Day 13 Sunday June 5/11 Biking along the canal and Captain's farewell dinner

 After the city tour we went back to the boat for lunch and decided to take the bikes for a spin.  There were some on board for our use.  Then we enjoyed River views as we set sail for Budapest.  Then it was time for the Captain's Farewell Cocktail in the lounge followed by the Captain's Farewell Dinner.  What a day!  

This is not our ship!  We were berthed 3 deep with 2 other Uniworld ships.  It was fun to walk across their foyers to get to ours.  

We biked along the canals for an hour or so.  

It was hot! 

So of course we had to find a biergarten too cool off before getting back on board. 

Very cozy with one of our sister ships. 

More relaxing! 

Captain's Dinner

Captain's table had extreme service.  "Capitaine" seated with black bowtie.  A great evening!  

Day 13 Sunday June 5/11 Vienna City Tour

In the morning a coach met us pier side and toured us around the famous Ringstrasse, the broad thoroughfare which has the many imperial buildings and monuments that give Vienna the "wedding cake" appearance.  I had heard Vienna described this way and couldn't imagine the metaphor but now of course I get it.  There are many white buildings with incredibly ornate decorations.  As we toured the Ringstrasse by bus, Ron, our guide was talking so fast and pointing out so many landmarks that our heads were spinning.  

I was glad to get off the bus for the walking tour.  We went to the Hofburg Palace complex, and complex is the only way to describe it.  It goes on and on and it was very hard to tell in such a short time what was what.  We toured the Austrian National Library which has been described as the most beautiful library in the world.  It was something else!  We saw the stables of the famous Lipizzan horses and even caught a glimpse.  We could have opted out of the included tour and gone to a show.  It is now on my bucket list to see them perform.

We passed the famous "Graben" (trench) a legendary street in the city centre dating back to Roman days.  It is overwhelming really, the buildings and monuments of significance in Vienna.  It needs more than a day!  

Our guide giving us more information than we could process. 

Lipizzaner

Library foyer

In the library.  Beautifully Baroque.

They aren't born white! 

Wedding cake buildings.  Repairs are on going to keep these historic buildings at their best. 

 Roman ruins in the centre of the city. 

Ooh la-la shopping! It was Sunday so the shops were closed.  Could not have afforded one thing anyway.  We saw a watch for the equivalent of $750,000 U.S. in a window at Cartier. 

We enjoyed walking on our own.  The beauty of this city is hard to imagine.  You have to see it.  

Don't really understand this but felt the need to be part of it!  

This is the "Pestsaule" (Plague Column).  It is stunning. 

The famous Hapsburg chin is obvious here.  History says that as they ran out of  suitable marriage partners they started to marry within the family to maintain the line.  Subsequently, defects surfaced.  Strange indeed!  This may require more research! 

McDonalds

Lots of people were dressed in period costumes and handing out programs to concerts for the evening. 

Inside St. Stephen's Cathedral.  Mass was going on but we could stand at the back and take pictures.  The colours were incredible.  

John and I had an espresso at a cafe across form the cathedral and at the spot where you could rent horse carriage tours.  It was a bit smelly but picturesque. 

Pretty window boxes at the base of the cathedral. 

Dancers in traditional costumes were entertaining. If you look closely at the facade of the Cathedral you may see the greyish sections that don't quite match.  These are actually screens covering scaffolding.  The Cathedral is under repair and the screens have photographs of the real facade.  It was strange to see them wavering in the wind. 

Too bad it was closed.  

Vienna Evening (day12) Concert Sat. June 4th/11

The ship pulled into Vienna in the early evening and those of us who chose to attend the Musical Performance had eaten an early dinner.  We rode by bus to the Imperial Palace and one of the famous music halls.  On the way Christian, our guide, told us about some of the beautifully lit buildings we were seeing.  We were looking forward to seeing this by daylight tomorrow. 

There was a thunderstorm but thankfully we did not get too wet walking to the hall.  Even in the dark we could see the grandeur of the buildings and the palace we were entering.  Christian was incredibly thoughtful and of course informative.  He had grabbed many umbrellas from the ships (we were double docked with other Uniworld boats) before we left.  He made sure we knew exactly where we were going, thank goodness, since it was a bit of a maze and there was a large crowed.  Of course Rik was there herding us as well.  

 The music by Mozart and Strauss was wonderful and I was surprised at how familiar it was to me since I have not been listening to Classical music lately.  But many of these songs have been filling the air waves all our lives, as background music in movies etc.  There were also 4 operatic singers and mostly I couldn't make our their words but their antics said it all.  The concert was not all serious.  The percussionist was a comedian inserting whistles and tweets and even playing the hammers for one number.  It was a fantastic evening and we were given a cd of it to take home!

Day 12 Sat. June 4/11 Melk, Austria

When we woke up this morning we were in Melk Austria a town in the Wachau Valley, one of the most beautiful stretches of the Danube.  

Melk, once a fortified Roman Post,  is a charming little town with towers and cobblestone of course, but the main attraction is the grandest of all the Baroque Monuments, the Benedictine Abbey.  We took a short bus ride to the Abbey for an early morning tour and as we went through the court yard and made our way inside,  the grandeur of this place was astounding.  I actually gasped when we entered the Cathedral and I thought I had seen it all!  

In the 11th Century Leopold lll turned over his castle to the monks and they converted it into a fortified abbey.  It is still in use and houses monks and a school.  It is one of the few ecclesiastical institutions that reports directly to the Pope with no bishop as a middle-man.  There is an amazing library with ancient books.  There are 80,000 volumes with one room alone holding 17,000!  There is an interesting museum that displays religious relics and uses the latest technology to enhance displays.  

We saw several optical illusions often used in Baroque interior design such as an endless staircase and mirrors that give the illusion of endless height in various rooms.  The Fresco room before the outdoor balcony seemed to have moving walls.  

Wine making was a way that monastaries supported themselves and they still do.  You could buy the wine in the gift shop.  The early monks took on a life-style that was extremely harsh and lived only about 30 years.  This is so contradictory to the opulance that we saw here!  

Approaching the Abbey

One of the many courtyards on the way in.

Nice! 

Entrance way.

Endless immaculate halls.  

Just missing the Pope! 

Amazing relics.  Is this an illusion?  I don't remember seeing the white cross here.  

A replica of the Abbey.  Good thing because it is so large you would need to be in an airplane to see it all. 

Frescos and illusions making the heights seem more than it is.  I think this may have been a dining room.

Room with a view. 

Balcony overlooking Wachau Valley.

Some old books in the library. 

This is heavy! 

Frescos in the library. 

An ancient manuscript.  I can just imagine the scribe. 

Gasp!  

The gold alter. 

The organ at the back. 

Courtyard looking out to balcony.

Garden shed!  

Roses galore. 

Another illusion.  

The back of the Garden House which is also a restaurant. 

A view. 

Mirrored tables would have made it interesting to eat here.  You could look at the fresco while eating. 

Steps to town on the way down from the Abbey. 

You can see the top of the Abbey towering over the town. 

We walked down from the Abbey on our own through the town.  A brass festival was beginning and it was neat to see bands warming up along the pedestrian street.  It would have been nice to spend more time but we had to be back at the River Queen since we were setting sail at noon.  

The day was hot and we really wanted to take our lunch up on the top deck to enjoy more views of the Wachau Valley.  There was a big wind but we managed to do it taking shelter behind the wheel house.  This section of the Danube reminded me of the beauty of the Romantic Rhine but with less castles.  The vineyards were horizontal rather than vertical as in Franconia.  It was remarkable again to see grapes growing on the most impossible looking slopes! 

Back to the River Queen. 

Loved this River Boat!

Zooming into gorgeous buildings.  

Lunch on deck. 

Every town has one!  A cathedral that is.  Notice the horizontal vineyards in the background.  

Lovely blue building. 

Another tight squeeze in a lock.