Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009, 12 PM local time
On Tuesday we passed through the largest lock on the river (where I tried to get on the Internet but all the concrete blocked the signal) and later we did a walking tour of Bratislava’s old town. The day was gray, cold and windy and pictures were not good. Only the sculpture of a Man at Work is worth sharing.
 Man at Work sculpture |
On Wednesday, we reached Vienna and I had signed up for all the tours – free and optional, so I was walking much of the day. The weather was even colder, grayer and windier than the day before, then late in the day it started to rain. In the morning we did a 3 hour bus and walking tour of central Vienna. We saw many interesting buildings, both old and new, but the pictures from the bus always had Tram lines in the foreground.
 Viennese church with fair taking place |
 Hapsburg Palace - center section |
After an hour of walking around, I took refuge in a café and had one of Vienna’s renowned tortes – a Grand Marnier torte. It was wonderful! I felt that I’d shivered off the calories while walking. At lunch back on board they had the most famous torte – a chocolate one – for dessert, but it didn’t hold a candle to the torte I had in the city. The food is absolutely wonderful on board – especially the soups. The cream of cauliflower soup at lunch was vastly better than the chocolate torte. Later, that same day, I had the cream of herb soup at dinner which was also wonderful. The secret is the use of real cream and an excellent use of herbs in both soups. The non-cream soups are also wonderful – they feature fresh ingredients, including herbs and spices.
While the food has been wonderful, the wines in the 300 € wine/cocktail package I bought have been disappointing. The dry, white wine is poor; the medium dry is good but lacks the refreshing quality of a good German Reisling. I haven’t tried the red offering yet. They also offer wines by the bottle but I haven’t had occasion to buy one yet, although I may later. The “champagne” on board is Sekt, the sweeter version of champagne made in Germany and Austria, and that is quite good. The bartender makes a dreadful margarita, so I am drinking a cocktail made with sekt; it’s strong but very tasty.
In the afternoon, I took a tour to Palace Schonbrunn, where they wouldn’t allow me take pictures inside. The palace didn’t hold a candle to the French chateaux I’ve toured, but there was a lot of gold trim and beautiful wooden inlaid floors.
 Inlaid wood flloor - Schonbrunn Palace |
 Palace Schonbrunn exterior |
Finally, in the evening after dinner, 100 of us attended a concert of Viennese music. The concert was wonderful. It was held in a lovely old performance hall with crystal chandeliers and a decorated ceiling.
 Chandelier in Vienna Concert Hall |
 Stage of Concert Hall |
