"Sailing" from Vienna

 We set out after breakfast for our guided tour of Vienna. We passed the St Francis of Assisi Church, also called Mexico Church - in honor of Mexico being the only country to protest Austria being overtaken by the Nazis in WW2.

On to their very nice subway train. 

Walking out of the subway system,  very swanky mall-like feeling.

I'll include lots of photo of beautiful  buildings, squares and sculptures....sorry I didn't take notes to name them all! 

We were near the Lippizaner training stable.

A groom was cleaning the horses stall and gave the horse a pat and then a treat after he was finished. 

Moving along......so many sculptures!   Our guide gave us interpretations of each, mainly religious in nature.

This Church was open to the public.

Beautiful interior. 

Typical side street.

This clock is mechanical  - the parts move - it reads about 10:35.  The guide said it plays music and puts on a real show at noon.

St, Stephen's Cathedral did not disappoint!   Amazing structure. 

This was the end of the guided tour.  We went back to the ship for a yummy lunch, then back to tour on our own.

Pretty green spaces along the walk.

The Austrian Parliament Building. 

Gorgeous park with beautiful roses.

Vienna City Hall (some sort of construction going on that interfered with a good photo!

The Votivkirhe Church.

Amazing interior! 

Sorry, I got carried away a little with the church photos....

Walking back another view of the Parliament sculpture. 

A square with several museums.   We didn't  really have time to stop..

Mozart statue. 

Back to the ship for dinner.....they announced that we would be departing during dinner because river levels were changing and we would  be stuck in Vienna if we didn't leave. A little disappointed since we had plans to see the Shonbrunn Palace tomorrow....

On the move along with several other Viking boats. 

Into the first lock at abot 10:30pm....fun to watch with just a few other brave souls out on deck. 

In the lock with another Viking boat.

Top of the lock....out we go!

I'm sure we won't watch many more lock movements,  but was fun to see. There will be more than 50 by the end of the cruise!

Vienna, Austria

We actually  had t o set an alarm for the first time in months...we had to have luggage packed and outside our hotel door by 7:30AM...Vicking picketed it up and were to have it delivered to our stateroom on the boat in Vienna.....in the meantime, we had a nice breakfast in the Fordan Ramsy Grill.  By 9AM, we boarded the very nice motor coach for our tour of Budapest.   I scored the front seat and had a good view forward...

Our guide, George narrated the trip n9nstop for a couple of hours.  We ended up seeing a

Most all of the areas we had already seen on our own but it was nice to relax and go with the flow. We did learn some background info  so was worth it.

 

Viking did make arrangements for us to tour  the Inner city Mother Church of the Assumption,  dating back to the 1000's!  Beautiful church with amazing  pipe organ. 

Wonderfully preserved interior and evidence of ancient Roman ruins as well.

Continuing the bus tour, seeing the memorial statue and waterfall at the Buda side of the Elizaberth bridge.

The bus tour took us up to the Citadella,  which of course we had just toured on our own. I took the opportunity to snap a couple of additional photos and sneak in a treat of a "chimney cake" that I had been eyeing for several days! A couple of last views of the Danube from the Citadella. 

Back to the Pest side of the river for a couple of hours before  boarding the buses for the 4 hour ride to Vienna.

Time to board the bus!

As we left Budapest,  the terrain changed to rolling hills, fields and windmills.  Uneventful and comfortable ride.

As we approached Vienna, the city seems much more industrial but i suspect that we will see a diff tomorrow as we tour.

Finally made it to a boat!!

We were handed our room cards and a welcome drink as we boarded and within minutes we were at our stateroom.   A quick change of clothes then back up to the lounge for an informative introduction to the crew and summary of tomorrow's activities.   We met some really nice folks from Arkansas and had a really lovely dinner. Tired but happy to be on the boat!