Vienna, Day Two

September 26 Vienna, Day 2

Today was probably the busiest we have had since we started on this trip. We began the day at 8:30 with a sightseeing tour of the city which included a tour of the Schonbrunn Palace, the spectacular summer residence of the Hapsburgs. This palace has 1,441 rooms and the length of the gardens and grounds is 1.5 km. We certainly didn't see all of the rooms or walk through all of the gardens, but we were glad we were part of an organized tour because the guide was able to get us in ahead of the long lines. I overheard one guide tell another that today was like August all over again. By that they mean crowed...very crowded!

After the organized tour we walked around the Opera House and headed for one of Vienna's many cafes....there are hundreds of them. We tried some pastries along with our coffee and hot chocolate. The coffee in Austria and in other European countries too, for that matter, is very strong and served in small cups....no large double, doubles' here, although I did spot a Starbucks today. We also noted that there are a lot of McDonald's in Vienna.

We realized that we had a good five hours until our next organized event...A Mozart Concert...and so we strolled around the Ringstrasse, stopping to enjoy several musicians and other buskers. We stepped inside St. Stephen's Cathedral which is an enormous Gothic cathedral, in the centre of Vienna. We sat in a pew to ponder the beauty, magnificance and enormity of the church. We left the church and strolled through one of Vienna's many parks.

Our Mozart Concert was a package deal that included dinner. We met at the appointed spot and were guided to a restaurant. We enjoyed the company of Americans, Australians and Italians at our table. The dinner included snitzel, potatoes, and a strudel for desert. We were then driven to the concert hall and enjoyed two hours of spectacular music by the Vienna Mozart Orchestra along with two excellent soloists.

We arrived back at Wien West at around 11 pm, pretty tired but humming "Eine lkeine Nachtmusik" all the way through the campground. We had a wonderful day. Tomorrow we will leave Wien West and head towards Salzburg. Before we leave we will spread out the map, look for an intersting place to stop for the night and program Lori to take us there.