Monday, 19 Dec 2022
We awoke to the ship bumping around in the river a little bit as we exited a lock on the way to our berth along the river bank. We erred this morning by sitting at a table that wasn’t in Carmen’s section. Orders came slowly and service wasn’t what we had become accustomed to, so we decided not to cheat on Carmen again! Once John’s French toast came and we finished eating all the bacon on the buffet, we got dressed warmly, picked up our tour earpieces and boarded the tour bus for the Panoramic Vienna tour.
We left the river soon and and passed the St. Francis of Assisi Church, also known as the Emperor’s Jubilee Church, which was almost across the street from our ship, and then proceeded into the city along the Ringstrasse, or Ring Street, which follows the path of the old fortress walls around the city. One of the guides narrated as we passed some interesting sights and famous buildings, and provided us with a general feel for the geography of the city. She explained that there were four branches of the Danube that flow through Vienna: the Danube Canal, the Danube River, the New Danube and the Old Danube. The canal goes more or less through city center. The other branches are mostly to the east of the main city and the all rejoin downstream of the city.
We reached a point on Ringstrasse where it was convenient to stop and get off the bus for the walking tour in the city. Our guide marshaled us across the street toward city center and noted a few famous restaurants and buildings along the way. Gradually, we made our way to St. Stephen’s Cathedral in the heart of the old city. I might add that it was very cold that morning and there was a most uncomfortable breeze. As we took a hushed and respectful visit into the cathedral, we were doubly thankful for the opportunity to get out of the breeze. As might be expected, the interior of the cathedral was ornate, detailed and beautiful. After warming up a bit and also taking advantage of the U-Bahn restrooms, we continued walking around the inner part of the city before ending the walk on the other side of the Ringstrasse at Maria-Theresien-Platz (Maria-Theresa Square), where there was a fair sized Christmas market.
We puttered around the Christmas Market and found some glühwein (spiced mulled wine) to take the chill off. Halie and I also thought we’d get some strudel, which was also advertised at the stand with the glühwein, but when it came we discovered it referred to what was essentially hot, spiced, hard apple cider. So we went away with two mugs and found a quiet table under a canopy out of the wind to finish one mug so we could free one hand as we walked around the rest of the market.
The market consisted of rows of little plywood huts filled with all kinds of little knick-knacks (sticking with the more German “kn” instead of just “n” in the spelling, so go ahead and say “kuh-nick, kuh-nack” for fun). There were leather goods huts, jewelry (schmuck!) huts, hat huts, art huts, food vendors and pretty much anything else that you might think was in a typical festival in the park. I’d place the size of this market as about medium sized, with maybe 150 or so different huts. It was fun walking around and seeing all the stuff, and after chugging a couple of mugs of glühwein and “strudel” it was a lot more fun, and warmer too.
We then made our way back to the guide as our time at the market expired. He sent us back to the bus, which had made its way back to us and we soon started off again, working our way back around the Ringstrasse toward the river and our ship. The guide provided some more narration as we returned, and pretty soon we were back to the ship and it was lunch time. We returned onboard and dropped our bags in our rooms and then we went back to the dining room, firmly in Carmen’s care. She made sure we all got taken care of in her usual efficient way and we left the table fully nourished again, ready to face the afternoon and the tour of Schönbrunn Palace.
We had a little time to relax before we met the afternoon tour at 2pm. Again we boarded a bus and had a brief description of the tour schedule that afternoon. It took as about 20 minutes to get to the palace and we debarked in the bus parking area and walked to the palace entrance. As the bus drove off, I realized I had left my phone in the seatback pocket on the bus. The guide assured me he would let the driver know and that all would be well when the bus returned. As it turned out, all ended well, and photos are not permitted inside the palace anyway.
Built on the site of the château de plaisance of the Dowager Empress Eleonora of Gonzaga, the palace had started out as a “hunting lodge” commissioned for Crown Prince Joseph (later Emperor Joseph I) by his father, Emperor Leopold I in the latter 17th century. By the end of the 18th century, it had grown into the enormous palace now possessing the spot. This was in addition to the other palaces and residencies in Vienna, the Hofburg Wien and Schloss Belvedere and others. We are fortunate that these fine remnants from a long gone era are still available to us for visiting, if for no other reason, then to appreciate the architecture and art.
Our guide led us into the palace entrance, and after a brief stop for restrooms, we proceeded along the ground floor to the center gate. This ground floor area had been tiled with wood in order to provide a suitable surface for horses and carriages to pass over, as this was really the palace equivalent of the “valet parking” pick up and drop off area. Residents and guests would meet their carriages here out of the weather. Amazing as it was, the guide elaborated that the floor had been replaced relatively recently when central heating and cooling was installed during the 20th century, but it was done quite craftily, as is looked very well done!
We moved up into the next floor to view some of the living quarters. The rooms were all quite large – much our of scale for any rooms people live in today. Furniture was dwarfed. Beds looked comically small, even though they were actually quite large. The rooms were also quite ornate, covered in fine woodwork and many carvings and clever painted schemes. Some had expensive hand-painted wallpaper, and some of the wallpaper was actually silk. Some of the wallpaper was reported already to have been antique silk paintings before it was installed in the palace in the 18th century!
There were also very large paintings showing various celebratory court events in great detail. For instance, the large paintings in the Billiard Room and Carousel Room contained likenesses of many well known people of the era. Likenesses so much, that the individual faces and physical attributes of each were reproduced in the paintings as miniature, recognizable portraits of each! This is staggering to comprehend as you look at the paintings and see how may people are represented, and giving allowance that they must be perceived as having been faithful representations of each! Fantastic!
There were other curiosities in the paintings as well. Paintings depicting the Empress Maria-Theresa show somewhat subtle references to her as the one bearing the power. She, for instance, would have one hand subtly held in such a manner as to point to herself. Others in the painting would similarly have gestures referring subtly or not-so-subtly toward Maria-Theresa. This is quite interesting in light of modern conventions and helps us understand a little more of the workings of the court of the Holy Roman Empire, Hungary, Austria, Bohemia, Croatia and the Netherlands.
As our tour ended, we were give a good bit of free time before the bus would depart to return us to the ship, so we perused the Christmas market in front of the palace. This was another middling sized market, and we enjoyed walking around, having some more glühwein to warm up and checking out all the gadgety little market things. We took some pictures in front of the large Christmas tree and the palace and then slipped out to the Café Restaurant Residenz, which was just inside the front gate, for some coffee and strudel. Our guide had recommended it, and the staff were extremely accommodating in servings us virtually instantly as we had but a few minutes to get back to the bus pick-up. The strudel was excellent, and the coffee was just as good!
We boarded the bus and with little fanfare made it back to the ship. As with the end of every tour, it was nearly time for another meal again. We went up to the lounge for drinks and to listen to the port brief for tomorrow, even though we were not going on any tours the next day. We then headed down to the dining room to be pampered by Carmen and had a nice tasty dinner again. Lynn went to bed, but I stayed up and had drinks with a friendly fellow named Mike and his equally friendly wife, Melanie. I got to bed late, but no worry since we didn’t have to get up particularly early in the morning.
Tuesday, 20 Dec 2022 – more Vienna
This morning we all slept in as much as our jet lag would allow and I think we met for breakfast a little after 8. John and Halie were already in the dining room, and I was above in the lounge having coffee without knowing there were there. We all met and while being attended by Carmen, determined to catch the 10am shuttle bus into town for sightseeing and shopping on our own today. The bus took us in and dropped us at the Burgtheater, right across from the Rathaus (Town Hall). This was most convenient, as the largest Christmas market was on the square in front of the Town Hall.
We took some time to walk around this market, knowing it would probably be the largest one we would see on this trip. We found several items of interest and some gifts for friends and family back home. John found some tasty cherry liquer, and a couple more of us also succumbed to its seduction, taking home a bottle with each of us. I found a more suitable hat to wear while in Austria and Germany and it was doubly warm, making me very happy!
After thoroughly browsing this market, we walked into the Innere Stadt, or inner city within the Ringstrasse, seeking St. Stephen’s Cathedral as our central landmark. This was the prime shopping district and we all found many things to interest ourselves. We spent some time at the Birkenstock store, and the perused several other nice shops and stores. After muddling about along several streets and many stores, we decided to have some lunch. We though to try the world famous Figlmüller restaurant for some famous Wiener Schnitzel, but there was quite a line with a significant looking wait to get in. So we found another little place just down and across the street, and had a good lunch of Wiener Schnitzel, German potato salad and sausages and beer.
Refreshed, we continued our quest for interesting local shopping. We blundered about for a while and Halie found a nice warm coat to wear for the rest of the trip. We also found another shop with interesting alcohol treats, so Halie got some kaffe liqueur and I got some Tyrolean pine essence stuff called zirbengeist. It is vaguely reminiscent of a piney-scented gin. Still not quite sure what to do with it, but maybe it feels good on mosquito bites in the summer.
I had agitated to make a visit to the Kapuzinergruft or Capuchin’s Crypt where the Holy Roman Emperors going back 400 years are buried. It was interesting to see, and added our little bit of culture to the day, but it wasn’t the most interesting thing we would do during the week. Regardless, we were treated to views of some of the most ornate sarcophagi we had ever seen. Maria-Theresa’s was particularly large and elaborate.
We continued to putter around a little more, and already realized we would not be getting back to the bust stop in time to catch the last bus back to the ship, so we took our time getting to the Burgtheater again. We had agreed earlier that we would like to see the Rathaus Christmas market in its full nighttime illumination, and we were not disappointed. We walked around the market again, finding it much more crowded than during the morning when we had last been there. It really was much more of a carnival at night. After exiting the market and taking some pretty pictures of it, we hailed a cab and went back to the ship, arriving in time for the port brief.
After the port brief and some drinks with friends, we once again found ourselves in Carmen’s most capable hands. After another dinner that couldn’t be beat, we went up to the lounge for a few drinks with friends. The ship was due to get underway about 10:30pm after the last tour, a concert, had returned to the ship. We visited with some of the people who had attended the concert, and they said it was wonderful. I stayed up to watch us get underway before turning in for the night. Farewell Vienna!