Monday in Vienna

The first part of the tour, "Panoramic Vienna", began in the rain with a bus ride. We passed St. Francis of Assisi Church, also known as the Emperor's Jubilee Church, the world's oldest still operating Ferris wheel, an apartment, now museum of Johann Strauss, and a number of beautiful buildings. We never stopped to take pictures.

Finally it was time to get off the bus at the Maria Theresa Monument and then walked across the street to the Hofburg Palace, home of the Spanish riding school with its Lipizzaner horses.

After touring the winter home of the Hapsburgs, we ended up at St Stephens Cathedral. Like some of the other cities I saw last time in Europe, the main area was tourist shop heaven and I went to the many side streets to pick up some gifts before returning to the ship.

My dinner that evening was off the ship at local restaurant in the suburb of Grinzig. The restaurant Weingut wolf. We got a glass of champagne on the way in. The first plate was 3 different spreads for the bread. There was a cheese with paprika, a butter with chives and a pork fat with something. I really liked the pork fat spread as it tasted to me like white fish spread.

Then there was a sliced roast beef plate with a mild horse radish and a plate of pickled vegetables. There was celery, cabbage, potatoes and cucumbers.

the main course was cooked Ham, Pork and Chicken. The pork was dry, but the chicken and ham were good, there was a dumpling on the side. There was a fried plate with schnitzel, zucchini and mushrooms. Desert was an apricot filled pastry and raspberry compote. We had a glass of table wine, and then 3 more wines, one with each course. That and the Martini in the ship lounge made for a nice ride back to the ship.