Day 7: Vienna

We finally had a beautiful sunny day today, albeit cool and windy, we didn't care because at least it wasn't raining. We walked from the cruise ship along the Danube toward the center of town. Along the way we stumbled across this gem....a floating gym/swimming pool. There were two handball courts, cardio equipment inside, an upper deck where some were doing yoga, and a massive swimming pool....all on a barge. Interesting and creative.

This city is such as easy city to get around by bike or foot. In the picture below you will see the road on the right which is for cars. The "road" in the center is for walking/running pedestrians, and the "road" on the left is for bicycles. Everyone has their own space, and no one has to worry about being run over by a car :)

We weren't planning to go here, but we stumbled across Stadtpark (city park) on our way to get to the public transportation. It is a beautiful park nestled right in the heart of the city. It is quite a small park at only 28 acres, but you wouldn't know that when you were in there because it feels so spacious. The park has two sections that are divided by the Wienfluss (Vienna River). The Unsere Garten is located within the park along with a huge pond filled with ducks. 

We used the "hop on hop off" tram/bus system they have in place there. It goes around the famous RingStraße (Ring Road), which is a street that makes a giant ring around the city. You can, as it says, hop on and hop off as much as you like wherever you like along the road. We used it first to scope out the areas we most wanted to visit, then rode it back around to get to where we needed to. It was super convenient. I will caution anyone who wants to do this. There is the public tram version and private tram/bus versions. There is a HUGE price difference. We accidentally got on the wrong (more expensive) one, so do your homework beforehand. Here are just a few of the buildings/places we saw while taking our tram/bus.

We made a stop at St. Stephen's Cathedral because we were told the architecture was stunning (they even have a colorfully painted tile roof!) Many people consider this to be one of the city's most recognizable buildings.

Next we went to Der Michaelerplatz. This is the area surrounding the Imperial Palace. Most people just head straight for the palace, but there is a lot to see just outside of it as well. We really enjoyed the ruins which can be seen at street level just in from of the main palace. Earlier excavations unearthed portions of a Roman house as well as some medieval foundations and remains of the former Burgtheater (the Austrian National Theater).

We finished up by going to the famous Demel Bakery. The story here is that the bakery was established in 1786, but really became famous in the mid 1800s after the Empress Elisabeth of Austria (and also Queen of Hungary and Duchess of Bavaria) came across their candied violets. She loved their treats so much she had the bakery deliver her favorite sweets directly to the palace regularly. While it is just a bakery, it's just one of those places people say you have to go visit and try something. They still serve some of the same treats they have served for over 200 years.

Crown cake

It was a long day, so we went back to get some rest as we are off to Bratislava, Slovakia tomorrow!

Day 6: Melk & Dürnstein

The town of Melk sits in the well known Wachau Valley which specializes in wine. Mel Abbey sits atop the highest point in the town and can be seen from just about anywhere. It was, of course, raining again today, but we tried to make the most of it.

Our goal was to get to Melk Abbey, so we took the scenic route through the village and up to the top.

 When we finally made it to the Abbey, and it did not disappoint. Inside there was a museum of church artifacts from the last several hundred years. It was so neat to see them preserved so well, and be able to see them up close. They had paintings, money, robes that they bishops wore, and much more. The views from the Abbey were also spectacular. I imagine on a non-foggy/rainy day you could see for miles. 

still raining, but we had to get our picture from the top of the Abbey

Views from the abbey looking south

Views from the abbey

Even though it was still raining, we decided to brave it to go out to see the gardens. They were very nice, although I imagine they are nicer when the sun is shining :)

Just about a 25 minute drive from Melk is the town of Dürnstein. We didn't know much about the place, other than it also sits along the Wachau Valley in wine country. We ended up liking it even more than Melk. Albeit smaller, it had more character and charm than Melk did. It was also a very walkable town with many quaint shops and restaurants.  Despite the rain, we decided to hike up to the fortress ruins to take advantage of the great views. It is quite a steep hike, and not for the faint of heart as there are some pretty good drop offs along the way. However, the views make it worth the hike.

We walked back into town and browsed through the shops and stores. Stopped into one of the local wine cafe's and had some Gewürztraminer (our favorite). It is a very well laid out town with the "old town" being on the north side, and the newer portion on the southeast. Even the "newer" side still has a lot of character.  

Then we had dinner at a cute little restaurant called Alter Klosterkeller with vineyards in the backyard. The local specialty here is apricot sparkling nectar soda. We had to try some. It tasted almost like sparkling water with apricot juice, but a very thick juice. Delicious!

The sun FINALLY came out for a quick 20 minutes at the end of the day, so we sat on a bench by the river to just enjoy it and get a slightly clearer view of the town.

If you can see through the fog, you can see the striped lines in the landscape where the vineyards are located.

Busy day tomorrow....off to Vienna!