Tuesday & Wednesday
From Vantage: December 16, 2014 - December 17, 2014 Arrive 12:10am
Vienna
Day 9 starts with a panoramic city tour of majestic Vienna, whose beloved sights and sounds grow merrier during the Christmas season. Your tour includes a guided visit of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Schönbrunn Palace, dressed in its holiday finery. Your afternoon is free to explore Vienna's Christmas Market. The evening is also at leisure, or join an optional dinner with wine tasting at Heurigen Wolff.
Day 10 Cultural Connection: Learn about Vienna's illustrious musical legacy with a lecture on Musical Vienna on Day 10. Then, embark on a Musical Vienna tour through the city center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and visit sites associated famous classical composers including views of the Johann Strauss Monument, a guided tour of the State Opera House, and Mozart's House. Return to the ship for lunch, then catch the Vantage shuttle to the Rathausplatz Christmas Market. Cultural Connection: This evening, attend an exclusive private classical music concert at the Kursalon Music Hall, where Johann Strauss often performed.
20141216 Vienna Tuesday ..Link To Photos..
Dolores slept in with her cough. About half the ship is hacking. I went into the town and found an Apothek; the pharmacist recognized what I wanted and bagged it for me (lozenges, robitussen-like syrup, and aspirin). Then back to the ship. Dolores thanked me, then I got up and joined the tour to Schloss Schönbrunn. It was very foggy until mid-morning so I didn’t get many pictures.
The place is huge, over 1,400 rooms. The gardens are in the rear, and the courtyard in front where visitor's carriages could deposit their passengers and then park. Currently, there's a big Christkindlmarkt there. See the links below for details.
http://www.imperial-austria.at/schoenbrunn-palace-1/tickets/grand-tour.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sch%C3%B6nbrunn_Palace
The place is very interesting. The royalty (Hapsburgs) certainly had a different life-style.
On the way to it, we went around one side of the ring road that was laid down when the city walls were removed. On the way back we went around the other side of it, so we essentially got the ring tour. We also passed Hotel Ananas, where we stayed with the GCT post-trip tour, a less than happy stay.
The afternoon was free time with shuttle buses to the markt at the Rathaus. Lou didn't feel like going out and Dolores was in no shape to go out. So we sat and read and later dragged out some wine and sipped that until cocktail hour. We went up to that to see the tree competition and get the port talk.
The Captain, dressed as Santa, judged the competition and very diplomatically declared them all winners. Smiles and applause from everyone.
The port talk wasn't much other than to note the concert at the Kursalon tomorrow night, and the tour of the opera house early tomorrow morning (which we wrote off immediately).
We ate aft at the Captain's Cabin since none of us wanted a large meal. I wound up with soup, salad, turkey and spaetzle, and a tiny dessert. That was plenty.
We went up to the lounge and had night-caps with Roxanne and Melissa, then went to the room and to bed.
20141217 Vienna Clear, warm ..Link To Photos..
The alarm went off, then we banged on the clock until it quit. We rolled over and awoke at 0930. We brewed room coffee, once we figured out the coffee maker.
The crowd, including Glenn, had left for the Opera House tour, followed by a tour of Mozart's apartment. Glenn later said it was nice.
We laid around. At 1100 I went to the Apotheke and spoke with the pharmacist again. She gave me some stronger cough medicen and more lozenges. I was standing at a corner looking at the world when a lady asked me if I needed help. I asked for directions to an ATM. She pointed across the street and said the post office has ATMs, at least those with a green and blue symbol. So I got some more cash but I had to do it in German because there was no language option. I hope I didn't contribute 100 Euro to the postal workers.
I returned to the ship at the same time Glenn did. Then we all had a light lunch in the Captain's Cabin. They went off afterward, but we returned to our cabin and took it easy. I'm starting to cough, just like Dolores started.
At 1700, the port talk for Bratislava was given; sounds like an easy day. Then we went to the Kursalon for the music concert. As it was the last time we were here, it was great. Wonderful music, well played. Plus ballet, plus singers. Really good, especially the piccolo player who had a major part in one rendition.
Back to the boat to dinner. Mike & Susan joined us. I found out Mike was doing throat cancer back when I was doing colon cancer.
We went to the lounge where Josef had promised Dolores a hot toddy for her throat. Mrs Lewis had some camera work going on in the library, so there was no music by our house pianist, Albert. But the drinks were free, so we sat. Roxanne and Melissa joined us and we chatted for two drinks. Then I just had to quit.
We returned to the room, did these little chores, and went to bed.
