Wednesday 24 April 2024

As we approach Vienna, we spot the tallest building in town

To whom do you think it belongs?

It’s cold and it’s wet. This is no way to see Vienna. But we head off on our walking tour anyway

Vienna does not feel like the City of Music today.

We wonder if this had anything to do with Mozart’s erratic behaviour

We admire Marie Theresa, Queen of the Habsburg for 40 years from 1740. The only female ruler, but I think the real reason she is on a pedestal is because she had 16 children.

It’s not easy to see the sights of what is clearly a beautiful city in these conditions. But our tour guide understands that. So she takes us to the shopping centre.

We divert

And take ourselves off on a non talkie, non shoppy self tour.

We find a flower stall

And the Opera House

Traffic appears to be a problem to some

We have noticed graffiti everywhere we have been in Europe and the Viennese have allocated this section of wall for graffiti so that they are not tempted to deface old buildings

Apparently there is enough confusion to warrant this

We are in Vienna, and so we feel it obligatory to have a coffee and cake. We resist these

And settle for a Sachertorte. Delicious

This afternoon Cherrie heads off on an excursion to Schonbrunn Palace, the summer residence of the Habsburg rulers for generations. Ironically, ‘Schonbrunn’ means ‘beautiful spring’. Lost in translation today.

Cherrie particularly wanted to see the gardens

but she was not allowed to go alone so she had to spend more time in the Palace than she would have liked, and less in the gardens. She took this from inside the Palace, but alas no time to get there

But, she did get to a little section of the gardens. This photo shows the front of the Linden tree hedging and the reverse side showing the huge trunks

Some are clearly allowed access, just not Cherrie

And so our time in Vienna has come to a soggy end. This is a wealthy city and back on board our onboard entertainment director tells us about a man who went into a bank with a very large bag. He goes over to the teller and whispers “I’ve got a million euros in cash in this bag”. The teller replies “No need to whisper sir. Poverty is nothing to be ashamed of”