Day 12 - A Quiet Day in Vienna

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It was a rainy when we woke up in Vienna this morning. After a few hectic days, we decided that today would be more of a day of rest. We started our morning with the close-up walking tour of Vienna. The difference between the close-up walking tour and the regular walking tour is that the regular tour drove around Vienna in the bus and you looked out the window, and they dropped you close to St-Stephens Square near the church. The close-up tour was more adventurous, which means instead of getting on the bus, we walked to the subway station with our tour guide Antonija and rode the subway into town.

There were 14 of us brave souls who went on the close-up tour with its promise of 10,000 steps (Jody got 10,000 steps, I only got 8,800). The subway is actually very easy to use with colored lines for the various routes, and U or L for inbound or outbound very similar to subways in the states. We took the Red Line inbound, and we were soon in the middle of the action. Masks were mandatory on the subway, but nowhere else.

On exiting the subway, we were right outside the Opera House, where there is a tour later this evening for a symphony concert. I know we are in Vienna, and we probably should have gone on the Symphony Concert tour this evening, but we didn’t. Maybe next time. Vienna both a city and a state and is the capital of Austria. It has about 2 million people in the city itself, and close to 3 million in the metropolitan area. It is a modern city with all the hustle and bustle of any modern European city. Since it is Sunday, all the shops except for some restaurants and souvenir shops are closed. It has some 130 museums, and there is just no way to do an exploration justice in just a few hours.

After the war, Austria was divided into 4 sectors: American, British, French, and Soviet. For 10 years the allies ruled Austria, though for most Austrians life was returning to normal, except for those living in the Soviet sector where people would disappear suddenly for no apparent reason. In 1955 France, Britain, and the Americans were ready to release Austria back to independence, but the Soviets would not. According to Antonija, after all diplomatic efforts had failed, the Austrian Foreign Minister brought representatives to a hunting lodge to negotiate and got the Russian negotiator so drunk that he capitulated. Austria has been independent since May 1955.

The opera house like many of the old buildings in Vienna was destroyed in WW2. When it came time to rebuild, it was decided to rebuild a new opera house that looked just like the old one, so the exterior façade was built using the original techniques. Most of reconstructed Vienna is a combination of restored or rebuilt original buildings or new modern structures. Antonija took us past St-Augustine Church which dates back to the 14^th century, but the outside of the building last updated in the 18^th century makes it look line an ordinary office building. The interior is still gothic, but there was evidently a period of religious tolerance that came out in the 18^th century and churches of various faiths were allowed in the city, but to keep things low key, the exteriors could not be ornamented. Today on the outside it lust looks like another wing of the National Library.

Next we walked past the Spanish Riding School which is the original training school of the world famous Lipizzan Stallions. Several of the horses were in the stables, and there was an afternoon tour of behind the scenes with the Lipizzans which some of our horse lover fellow passengers are excited to see. Next, we made a stop outside the Hapsburg Palace. Originally built in the 14^th century for the Hapsburgs, it has been expanded many times over the years and is the current residence and workplace of the President of Austria.

As we entered the shopping district, there were many of the high-end shops seen everywhere, but intermingled were some interesting local shops which were all unfortunately closed as it was Sunday. Our next stop was in the Jewish section at a place called the Judenplatz Holocaust Memorial. Completed in 2000, it is an interesting building whose exterior is shaped like a series of books on a library shelf except the books are on the shelves with the page side out so than no one can see the titles and the doors that would allow yo to go inside to see the titles have no knobs and do not open. It is supposed to represent the stories of the 65,000 Jews in Vienna who died in the concentration camps whose stories are unknown and can never be told.

As it was getting close to 11:00, we arrived at St-Stephens square and the site of St-Stephens Church where Antonija let us go for about 40 minutes free time. Six of the braver members of the group decided to stay in town and explore and find their own way back to the ship on the subway. In retrospect, that’s probably what we should have done, but after our trauma in Bamberg, and the fact we were just tired, we decided to make the best of our 40 minutes and go back to the ship with Antonija. We did pretty well for 40 minutes. We found our way to the public restroom, visited St-Stephens church and got some pictures of the interior, and made it to two souvenir shops for t-shirts and a magnet. In addition, Jody found a great Klimt shirt she wanted, and we made it back to our meeting point with minutes to spare.

The ride on the subway back to the ship was simple, though it was beginning to get very windy and rain. We made it back before it got too bad and had a nice relaxing afternoon. The weather eventually cleared up and we made it up to the sun deck so I could finish my last 1200 steps to get my 10,000. Tomorrow we are out for an ebike ride in the Vienna countryside. It will be our first try on an ebike, but if we can do 26 miles on a regular bike in the Ding Darling Preserve back on Sanibel Island, the ebike tour should be a breeze!

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