Arrival in Europe & Two Days in Vienna

Day 1: Flight to Vienna

We're here! And we've been so busy, I didn't have a chance to blog for two days.

We flew direct from Vienna to Chicago on Austrian Airlines. And, we got to Chicago (about an hour and 45 minute drive) in style with a limousine. When I attempted to book a car for the trip to the airport, I found out that it was only $10 more ... so there really was no question as to whether or not we would go for baller status.

Once we got to the airport, we enjoyed lunch at one of our favorite Chicago restaurants, that thankfully has airport locations: Rick Bayless' Frontera. I had a chile chicken verde, which was just spicy enough to make me sweat a bit.

We had hoped to score some business class upgrades for a ridiculously cheap price, but that didn't happen. As it turns out, our "red legroom" seats in the exit row were pretty luxurious as it was. I could fully stretch my legs and not touch the seat in front of me.

Our flight was 9.5 hours, and it was the best flight to Europe I've had so far. I had requested a vegetarian meal, and it was brought hot out of the oven to my seat before everyone else got the standard meal. Beverage service included wine, which I hoped would help me sleep ... although I only closed my eyes for about four hours and I estimate that I was sleeping about half that time. It was a long flight, but about as comfortable as I think you can be in coach.

We landed early in Vienna, at about 7:45 a.m. As soon as we got our luggage we found Orlando, our Uniworld rep, and he called a taxi (a small Mercedes van) for the four of us and one other couple that arrived at the same time.

It took us about 20 minutes to get to the Danube where the boat was docked, and the crew was still in the middle of unloading the passengers from last week's cruise. Aaron and I were literally the first passengers onboard for our cruise. They took our luggage, informed us that our room would be ready around 3:00 p.m., and directed us to the lounge where a light breakfast was available. We grabbed some coffee, then picked up a map of Vienna and talked briefly with Claudia (our cruise manager) about the best way to head to the city center.

Around 9:45 a.m. we took a short walk to the nearest U-bahn station (about 5 minutes) and took the train 4 stops to the city center. We wandered to Schwedenplatz to catch the Hop On, Hop Off bus. We first completed the red line, which was the Ringstrasse tour, and then got off at the Ausgarten in search of a Kaffe (for me) and a Bier (for Aaron). We had lunch at the first cafe we saw, which was adjacent to the porcelain museum. I had a mocca (espresso) and some baked breaded chicken, and Aaron had an Austrian lager with a light sausage lunch. Everything was fine, but once we left we found another biergarten/cafe deeper in the park that looked much less formal. I wish I would have eaten there.

We took a short walk through the Ausgarten to investigate some large concrete structures that we didn't understand. Turns out, they were flak towers, used to defend against air raids in World War II. Standing at the tower, you can see the path through the Ausgarten, which is a traditional baroque garden that used to be royal hunting grounds.

Thinking the coffee/beer and food had totally cured our jet lag, we returned to the Hop On, Hop Off bus stop to take the blue line, which was the Danube tour. It seemed like our bus driver was just learning to drive a stick shift, the tour narration was pretty boring, and most of us struggled to fall asleep. We got off after about 30 minutes and took the U-bahn back to the boat. It was about 2:30, and our rooms were ready. We were escorted to our stateroom on the River Ambassador (129) where our luggage was waiting for us. I unpacked while Aaron took a short nap. We also had the daily schedule available in the stateroom.

After unpacking and stowing our luggage below the bed, I went to the lounge to get some more caffeine in my veins from the cool high-tech coffee machine (so far, I'm particular to lattes). Nicola, the masseuse and fitness guide, was giving free 5-minute chair massages to entice guests to sign up for spa services. It was actually the first professional massage I've ever received, and it was excellent. I may be partaking in his services sometime this week.

We dressed for dinner and our captain's introduction and port talk. Uniworld is very serious about their casual policy, but I like to dress smartly for multi-course dinners. Travelers would be just fine with jeans in the dining room (although that may be different on the gala nights, but we were assured that formal dress was not required).

After the port talk I rushed to sign up for some alternate excursions that had attendance limits, and then ventured down to the dining room for dinner. The four of us sat at our own table, and were presented with the menu for the evening.

If you just don't know what to choose, there's a second page that presents various combinations of the menu. So far I've seen the chef's choice, local specialties, vegetarian selections, and the traveling light menu. You also have the (V) for vegetarian and the (L) for local to guide your choices.

We werer exhausted during dinner, but managed to stay awake for dessert! I had a lemon yogurt cake, and Dad had an ice cream sundae. I then went to the desk to sign up for even more choice excursions. After carefully studying the Cruise Companion before traveling, our cruise manager told us not to rely on it on board. Things can change day to day based on availability, and while the Cruise Companion gave a general idea of what we would do, it was not exact. For instance, tomorrow I'll be doing a walking tour of Weisskirchen and a vineyard hike. On the Cruise Companion this looked like two separate excursions and I thought I had to choose, but they're actually combined. I signed up for all the Go Active options, and many of the Choice excursions. We've opted for one optional excursion (extra charge), but we're told that it rarely hits the minimum number of guests, so we'll see if that happens.

By this time it was 9:30 p.m. and I'd been up for 34 hours with perhaps two hours of sleep. I went to bed while many of the fellow passengers continued drinking the free-flowing alcoholic beverages. Sounds like everyone had quite a good time.

Day 2: Vienna City Tour

We woke up at 7:00 a.m. feeling surprisingly well rested. Although I woke up at 1:00 and tossed and turned for about an hour, I think I got a solid 8 hours of sleep. This is much better than previous first nights in Europe. We had breakfast in the dining room, and I learned that I need to sit at the table prior to heading to the buffet, lest I miss out on some tasty specials from the kitchen. Today I had a simple breakfast from the buffet of scrambled eggs (extremely well prepared and seasoned), roasted potatoes, baked beans, and peaches. I had a cup of Earl Grey tea, and Aaron got his beer for breakfast just as we had requested from the restaurant manager the night before. We ate quickly so we could be in the lounge at 8:15 to hear a lecture about Maria Theresa. The historian that gave the 45-minute talk was excellent. I took some good notes, and perhaps once we return I'll write some more about her 40-year rule of the Hapsburg empire.

Here's the agenda provided for us today.

At 9:15 we boarded the bus for our tour: Vienna As The Viennese Do. It was a brisk 56 degrees, so I wore jeans, a cardigan, and a light jacket. Our group was 19 people, and I didn't feel like we were part of a gaggle of tourists (the Vox Box audio transmitters helped tremendously with that). Our guide, Margaret, was excellent. We started in the Volksgarten, passed by the imperial palace, stopped in a coffee shop, passed through Judenplatz, grabbed bread from a historic bakery, tasted some Viennese chocolate, strolled past St. Stephens cathedral, and tasted some local wine. From the moment we exited the boat until we returned was 2 hours and 45 minutes. I really enjoyed this tour.

 

The Volksgarten. The gardner was having fun photobombing many of the tourist's pictures.

This is one portion of the imperial palace. At the start of World War II, Hitler gave a speech from this balcony after the Germans invaded Austria.

This was the size of our tour group. I was often quite far from the guide and could hear everything she said like she was right next to me.

It's probably hard to tell from this photo, but this is a mosaic copy of Da Vinci's Last Supper. It weighs 20 tons and is located in a small, unassuming church in Vienna.

The cafe where we stopped to have some coffee.

Waiting for our coffees.

I ordered the Viennese Mellange. It was tasty. We also had a sachertorte. Uniworld covered the cost of a coffee. Guests needed to buy their own pastry or pay the difference for a specialty coffee that included alcohol.

A monument in Judenplats. It represents a library, the walls made of 65,000 books—equal to the number of Austrian Jews that were murdered in the holocaust.

This was the bakery where Margaret bought the bread for our wine tasting.

This was the chocolate shop where we tried miniature chocolates. The boxes the chocolate come in are collectors items (I didn't buy any).

Stephansplatz, full of people at lunchtime on a Monday.

Enjoying our wine tasting. We were in the cellar of the wine shop. I kept following stairs and it went down at least three floors. I imagine the space is used for larger events.

After the tour we returned to the ship for lunch in the dining room. I had a chicken pineapple curry salad and cream of parsnip soup. Again, very tasty. I then retreated to the lounge, then the sun deck, as it was now in the high 70's. After writing in my journal for a bit, I got sleepy (jet lag?) and decided to take a nap for about 90 minutes. I woke up just in time to change my clothes and attend the port talk and get to dinner at 5:30 (we had an early dinner tonight because many guests were attending a concert in Vienna). The menu included some traditional Austrian dishes.

I ordered beef aspic (I knew it was beef jelly, but it seemed to surprise some guests), beef consomme, vegetable strudel, and some coffee ice cream. Once again, everything was delicious. Aaron and I left the ship in search of a beer garden, and found one near the U-bahn station.

We decided to head back to the city center so we could see it at night. We took the U-bahn to Karlsplatz, which is across the street from the State Opera House. Much to our surprise, they were playing the opera live on a screen outside, for free. So, we stopped and saw a few minutes of Puccini's Tosca.

It's now 11:35 p.m. I'm going to upload this and get to bed, just at about the time we'll sail off for Weisskirchen. Time for this boat to get moving! Please pardon any typos—it's late!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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