else touching my more personal items. We agreed that we would pack the things from the drawers and bathroom back into the suitcases and then they would move the things on hangers for us. After lunch we made the move. We wondered if our travel companions had been moved to the old room but it turned out there was a single lady who didn’t like the room she had who was moved into the one we vacated.

This trip was getting better already. Wow!

Oh, and the rest of the riverboat was beautiful with a nice restaurant, café and lounge where we enjoyed music before and after dinner as well as several special performances from local entertainers. The boat was also decorated extensively for Christmas and the holidays. Again, all was beautiful and certainly beyond our expectations even for Crystal. By the way, I think our World Cruise gave us the upgrade. It turned out we were the third longest experienced cruisers with Crystal aboard the Mozart.

Through My Lens - Vienna

Cruising The Danube - The Lipizzans

Vienna is the home of the famous Lipizzan hoses and the Spanish Riding School. We were fortunate to be in Vienna at a time when they had scheduled performances. We bought our tickets far in advance in order to get seats. On Saturday morning we headed to the Imperial Palace to stroll around the grounds and take a peek at the stables.

The practice court was being cleaned but the stall doors were half opened and we could see some of the horses inside. One of the younger horses stuck his head out and posed nicely for me. The younger horses are a gray color. They don’t become their famous white color until they have matured.

After exploring a bit, we went into the café that was right by the ticket office and grabbed some coffee while we waited for our appointed time to enter the theater.

A little background on the horses: The Lipizzans were developed by the Hapsburgs over 400 years ago to be used in times of war and peace. Their unusual abilities apparently helped their riders during battles and carried over into the performance arena providing wonderful entertainment for the royalty.

Dressage is a word that until a young lady I know introduced me to was completely unknown to me. The term applies to the fancy stepping a horse is taught to do. The Lipizzans are a special breed when it comes to dressage. I’m sure you have seen pictures or videos of them actually rearing back and jumping into the air. While that is impressive, they also do intricate steps side ways and in sync with the other horses around them led of course by their trainers and riders of the Spanish Riding School.

When the time came for us to go in we were ushered into a magnificent and fancy riding ring. Our balcony seats overlooked one end of a large oval area covered in some sort of soil. Huge chandeliers hung from the ceiling low over the riding area. They were lit in blue. Once everyone who purchased a seat was in, they let in the standing room only people who filled in large spaces along the sides where there were no seats. We discovered later that the standing room only tickets were 28 Euros as opposed to the 146 Euros we paid to sit (sitting was worth it for me).

Finally the chandeliers began to rise and they sparkled with white lights as the announcer gave the opening remarks about what we were to see—in several languages. With much ceremony and even more precision, we watched first the younger horses go through their program. Then as the performance progressed, they were replaced by the more mature horses and finally the highly trained group who did their famous leap. In between we witnessed a ballet of sorts and choreography that reminded me of synchronized swimming.

Beautiful horses, smartly dressed riders, all worked together in a performance that left the crowd cheering and exiting in amazement. 

Cruising The Danube - The Rathaus Market

A rathaus is a town hall. The old Vienna Rathaus has one of the most spectacular Christmas Markets in the city. We took the subway to the Rathaus and arrived in time for dinner. The Christmas Markets have food but we were looking for a place out of the cold where we could sit down and eat. Surrounding the Rathaus are a lot of theaters and as we looked across the street the guys saw a sign that said restaurant and we headed for it.

We didn't know at the time that it was one of the nicest restaurants in Vienna, Das Landtmann. We were pleased to find white tablecloths and crystal chandeliers. The food was delicious including the goulash that the guys indulged in.

After dinner we crossed the street once again and entered the Christmas Market. It was full of people truly enjoying themselves as they indulged in holiday treats, punch and activities like ice skating and a few amusement rides.

The ice skating rink included a smaller one for learners and little ones who are just getting started. They had darling little penguins with handles on the backs of them that the learners could hold on to and skate around without the danger of falling.


Strolling around the market we saw a lot of the same merchandise with the occasional more interesting creations. One of them sold paper stars that folded flat and then extended to a three dimensional star with designs cut into them. They were illuminated from within by a small light.


This market was definitely more decorated than the others we'd visited and included a lighted giant snow globe. I didn't think the mugs they were serving punch in were as clever as the Christmas boots at St. Stephen's. There were some giant soft pretzels that looked tempting but dinner had filled me up and I'd already had a big pretzel at another market--so good!


At night the Rathaus which dates back to the late 1800s, is nicely illuminated and made a beautiful backdrop to the Christmas Market. During the day you can tour the town hall but we never made it back to do that. You have to save some things for a second visit.

Cruising The Danube - Vienna's Schonbrunn Palace

Somewhere during my history studies I remember hearing about the Habsburgs. Unfortunately I had very little interest in history during high school and not much more during my college history requirements. In our visit to Schonbrunn Palace I was to learn a little more--at least about their summer home.

Schonbrunn began as a hunting lodge called Katterburg when the Habsburgs purchased it, it began a transition from a mansion to a palace. During the mid 1700s the palace was built and refurbished during the reign of Maria Theresa who received the estate as a wedding gift. Franz Joseph, Austria's longest reigning monarch was born there and lived there most of his life, dying in the palace at the age of 86 in 1916.

While the palace is a beautiful place inside and out, the gardens are quite spectacular as well extending almost a mile in one direction and over a half mile in the other. As we were visiting in the winter, there was nothing blooming but the gardens were still amazing to see.

We purchased a Grand Tour ticket that gave us an extended look into 40 rooms rather than the 22 offered in the Imperial Tour. The first part of the tour takes you through the state rooms and private apartments of Franz Joseph and his wife, Empress Elizabeth or Sisi as she is affectionately called. Sisi was quite beautiful and had extremely long hair. She was also a health nut and it was said that was why the gardens were so large because she walked them each day for her exercise.

No pictures were allowed inside the palace so you will have to take my word that it was quite nice and obviously made a lovely summer home. Meanwhile, as we waited for our turn to tour the palace, we walked around the courtyard where the Christmas Market was set up. This market was a lot bigger than the one in Stephensplatz but still had much the same type of merchandise and of course lots of sausage and Christmas punch and soup in a bowl which looked very tempting.

The sun was shining and we took some time later to sit at the outdoor cafe and have a coffee. Being warmed by the sun for a little while made the chill of the previous day wear off for a bit.

Cruising The Danube - Vienna

St. Stephen's Cathedral is said to be the symbol of Vienna. Our hotel was right around the corner from it. Our first few hours after arriving in Vienna was spent exploring the cathedral and the square, or platz as it is called, around the cathedral where one of the many Christmas Markets of Vienna is located.


Lots of booths featured food and it didn't take us long to find some tasty sausage sandwiches and a cup of warm Christmas punch (Weinachtspunsch). The punch came in a small ceramic boot which was unique to this market. You buy the punch and put a deposit on the mug. If you don't want to keep the mug you can return it to get your deposit back. A lot of people collect them as they are different in each market area you visit.


As we wandered the market area we noticed that a lot of the booths were selling similar items. There was very little that looked homemade and we began to joke that it might say "made in China" on the bottom. Don't get me wrong, the items for sale were very nice for the most part but we had expected more hand crafted items and a little more variety.


The later it got in the afternoon, the larger the crowd grew, gathering around the food and drink booths mostly. We opted to spend some time warming up in our rooms before setting out again in the cold for dinner. The weather was such that the wind blew right through your coat and the dampness chilled the bones.


Dinner was something we had all waited for in anticipation of this trip--weiner schnitzel, the real deal. It was perfect. Almost filling the plate was the tenderest veal I've ever had with a thin crispy breading. Lots of sighs.


After dinner we walked around the market a bit and enjoyed the now lighted decorations of the area. Suddenly the bells of St. Stephen's began to fill the air. It was a beautiful moment. Maybe this cold weather was worth putting up with.

Cruising The Danube - Getting There

This trip was going to be a challenge from the beginning. We had scheduled a Danube River cruise for just after Thanksgiving but we also had two Caribbean Cruises scheduled to begin just after the river cruise and then we'd have our snowbird season in Key Largo after that. A packing nightmare to say the least. Winter clothes plus warm weather clothes plus dressy clothes for the holiday cruise and added to all of that just regular clothes for our Key Largo time along with the usual odds and ends that we both enjoy having at hand while we're there (Bob's radio for one, my crock pot for another).

We set off to drive to Miami the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We always make it a three day drive with our usual stops in North Carolina and North Florida. Every inch of the car was packed tightly. After one more night in Fort Lauderdale, we drove to Miami and boarded our Austrian Airline flight to Vienna.

The flight from Miami was direct so we had no connections to worry with. The temperature was a sunny 80 degrees as we checked our luggage full of sweaters and winter coats. For once I was able to sleep on the plane and as we were wakened for "breakfast" I felt pretty good. Breakfast was a large muffin that looked more like a small dry cake but the coffee was good.

The plane descended for landing. The closer we got to the ground the more it was obvious we were landing in the middle of heavy snow. I closed my eyes. Miami - 80 degrees and sun. Vienna - 34 degrees and snow. This was crazy.

We collected our luggage and found our way through the subway system to our hotel in the heart of Vienna. The hotel was near a beautiful cathedral and a Christmas market--which was why we were there, to see what the Christmas Markets were like. Luggage deposited in our room which was luckily ready for us, we set out into the cold and now rainy weather to explore.